Flew IAH-CLE in F last night and I noticed all dinners were served without a wine glass on the tray. Of course you could get wine if you asked for it, but it was the first time I've seen them omit the wine glasses and the walking of the aisle asking "red or white?"

When asked, the FA said there was no change in policy--I could get wine upon request.

My cynical side thinks this may be a cost reduction move with the new year--has anybody else noticed this or was my experience an outlier?

I think it makes sense not to put it on the tray. I dont drink wine and the empty glass always got in the way of the booze.

I wouldn't call it a cutback - I appreciate not having extra clutter on the tray for me to knock over, and I've already spend part of one flight working with a FA to gather up the shards from a wine glass I accidentally knocked off the tray. I don't get an empty soft drink glass on the tray - so I think wine should be poured and served from the galley too.

Since I'd think any cutlery/glass item served on a try needs to be washed before re-use, even if the customer didn't actually use it (at least I hope so), this would cut down on water, soap and labor costs to wash glasses that aren't being used.

Now if you want a real cutback - how about talking about the tinkering of CO1748 which had seen its flight time constantly shifted in and out of the dinner hour, and finally bumped by 5 mins so there is no dinner served anymore. After the change they at least had a snack plate. Now, it's down to pretzels in both cabins, although the flight should qualify for a snack plate.

My cynical side thinks this may be a cost reduction move with the new year--has anybody else noticed this or was my experience an outlier?

The cuts have not only been in the catering, which is most apparent on the international first (not BF) flights where the catering is now similar to a first class mid continent flight (two choices, one tray, seperate dessert but not ice cream). The catering previously had been similar to transcons.

Another cut is the loss of pillows in F, which is really a pain especially in red-eyes from LAX back to CLE. Of all things that I would like restored, pillows in F would be high on my list.

If they want to make cutbacks in the front cabin, I'd be happy to oblige them by buying cheap coach fares instead of Y/B or FC fares.

Agreed...they can't be cutting back services in first and simultaneously attempting to get folks like me to pay more for it (now that EUAs are becoming scarcer). Well, technically they can, but like you, I might alter my spending pattern.

No cutback, the FA simply removed the glasses from the tray. Certainly not how it's supposed to be done. Even on breakfast flights I never remove the wine glass, I'll just fill them with water.

I noticed some very minor changes in the catering, but all in all, the food quality and service were really great on my two flights yesterday (SAN-IAH-LHR). The wine glass is not on the tray, but visible pass through with offering of wine several times on shorthaul, and bread roll used to come with the soup & salad option. Really appreciate keeping the fruit bowl and the cookies. The BF flight meal options were up to par, with the 4 choices, and good offerings of wine and dessert etc. In fact, Continental's food options in BF are way better then BA Club and VS Upper Class. BA does have a good Club Kitchen with fruit, sandwiches, cookies, chocolates etc that offset some of the poor main courses.

I wished all FA's did this, glad you are one who does.

Continental is also instituting cutbacks up front welcome to the star aliance club lol no just kidding but United has had a number of cutbacks in service upfront in recent years and months . I am not at also surprised if CO is trying to slip some cuts in there too

All my flights this weekend had the wine glass on the tray; maybe it was a one-off event. But I would second the motion to have it removed, I don't drink wine and it gets in the way.

Regardless of what you guys (or the FA) prefer, the current policy is to leave a glass on the tray and merchandise the wine. Until that changes, which it hasn't, FA's really have no business modifying it to their tastes.

One exception of course would be if glasses were not catered but, in my experience, I've never seen that happen.

Warm mixed nuts in ramekins disappeared a while ago to be replaced by prepackaged cashews. The last few months, almonds have replaced the cashews. Will we have peanuts next?

I'm sure that it's just part of the F nut "rotation" on CO.

Yep, they've rotated between the cashews, mixed nuts, and almonds many times over the years.