Westcoaster

So are you a politician or something? You answered my question by not answering my question. For a second I thought you might be Dubya.

Seriously, I have no problem with beer and wine on the flight except when they limit the alternatives so very severely. They won't even give me ice for use with a beverage I bring on board myself. (At least they wouldn't on my last 2 QX flights on larger craft.) Maybe that's one reason they push the booze -- they don't have to have ice available for beer and wine.

Westcoaster

I have all the respect in the world for you being willing to give us the benefit of your AS experience. But I don't know why you keep talking about a 25 minute flight. I'm talking about fights that are an hour long; more if you include the time you spend sitting after boarding and waiting to depart. With the security limitations on fluids having beverages available on the flight is a real plus. Yes, I can buy an expensive beverage at the airport to bring onboard (and I do) but with the beer/wine policy on the larger aircraft they don't seem to bother to have ice available (as I mentioned on my prior post) so that the beverage I bring on board can be cold.

I admit I'm suspicious of the water, since I've been served what I believe they call "tank" water on other aircraft. Maybe QX water is all real bottled water; I don't know.

Hey, if QX just wants to discontinue beverage service once the Q200s are gone that's fine with me. Nothing lost.

sxf24

You asked why they don't offer beer or wine and another non-alcoholic choice. I told you why: the beer and wine are an important part of the QX brand and experience that distinguishes them from other competitors (and AS).

Passengers are also free to bring whatever non-alcoholic beverage they like on the flight. Alcoholic beverages can only be served by the crew, it also makes sense to provide passengers with the choices that are of the most value and/or demand.

I don't think there is ice boarded for the limited beverage services. Ice is heavy and has to be replenished at almost during almost every aircraft turn. The other service items do not.

sxf24

The Q400s don't even have water tanks! All water on QX is served from a bottle.

AS Flyer

I guess I got the idea that we were discussing the SEA-PDX flights, but I suppose this could also apply to the flights to BLI, EAT or YYJ as well. In any case, it's clear to me that we are bringing two completely different perspectives to this discussion. From a passengers perspective, I can see why you look at it from the perspective of how long you have to spend NOT being able to have something to drink. From my perspective, based on my job, I look at it from the idea that flying time is approximately 25-30 minutes. Of that time, you can take off about 5-10 minutes that should be spent being safely strapped in your seat during the initial ascent and final descent. So, in my mind, that leaves us with (liberally) 20-25 minutes of actual service time. On a plane with 37 people, it's easier to be able to put together a small beverage cart and serve a snack and choice of drinks. On a plane with 76 passengers, even though there are two FA's instead of one, it's just more difficult. There would be many times where people at the back of the plane just won't get anything. So, to be able to try to serve everyone, I think they went to bottled water, beer or wine. Three choices, rather than an entire selection of sodas, juices, coffee, tea, beer and wine. Water isn't maybe everyones choice for a beverage but in just 20-30 minutes you can get off of the plane and get a soda if you want one. From a purely personal standpoint, I go hours sometimes without having so much as a glass of water. Especially when I'm busy working - we sometimes forget to take care of ourselves. So I guess I don't get what the big deal is about having so many choices rather than just water.

In regards to the tank water concern - the water at Horizon is served in a closed, sealed bottle - no possibility that it's tank water. At Alaska, we serve it from a bottle, but I can assure you that I don't know of any FA's that would refill one with tank water. For me anyway, if I run out I would just have to offer something else - the tank water isn't even an option unless someone specifically requests. There was a time when served tank water - I guess we just didn't know better. Times change and people get smarter.

IStream

FWIW, bottom line in my case is that if the flight is actually <30 minutes, I have no expectation of any beverage service at all. For 1+ hours, I expect something but it doesn't have to be fancy. I'm more of a water-no-ice or a glass of red wine guy. AFAIK, you can leave the sugar water on the ground and save the weight, but that's just me.

Call me crazy, but I would like to see the Q400 outfitted with a small water tank, soap, and a sink in the lav. I don't even want to think about the hygeine issue that's brewing on those planes.

Westcoaster

Thanks for the response and the reassurances about the water. Maybe they could just offer little bottles of water like AS does in F and forget all of the other choices. Then passengers would feel comfortable about the source of the water and the FAs could be done very quickly -- no pouring.

