chicagoflyer1976

Completely agree- presentation is everything. When I see those gross gray trays, I instantly think hospital cafeteria food, and it makes me want to vomit. It instantly puts into my mind sterile, bland food. If I was served steak from my favorite restaurant on a tray like that, I wouldn't enjoy it. Sadly, even if linens ever come back, I'm not sure I will enjoy the food, since I know that underneath is a disgusting tray.

MrAndy1369

It was suggested by a few that there must be a miscommunication between the caters and AA, because of the declaration at the press conference that linens would be pre-set.

I move that we begin some kind of campaign - "bring linens back" or something like that... tweet them, facebook them, whatnot. Maybe include a photo of the press conference to "remind" them of their assertion that linens would be returning and would be pre-set? Maybe even include pictures to compare the AA tray to a hospital tray, to get the point across? If more people do it, the better.

Who's with me here? If so, let's think of some kind of campaign that would get AA's attention and get the clarification/results we need/want.

Those who don't care about linens or the meal presentation need not apply.

asnovici

the pre departure beverage thread made me thinking about linens that were supposed to be making come back on all meal flights. Flying 2-6 flights a week I have experienced linens about 3 times total as well (incidentally on the same flight where they had PDB), the rest still have trays with no linens.

Could it be the linens are almost never loaded (don't buy that) or lazy AA flight attendants don't bother using them?

Same with mints, although they are slightly more frequent, also hot towels (on most flights I had them but on quite a few they didn't show up).

The comments are about meal flights only, not snack basket ones.

Again, linens on all US flights show up when a meal is served, along with PDBs and hot towels, no mints though.

arlflyer

No, not more linen talk! Make it stop!!!

The linens are a distraction. It is a ploy. They get everyone focused on linens, on giving and taking away, then it feels like a win when they come back. It allows the airline to stall and divert attention away from the food. If there were no linens to talk about, then maybe all the attention would be on the food, and on making it better.

asnovici

um... or not

aamilesslave

If it takes the linen discussion out of the food threads and isolates here, then I'm all for it.

Col Ronson

This is an entirely serious question: what is with the obsession with linens?

BWISkyGuy

Fair enough! I thought there were two rolled together or something and cut by the guest, but now that I look at the picture you're correct, there is only one. Still, I was just trying to get the discussion closer to the item in question than an inside out cat, as originally asserted.

cmd320

As stated upthread, the presentation affects the perceived value of the supposed 'premium' product and can even affect the taste one has of the meal. If the meal is carelessly tossed in front of you, mangled and sitting on a tray you'd expect to find in an elementary school cafeteria, even if it's of decent quality (which in most cases on AA, it isn't), it's still going to look cheap and classless.

Presenting the meal with a linen covering the AAwful tray makes it appear as though it belongs in an F cabin, at least a little bit. It's a very easy item to fix, and one that adds a lot to the appearance of the product. At present, F meals present the same as some airlines' Y meals.

Col Ronson

While i agree that it is an easy item to fix, it's not something high on my list of priorities. Having flown UA, they do use a dark navy blue linen for first class meals but that has never made their crap meals look any better for me. Whether or not linens come with the first class meal is not a deciding factor on if i fly an airline or not.

On a side note i did fly LAX-DFW today and there were no linens. I did notice an interesting thing though, almost everyone in the F cabin was obviously business traveling (suits/ties etc), and half of them refused the meal service. I don't know if it was because the food sucks or because they don't want any food, but i suspect its the later.

Hard to fault AA for not putting too much weight in the food when a lot of people don't even bother with it and it goes to waste.

If anyone's curious there were PDBs offered though. For those who hate the AA/US merger you can thank US for that, since US has been doing PDBs for years.

cmd320

I don't think you've flown UA in some time. They do not use dark navy blue linens in domestic F, but rather a light colored powder blue linen. Their food has also dramatically improved (though the meal windows do suck), especially their standard transcon and some midcon meals. Those offerings are considerably better than AA's as well as DL in some cases.

LAX-DFW is a route that is typically flown by people on a very frequent basis. I would guess that most of those customers you speak for, experienced that menu on their outbound flight, or on flights earlier in the month as AA no longer rotates menus based on direction of flight, nor on a monthly basis. If I were subjected to the olive chicken/lemon Alfredo on a weekly basis, I too would probably pass on the meal.

MrAndy1369

Here's the thing.

It's not necessarily all about the linens here. It's about how AA has handled the execution of improvements as to date. We were told at the press conference and here on the board (from someone who has inside contacts) that linens would be restored, AND pre-set properly. We were also told we would get basil and parmesan for pasta entrees. Did any of those materialize? No.

It's the principle. Yes, it may seem a bit silly to be focusing on a small thing like linens when food taste/presentation/quality is more important, but to many people, presentation is really important and impacts their appetite/motivation to eat. Right now, AA's meals are unappetizing to look at because of the lack of linens and the visibly ugly tray. Obviously, this is YMMV and not everyone will agree, some even may find the current presentation stylish/better than pmAA's presentation. That's fine. That's up to you. Obviously, we all have different priorities.

But, the thing here is, pmAA focused on the details. They focused on customer satisfaction. They took feedback seriously on their F/J meals. For example, in Fall 2012, when AA changed snack service to be a smaller snack, many complaints helped AA to change and offer a better-sized snack. You can say that current AA does take/implement complaints seriously, given the improvements so far being made to F meals. However, why say linens will be set, if they aren't? Why say basil/parmesan will be provided, yet nothing is provided?

We need to hold AA accountable. Yes, pmUS leadership may be running the show, but they NEED to understand that they really can't skimp on service. pmUS and pmAA both had their own pros and cons, their own strengths and weaknesses, but there needs to be a better coherence and integration here. Not false, half-hollowed promises.

Linens may be a small thing, but the details here does make a difference. pmAA leadership were very focused on details, and I remember many customers being very happy with the service. Why isn't this happening?

Okay, end of rant. I really think it's time we take some action to make AA not renege on their promises re: linen/basil/parmesan. You're free to disagree with me, but please don't minimize my feelings/viewpoints on this, as well as others'. Thank you.

arlflyer

Oooh...I like. Very good point. I think we need to start encouraging the mods over on that thread to start taking a strict interpretation of "meal" - if it can't be eaten, it's out of scope. Of course, then there would be arguments by some passengers as to what of AA's food is considered edible. (Personally I think the meals taste fine most of the time)

BWISkyGuy

I stand on the same principle, and I value the linens (being SOMEWHERE in front of the passenger) as much as anyone, but I think one of the key complaints here is consistency. Certainly we're seeing more linens than we've seen parmesan or basil, but all three have been depicted in pics on here, so I don't know if I call them hollow promises, but maybe at worst somewhere between hollow and poorly executed. What the rhyme or reason is for which flights have the FA's sprinkling the pasta garnishes is certainly does seem to be one of the questions so far.

I think "pre-set properly" is a little open to discussion though... I consider covering the tray that some call ugly vs. covering the unsanitary table a wash... If I had to pick between the two, I'd almost rather have the linen under the tray. I know a lot of other people feel passionately about it being over the tray, so fine, that's not the hill I want to die on, but I hardly consider that the "proper" setup by a longshot either.

GotCalcio4

It looks like they've gone to tan linens for the premium transcons, rather than black. Maybe the tan ones are intended to go system-wide and are back ordered, hence the delay? Doesn't seem likely because the photos here show black linens:

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....t-this-summer/

Just trying to hypothesize.