Buying 'Food for Purchase' in first class
 

I was on a flight recently and a passenger in first class who had previously declined the breakfast choices asked the FA to see the economy food for purchase selection. He asked for something on the menu, which was brought to him and he paid with his credit card. It looked somewhat sleazy to me that this pax who had bought a FC ticket (he was not on upgrade list) be charged by CO for a ten dollar (or whatever) meal.

I thought a bit about this and wondered whether a passenger in F should be charged money to have a meal sold in Y. If the options in first are not desirable, should FC passengers have a choice (up to a set monetary limit) to pick something from the Y menu? What if the Y offering (one day) becomes more appealing than FC? I suspect people would feel strongly one way or the other.

On Friday
 

I flew in F from FLL-EWR. After I finished the meat/cheese plate I was still a bit hungry. When I asked if there was any seconds to be had they brought me the menu from Y and I had to pay. While I thought it was a bit weird, I was upgraded so I can't really complain. And the attitude of the FA's made up for it :). And question about domestic F, is the black leather seat the normal or temporary seat?

I think this goes along with the charging for specialty drinks from Y when seated in F. Said can of worms can be located here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...cocktails.html

Yeah
 

drinks should always be free in F, especially the first one.

United allows F passengers to eat from the Y menu free of charge. CO charges for the stirrings mixers. Unfortunately, rumor has it that $mi$ek may force UA to do the CO thing of charging F passengers for all sorts of "extras"

Why is anyone paying for the "Specialty" drink mix at all. I tried it once for free and it was nasty. :td:

Agreed. It was not good the one time I tried it.

I am mixed on this whole Food For Sale Thing....while I understand it is the direction that the industry is moving in, it does raise some complications, like the experience that OP described above. Added to that, it just seems so tacky, especially because I remember hearing at one of the large CO events that Y meals really did not cost that much to produce.

While I do NOT believe that I should be charged, I expect that I am going to be charged as the airlines (including CO) are charging for just about everything else, including upgrade for Elites. :(

Smisek is out to make money, after all he has to justify his new salary....which is a bit of a jump from former CO salary.

Sadly, this is why I did not want to see Larry go, I felt that he had served long enough under Gordon that he understand what made CO different. Jeff does not seem to share Gordon's view on the airline and I am fully prepared to watch CO change from being the lone standout to just another US legacy airline.

Dan

As with many FC-related issues, it depends where you're sitting. If you're in Y toward the middle or back (because all the ELR seats were sold weeks before to non-elites and mileage upgrades kept you out of FC) you'd probably want the Y cabin served first before offering to sell anything to those in FC.

As of Nov 1st that is no longer the case. UA F pax has to pay for the snack box or fresh choice item just like CO.

Was on EWR-AUA this week with LOTS of "free riders" (AKA one-time mileage/purchases of F seats) in F. I personally saw ~6 people BUYING the mixers. :td:

Seriously, I paid $868/ticket for my 3 tickets and CO cant spring for a lousy $3. :rolleyes:

Since I do buy F when I travel with the family, this (no free drinks) along with the HORRIBLE (used to be excellent) international F service/meals (really, a SMALL salad on a 5+ hour flight???) has made me reconsider next Thanksgivings flights. I will definately shop around at DL and AA now - and give my money where I get the best value, and NOT staying with one airline.

I guess this is one of Jeff's changes that he thinks we'll like. :rolleyes:

Ya'll will be so buzzed from free drinks in the RCC, doubt many will notice. @:-)

I have always maintained that UA loyalist were not going to like CO (Jeff) at the helm and it looks like I may have been right.

I am not a huge fan of the changes that Jeff is making either, but this is what I expected as the outcome, less service for the customer, these mergers are more about the Corp. bottom line than ours.

Dan

I'm not really a big fan of the free swill in the RCCs. I had so many chits back in the chit days, I could get nice booze for free whenever I wanted a drink in the RCC.

Now there's no mechanism to get free good stuff, but there's all you can drink Bud Light. :td: This change is not exactly positive either.