I guess I'm just going to have to give up on this topic. I don't seem to be able to adequately describe the frustration from this passenger's point of view. It seems like when we are unhappy about AS cutting food, etc., the response from insiders is that other airlines don't offer it so why should AS? But for some reason QX offering free alcohol to distinguish itself from the competition is different. I don't get it.

I've got 4 QX segments coming up. I'll assume that I'll get good service on the 2 Q200 segments and poor service on the Q400 and CRJ (yuck). When the Q200s are gone it will be sad.

AS Flyer

The water is served in little individual bottles, so you can take one and, if you aren't thirsty at that time, take it with you if you if you like.

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to compare us to any other carrier - that was never part of my response. I was trying to just share my perspective, which is different than yours. Possibly by doing that, I thought you may be able to better understand where I'm coming from. I'm not against providing inflight meal/beverage service on flights that warrant it - I was just providing my perspective on why I don't believe it's that important on these flights. I'm just but one person though.

I'm sad that, because you aren't recieving a full selection of beverages, you think the "service" is poor. I'm sure you'll still have a friendly, helpful Horizon crew that are eager to provide good "service" - unfortunately, they may not be providing a full beverage selection.

sxf24

If you don't get it, please stop whining about it.

I honestly don't understand passengers who complain about beverage selections. I you can't survive on a 1-5+ flight without something more than water, you need to re-examine the priorities in your life.

jackal

I think the reasons for the limited beverage selection have been explained quite well by AS Flyer and others. It's just not practical to carry more than a couple of different types of drinks on small planes and short flights. (I will concede that longer flights, like PDX-OAK, probably do deserve something more.)

So, the question is then whether QX should eschew the beer and wine in favor of more traditional drink service (maybe Coke and Diet Coke or orange and apple juice)? A few FTers have posted that they'd probably prefer that (as would certain FTers who have yet to be of legal drinking age...). However, QX's market research probably indicates the uniqueness of their current offering draws more people than are turned off by it. Therefore, I don't really see any change in the future.

Duckouttahere

On the topic of beverage service and time...I was recently on an WN flight from PDX-OAK and had used their "business select" ticket pricing due to a promotion and was able to secure the first place in line to board. When I boarded, I found all the ideal seats (exit row, first row) already taken with connectin passengers and preboarders. So, I settled in to row 8 window so I could be among the first people off the plane. Unfortunately, this is between where the WN's divide up their service area and I was in the last row of the FA's section. It took my (1) hour from takeoff to receive my complimentary beer! The FA had to keep going back to the galley to get more drinks on her tray which took a lot of time. No beverage carts on WN. What made matters worse was a pilot from another airline was hitching a ride and was passing gas the entire time. I guess flying AS has spoiled me with the FC UG's and the better beverage service. ^

In regards to beverage service on a short flight, I've flown PDX-SEA on a CRJ with no beverage service. Same goes for JUN-GUS. Too short a flight to worry about it that much. I have flown on a WN 737 from OAK-RNO and you only have 2-3 choices. Water, OJ, and possibly coffee. I don't blame QX for not providing a lot of service on PDX-SEA. Maybe OJ and H20 would be sufficient to make most people happy. As previously mentioned, there are soda machines in both terminals and if you bring your own 20oz soda on board, you don't have to wait till cruising altitude before you can drink your soda.

PDXPremier

As the OP, I've enjoyed reading all the spirited comments about beverage service, however, I would just like to say that if you go back to my original post, the issue I brought up wasn't whether or not short flights (less than 30 min.) should have beverage service or not...the issue was the difference in service based on aircraft type (specifically the Q200 vs. Q400 on the PDX-SEA run which is heavily marketed to business travelers by Alaska/Horizon). If a full beverage service was offered between PDX-OAK on an MD-80 and you only had juice/water if it was a 737, you'd wonder why (especially when the passenger to FA ratio is essentially the same)....why does being on a Q200 or Q400 make a difference in whether or not you receive a full beverage service? Everyone knows you can survive for 25 min. without any liquid whatsoever but that's not the issue (thankfully)

PDXPremier

I just realized that I'm not the OP but I was the one that brought up the service difference issue....sorry about that....I didn't mean to impersonate the OP

beckoa

Interesting piece today about the water in airline tanks, and it discusses AS' policy:

I do like the little bottles in F upon boarding though!