RJD1983

What happens to the non-eaten meals? I'm not talking about scraps, but meals that have been loaded, but were never given out to passengers for any reason. I can totally understand on long-haul the food being binned as it's probably no longer fit for Human consumption. But on CE shorter routes, such as domestic flights, if someone in CE doesn't order a meal, what happens to it? Does it get saved for the next flight? Are crew allowed to eat these meals?

MFCC

In CW, leftover meals form part of the allocation of �crew meals�, so we�d normally have these.
But basically anything not used gets chucked at the end of the flight. They�ve often been unrefrigerated for long periods at that point so it wouldn�t be safe to save them for subsequent sectors.
Most galley operators will cook everything for around 40 mins to landing, and crew will normally scoff some of it. It�s only going in the bin anyway.

pollycat

Just curious: as some leftovers get eaten by the crew (glad to hear this), is there ever a temptation among crew to claim that a certain meal is "not available" when requested by a passenger so that a crew member who really wants it can have it?

Howard Long

I suspect this happens occasionally, if inadvertently, in F when dining on demand, despite ordering ome�s selection at the start of the flight.

chriswiles

I asked this question once (if there are full meals left if someone was really hungry) and was told there's rarely much left over unless someone doesn't want a meal at all (one example is afternoon tea - I noticed on a flight back from CPH recently crew had to explain what it was and some didn't want to eat). Often by the time crew get to, say, row 8, there's also only a single choice left from a menu.

In CW you'll find some parts of unused meals are left in the Club Kitchen. Sometimes there might be a second choice from the light meal.

Confused about the question though as you're sort of assuming there's a tonne of unused meals piled up somewhere?

Greenpen

Couldn’t unused Club food be donated to economy passengers, a sort of aerofood bank? So wasteful to just throw good food away.

IAMORGAN

I imagine the crew have seen a fair few beef cheeks over the years and get sick of them. 😝 Seriously, though, they�re at work, many crew might appreciate a meal but many more will, I�m sure, bring their own. After all, if you�re trying to eat a controlled diet, and keep healthy (an occupational requirement & easier said than done) you probably need to be quite self disciplined. These people work shifts at all hours, travel through multiple timezones, are subjected to pressurisation / depressurisation, and locked in a thin metal tube with hundreds of members of the public�I doubt scoffing the chicken massaman curry is their top priority, especially if this is going to lead to a potential complaint.

Surely happy passengers = happy crew so getting through flight with minimal drama must be key. If anything you�d be more likely to give up �your� meal just to make the �gentleman in 4A� shut up.

IAMORGAN

Ah but then it�d be, why does the person in row 10 get a meal and not me? I saw an unused meal tray in the galley after the IFM told me there were no spare meals. Shouldn�t exit rows be served first as more likely to have status pax. Shouldn�t crew go through manifest, sort it in CIV order, and distribute leftovers in that order? My OH and I were travelling together but I had to give my meal to them, how unfair is that? I have special dietary requirements, this practice unfairly discriminates against me�excuse me waiter, this meal is cold�

They could introduce to BoB �hot dish of the day. Ask cabin crew for today�s dish of the day option�. If anything, this is an unmonetized revenue stream�

Club Europe passenger wakes up ten mins after meal service. �Sorry sir, we don�t have a meal for you�you missed meal service�would you like to buy something from the onboard menu��

If you want to have a business class meal, book business class. If you want to sit in business class, book a seat there.

Otherwise, to quote Fagin, shud up & drink yer gin!

MrsW

On a recent CityFlyer flight I heard the passenger next to me (row 1) being offered a choice of three meals. He picked one and then I said I would like the same. Crew member said sorry, there was only one left over from the outbound and offered me a choice of the other two meals instead.

FlightDetective

That's not allowed, as the passengers have first choice, as the meals are for them.

Food waste is a big problem on flights, it's why airlines like Finnair say have reduced the choices to exactly one for their business class passengers, and then they cater precisely to the booked load on board.

southsquare

Yes, that happens often on CityFlyer: meal offering in CityFlyer CE is excellent IMHO but generally a small number of meals are loaded, particularly if the J "cabin" is only 1-2 rows. Hence the order in which those CE passengers is served becomes important, particularly because with no lounge at LCY, passengers won't pocketed a supply of emergency rations to tide them over. Also note that CityFlyer doesn't usually carry paper cups in CE so if cabin secure occurs while you're still enjoying your hot drink, it can't be transferred into a paper cup.

jeremyBA

An ex girlfriends sister worked for air 2000 ( which has no doubt been taken over many times since )

The crew used to take home the left over cooked breakfasts and she put the in the freezer. Whenever we went to her parents house it was an airline breakfast in the over which I have to say was rather tasty !

I once flew airtours to Barbados. This was I guess 30 years ago on a 747 that was knackered even then.

the crew was on contract and we�re on the island for a week. My sister was in the same ( cheap ) hotel. The crew filled bin bags with every singe miniature left on the plane and there were the party booze for the week.

both I suspect would not be allowed now but it was a good use of surplus breakfasts.

Duck1981

On my most recent AF flight I asked for another glass of Champagne about 30min before landing into VIE, for what the FA had to open a new bottle (last flight of the day)

Out of curiosity I asked what happens with the bottle overnight whilst the airplane stays on the ground, the answer was 'in the toilet' as it wouldn't be fresh enough for the next day's flight.

FlightDetective

Yes, they have to pour out the leftover drinks. BA crew have said it to me before, "Here, have another glass to finish off the bottle, otherwise it goes down the sink".

EJetter

This is incorrect, there is a good supply of paper cups split across two trolleys in the forward galley, and also lids.