simons1

Was on the "BA operated by BA Cityflyer operated by Eastern Airways" Saab 2000 from LCY to IOM yesterday.

Pleasantly surprised that there was a breakfast on such a short trip. However it ran out halfway through the cabin and anyone in rows 14 to 18 had the vegetarian. It looked so horrid that few ate it and at as the trays were collected everything including bread (sealed in packet), unused cartons of juice etc were just binned. Unbelievable level of wasteage.

Also interesting there is still the big song and dance about how this isn't the real BA, so you need to turn off your electronic devices, remove headphones etc. None of this modern gate to gate stuff.

layz

It's important to remember that they're not BA so need to get approval from the CAA before allowing electronics. It's not the airline imposing arbitrary rules they can't allow it until they have permission.

Question: what was the non vegetarian breakfast?

simons1

Mushroom, tomato, a soggy hash brown and what appeared to be powdered egg.

Yoghurt (nice).

Orange Juice.

2 pieces of bread.

msm2000uk

I'm doing this route in 10 days time.

Can the plane accommodate small carryon baggage in the cabin?

JustTheOne

That sounds suspiciously vegetarian to me! (although probably not to the catering company if there was - GASP - real bread) Were you able to see what the vegetarian version was?

I get so annoyed by the fake bread rolls on the SPML trays - does anyone eat these? What a waste!

Sam Bee

Begs the question, what was the vegetarian breakfast then

BA6501

Nothing larger than a backpack really; but you can take it to the gate and put it in the hold there, and collect when you disembark.

BA6501

I believe that is the vegetarian breakfast. The standard breakfast has a very unappetising sausage.

Manx Flyer

It is pretty unusual for them to run out of breakfasts - normally it all works fine -but I have known them forget to load them entirely at LCY the previous night for the IOM-LCY red eye!

On the wastage issue I have wondered that as well, but in guess it is not worth them separating the non used orange juice out, and getting it back to the caterers to reuse etc.

In terms of bags, it is normally fine, but they will take some larger bags off you boarding the plane, and the given them back as you get off. If you sit near the front 2A is my preferred seat - for non breakfast flits only - so keep off!). But to be honest, the IOM is quick with bags so I normally just check it in for convenience. Never waited more than 5 minutes, and you can look out of the window to see the baggage truck approaching!

Good to see so many FTers on my local route - if anyone needs local knowledge, just let me know.

Cheers

Manx Flyer

Calchas

What are the loads like on this service?

chris1979

I don't think you could really re-use anything - just like I assume / hope that they don't re-use things e.g. in a restaurant just because I might not have finished all the butter or mayonaise.

Yes, these are sealed but they could have been scratched, a pax could have done all sorts with them etc and I am not sure I'd be happy to be served a "only been served a few times" even if they are still in the original wrapper. Conditions can deteriorate. Not sure what the rules around 'cooling' and 'storage' are etc.

JamieT

I often wonder about the level of wastage associated with the breakfast on domestic flights - particularly the little packets of marmalade because I've never seen anyone use it on the roll!

Sixth Freedom

One of my more interesting assignments at QR was interim head of waste optimisation.

We found an exactly identical problem, namely that the hot sandwiches we were issuing in economy on intra-gulf sectors were not being eaten.

I evaluated three solutions:

i) offer a different product free of charge - rejected by the executives due to cost

ii) offer paid catering like flydubai for high quality products that people actually wanted - rejected by the executives because we were a "five-star airline"

iii) offer no food and only do a bar service - rejected by the executives because we were a"five-star airline".

I did mention that five-star hotels typically do not offer free food and drink, but to no avail...

So what actually happened?

We continued offering a product that nobody wanted and just kept throwing money away.

I am sure that BA suffers from the same issue.

At QR we reused unopened and undamaged packets, jars and so on of things like jam but would not do the same with more perishable products like butter.

simons1

Sorry, I misread. It was per above but with sausage.

simons1

Really the only thing that will fit in the overheads are laptop bags, rucksacs, coats etc. If you have a pull on bag they will tag it as 'valet baggage', take it on the tarmac and you can reclaim it on the tarmac at IOM. In fact there was a 5 minute delay disembarking which the purser said was whilst they got the bags out for collection. Needless to say it was pouring with rain so if sat at the back your bags could be suitably moist on collection.