missamo80

Uggggggggh. Alaska, why do you test my loyalty so?

4 hour flight out of MCI departing at 6am. Guess what? No fresh food available for purchase. That protein platter? Nope. Sunrise breakfast sandwich? Nah. Even though it clearly says on the menu "flights leaving 6am to 10am over 3 hours".

Yes, I know, bring my own food. Except MCI is probably the worst airport in the US to depart from and there is no food when your flight leaves at 6am.

Neil

3Cforme

I would wonder if they have no catering arrangements out of MCI and just double-cater the xxx-MCI-xxx flights departing later in the day. I expect the early morning MCI-SEA/SAN flights sit overnight?

missamo80

Almost certainly the case, and yes, the plane sat here overnight. Doesn't make me any happier about it. If Alaska's going to offer flights to/from a city and advertise meals on flights of a certain length they should find a way to provide it, especially when the airport is the craphole that is MCI.

Neil

mike28

Yes, both flights (MCI-SEA, MCI-SAN) have their planes seating in MCI overnight. It might not be possible to double cater as the food would have to stay refrigerated overnight inside the plane.
I am flying to MCI and back this week, I'll update the forum with my own experience about MCI catering.

Catering failure has happened to me twice in the past couple years, both times were an early morning flight ~ 6AM out of RDU (my former base) to SFO, once with UA and once with pmVX (in the middle of AS IT merger). Both time they decided to leave on time without catering instead of waiting (great decision as lots of passengers had connections). By the way, AS apologized and provided compensation without asking while UA didn't even after making a formal complaint to the 1k voice service.

missamo80

Are you on the 6am return flight or the later one?

formeraa

Well, there is this thing called "dry ice", which does allow some airlines to cater certain foods at airports without catering facilities. Dry ice may not allow for the "normal" fresh meals, but they could come up with an alternative service.

That said, at a major airport like MCI, there are certainly catering options available. AS has chosen not to cater locally it seems.

davesam12

Several carriers in addition to AS have aircraft that RON at MCI and then leave the next day on early morning trans-con departures to both coasts. In first class (on all that offer that cabin), a breakfast or continental breakfast is served on those routes. I would guess that the "breakfast" is double catered on the flight incoming from the night before and are left chilled/frozen (dry ice) in the carts on the plane overnight and might also consist of shelf stable ingredients, cereal, milk, fruit, pastries, etc. We have flown a very early morning DL service to LAX and the first class breakfast choices are typically cereal, shelf stable milk, pastry, banana, etc. or a warmed breakfast sandwich. We are on the early morning AS first class MCI-SAN for the first time in a few weeks and are expecting a cold breakfast option on the AS E175. So, if they can cater first class meals on aircraft that RON, they should be able to cater main cabin BOB menu options also.

Often1

The failure is in not notifying passengers. If AS lacks the logistical capability to properly cater its flights, it should not advertise availability or there should be a specific warning for the flights in question.

For what it is worth, MCI is a major airport with significant catering capability, including for early flights. What is in question is whether AS wishes to pay for the service.

Red L

I flew ABQ-SEA on an early-ish (9am) flight a couple of weeks ago, and the FA mentioned the breakfast was different because there's no catering in ABQ, and everything comes on the flight from SEA the night before. They did have some refrigerated items on the tray, however. I'm not sure if they were packed in dry ice or stored in the airport somewhere, but the yogurt was frozen solid.

formeraa

Definitely dry ice...

AS Flyer

Which catering companies operate at MCI?

RAD_PDX

Doesn't LSG still operate there?

3Cforme

If we can believe FlightStats, AS had four flights from MCI today while Delta had 33 and AA had 27. Really, MCI has catering available. There were 12 flights across five carriers departing between 5:15 and 6:00am. I'm surprised nothing at the airport is open early to serve that traffic.

missamo80

Have you ever had the, ah, pleasure of flying out of MCI? It's a relic from the pre-9/11 era. The only food option at the Alaska gate (which it shares with a Delta gate) is a coffee cart that never opened before our flight left. Note that I'm talking about gates not terminals, as each set of gates (and by set I mean 2-5 gates) has its own security checkpoint.

I would write more about the qualities of MCI, but I fear I'll be banned by the mods for abusive language.

Neil

Waitlisted