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Cold soup, no cheese biscuits and tatty plane on Orlando flight

Cold soup, no cheese biscuits and tatty plane on Orlando flight

Old Feb 10, 2019, 3:27 am
  #1  
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Cold soup, no cheese biscuits and tatty plane on Orlando flight

Catalogue of disasters on 777 g-viip yesterday.

Saw soup on CW menu, thought great - but it was cold! (and not meant to be). Fortunately being in row 1 meant they were able to reheat it in the oven before it got served to anyone else.

The plane is 6 months out from refit but had a couple of issues - most worryingly exposed mains wiring to the broken power socket. I insisted they put an engineering report in.

First experience of this lgw crew with new club world experience was very hard for them, 3 crew constantly running back and forth. Eventually they brought up help from other cabins.

They also apparently searched the entire plane for biscuits for cheese. I also overheard galley gossip about reduced loading of champagne meaning they had to reduce serving size.

I was visited by both the csd and the captain to apologise. The soup is supposed to be loaded hot in flasks. Apparently the 777 refits in Singapore have multiple quality issues and the work might be switched to cardiff.

Moral of the story:
Poor training of cabin crew with new systems
Issues with maintenance and refits
penny pinching cost cutting
poor ground service

Saved by crew who value customer service.
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 4:06 am
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Hot flasks .... it sounds like the 1930s.

Mocrowave anyone
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 4:08 am
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Sounds like they're training for the foods available after a hard brexit
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 4:09 am
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Microwaves, what a great idea but they have all been removed!
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 4:17 am
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Originally Posted by Can I help you
Microwaves, what a great idea but they have all been removed!
CIHY - genuine question (given OP refers to re-heating in the oven) - how on earth does that work? Presumably there is some sort of container into which the soup can be decanted, put in the oven, and then poured into a bowl? Sounds like a nightmare for crew. I’m not an expert, but removing the microwaves doesn’t sound like the best ever decision...
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 4:25 am
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Yes it’s a nightmare, we have metal foil dishes we can use but it’s difficult when the ovens are already full with the hot meals.
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 4:58 am
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Are microwave oven allowed on aircraft?
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 5:08 am
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I do hope so we have had them for 20 years.
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 5:12 am
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Originally Posted by Can I help you
Yes it’s a nightmare, we have metal foil dishes we can use but it’s difficult when the ovens are already full with the hot meals.
the crew had to improvise as above, they were very pleased I told them as only one portion had to be thrown away
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 5:13 am
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Originally Posted by Can I help you
Microwaves, what a great idea but they have all been removed!
yes pretty dumb to remove a microwave although the CSD said the old ones were a bit scary because they were very powerful
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 5:43 am
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Not scary at all as long as you realised it used industrial power, it was very very useful and got us out of many problems.
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 6:23 am
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Originally Posted by Can I help you
Microwaves, what a great idea but they have all been removed!
The song lyrics defining what nation "rule the waves" is limited to the macro format, no?
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 8:03 am
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Originally Posted by firstlight
Catalogue of disasters on 777 g-viip yesterday.

Saw soup on CW menu, thought great - but it was cold! (and not meant to be). Fortunately being in row 1 meant they were able to reheat it in the oven before it got served to anyone else.

The plane is 6 months out from refit but had a couple of issues - most worryingly exposed mains wiring to the broken power socket. I insisted they put an engineering report in.

First experience of this lgw crew with new club world experience was very hard for them, 3 crew constantly running back and forth. Eventually they brought up help from other cabins.

They also apparently searched the entire plane for biscuits for cheese. I also overheard galley gossip about reduced loading of champagne meaning they had to reduce serving size.

I was visited by both the csd and the captain to apologise. The soup is supposed to be loaded hot in flasks. Apparently the 777 refits in Singapore have multiple quality issues and the work might be switched to cardiff.

Moral of the story:
Poor training of cabin crew with new systems
Issues with maintenance and refits
penny pinching cost cutting
poor ground service

Saved by crew who value customer service.
I trust (hope?) the use of the word “disaster” is heavily laden with irony.

Does sound like there were some service issues but largely these seem to have been resolved by the crew. Unclear why any of the flight crew became involved though - perhaps you could shed some light? Was there some other disaster pertaining to the way in which the aircraft was being flown that wasn’t to your liking?
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 8:43 am
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Originally Posted by TabTraveller


I trust (hope?) the use of the word “disaster” is heavily laden with irony.

Does sound like there were some service issues but largely these seem to have been resolved by the crew. Unclear why any of the flight crew became involved though - perhaps you could shed some light? Was there some other disaster pertaining to the way in which the aircraft was being flown that wasn’t to your liking?
well yes, a lot of #firstworld problems on catering but exposed electrical wiring is an aviation safety issue which I assume is why the captain got involved (He appeared without me asking)

I fly all classes from economy to first and accordingly expect different service levels in each.

If BA decide to put soup on the menu it's not my problem as a paying passenger if they don't get it right which is your implication.

The crew did a good job in recovery but shouldn't have had to - eliminating the microwave as @canihelpyou said reduces resilience against problems. The captain alluded to giving avios but I said I was not interested in service recovery, just feedback on the issues.

I also figured the FT community would be interested about lgw 777 refit issues.
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Old Feb 10, 2019, 9:53 am
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Sounds like a new policy. Cold soup in CW on BA12 last night too.
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