SEAFFLYER

Now that sounds like a pretty good way to serve this stuff. So althought the FA was very nice, maybe on flight she was just interested in making one trip back to the galley rather that after each row. And the cardboard box - probably the container that they came in and she didn't want to take the time to put them in the basket. Oh well, guess we'll all sort this out in time...

Alaska F/A

First off, thank you for your constructive and honest opinions! I'm really happy to see the trend of more positive comments from this group on this topic... With any new type or style of service some 'tweaks' are oftentimes in order to make it work better for us and be a nicer service for you... and yes, we continue to listen!

The 'limit', if you will only, applies to the first run thru with the basket... we are provisioned with one item per person and currently, there are always leftovers. Once everything has been offered to everyone then seconds are fine and the one per person limit doesn't really matter since everyone already has had the basket offered.

As long as the choices in the basket are still plentiful for the entire row I will go from row to row... but if needed a quick trip to the galley to replenish is easy enough to do. I always want to have the basket look nice and presentable (and plentiful!) so I tend to make replenishment runs if needed.

As far as serving in the cardboard box... that is how the snacks are provisioned... there are only two thoughts as to why it would be done like that...

1) No Basket - catering forgot to provide the basket itself and the FA did the best he/she could do, hopefully writing up this discrepancy for the kitchens (I myself would have used a large tray for a nicer presentation), or

2) Basket not used - the FA didn't see or chose not to use the basket (something that hopefully was a one-off thing)

Just so you know, I am forwarding all of your comments directly to the proper person at AS.

Valveman

OH! Since this is now a serious discussion, let me echo my sentiments I had earlier in another thread discussion.

Even though this is an in between meal offering, I think that the immage that is presented or the perception that is created with the current 'basket' diminishes the F experience. Being served a snack or a meal on a plate will always be a step up from choosing one's own prepackaged item.

Having said that, I can certainly immagine the cost of varying plated snacks on a daily basis - if that where even possible. 'Daily' would be wonderful as commuters would have variety.

For the record, I had never turned down the Grapes and Cheese. The nuts where a hit and miss for me. But again, it was and is not a deal breaker. I think the attempt of serving anything is not so much to stave off hunger but to pacify the passengers and provide an 'experience'. The 'experience' portion just needs to be adequately tweeked to provide a better perceived value.

I'd sure hate to swashbuckle a fellow passenger for that last cinnamon twist in the basket! That would be an experience said passenger would never forget!

Westcoaster

My better half and I were both disappointed when we were offered these dry packets of stuff in lieu of what we thought would be a cheese plate-type snack on a 2.5 hour dinnertime so-called "Snack" flight. We were in paid F for a special occasion and found the packets to be a real letdown. In fact my easygoing husband surprised me by saying he would never eat that stuff again.

If it had been a one hour flight or a flight that hadn't formerly had at least a small portion of real food on it we might have reacted differently. Or maybe if it had been a free upgrade and we hadn't intentionally paid more for a better experience. As it was, it seemed like AS had abandoned food in favor of some cheap odd snacks that some food manufacturers were happy to sell for a low price in order to perhaps develop a customer base. Maybe that's not what happened, but your mind can go that direction when you are disappointed.

Westcoaster

One suggestion would be to just leave a packet of these snacks at each F seat along with the bottle of water so that passengers know what they're getting when they board. Then they can do what they want with it, including sharing with other passengers or storing it or whatever. This avoids the pretense that food is being served. I was actually kind of embarrassed for the FA who delivered the little packets. Not the kind of service that I would want to give people in F at dinner time.

Seattlenerd

For the record, as someone who is (like a large number of adults) lactose intolerant, I prefer the snack basket to the cheese plate as I couldn't eat the cheese without, well, discomfort.

It's all in the presentation. NW has had a snack basket for some time on late evening flights, and it's presented well. AS is just new at this, is all.

sltlyamusd

Once again, the snack box is not replacing existing meal service, with the exception of the cheese plate on certain midday flights. A 2.5 hour flight departing between approximately 4-7PM would have something much more substantial than just the snack basket, so my guess is your flight departed outside of these hours.

Westcoaster

Wrong. My flight was scheduled to leave at 4:27 p.m. and arrive at 7:15.

Westcoaster

I agree that presentation is important but only if the actual food is decent. My husband and I didn't enjoy the food in the packets and I can't imagine what type of presentation would make me enjoy it.

I understand the lactose intolerance issue and I know people want an alternative to the cheese plate. It's great that some of you like these snacks. I just wish that there was a real food alternative on flights such as the one I took. I felt cheated.

I've certainly learned not to pay for F unless maybe it's a transcon. I guess it was a foolish thing to do.

sltlyamusd

Your flight must have been out of Las Vegas. You are correct in that they did replace the cheese plate with the snack basket on the evening flights in the Las Vegas market. Personally, I'd rather have the cheese plate! Basically, they consider Las Vegas to be low-yield, so the snack service in F is inferior to other routes of comparable length, such as SEA-LAX or SEA-PHX. And in spite of this, they still seem to get a lot of paid F to LAS, judging by how hard it is to get upgraded even 72 hours out!

98103

Good riddance to warm nuts! I've not had any of these snack packs yet, and really don't forsee myself having any in the immediate future, but I would prefer they include something on the fresher side....apples, bananas, satsumas. I get enough salt and preservatives.

Tracer_SEA

Uhh, don't hold your breath. The whole point (for AS) is that these are shelf-stable, can sit around in a warehouse for a month and if not taken by pax on their originally catered flight they can be re-used and offered in the basket again on the next flight.

sltlyamusd

I'm guessing that since you were flying SEA-LAX, AS decided to actually serve real food instead of the snack basket. OK, maybe not a lot of food, but that certainly sounds better than the snack basket to me. I have had those ginger cookies before too, and recall they were good.

Noticed this was in the AS press release about the upgrades on SEA-LAX and SEA-SFO: "Crudités plate with salami sandwich on onion roll, fresh vegetables, Greek vinaigrette dressing and chocolate from Seattle Chocolates"

eastwest

The snack basket isn't a meal substitute, but I've found the pita chips and hummus to be good at "holding me over" until I can get a full meal. FWIW, I also really like the freeze dried apples. They are healthy and a little different.

AS Flyer

Actually, unused items are not recycled because it would be more expensive to pay to have them reboxed then to just donate them to a local food bank. So, while most of these items are shelf stable type items - they aren't reused if not taken.