Nowhere did I imply that they generally deliver poorly, I just said there shouldn't be any excuses if/when they do deliver poorly.

From a long-time DeltaManiac, I recently did my first BF flights from EWR to GLA and return... both flights were excellent in terms of cabin service, no complaints whatsoever. The service was comparable to DL's business elite, but the cabin was far nicer, newer aircraft and five across seating insstead of DL's six across in a 767.

But Newark on the return... what a dysfunctional place when compared to either JFK or even ATL.... but that's another story.

i think CO was pi$$ing in the wind when they upgraded the BF seats on the 777. first of all, they should have done it to all BF equipped AC. they brag about this, supposed, great seat on co.com, yet its only available on a small fraction of thier international routes.

second of all, if they were going to go through the trouble and expense of upgrading the seats, they should have actually made them better (yes they are better, but only marginally and only in the opinion of some). more like suites. sacrifice an inch or so of width, and bring the seats up to par with their international carriers. im cool with the seats either way. i cant sleep on anything that moves unless im on meds. but i know may of you would rather something better. oh well. what do we know?

I do not want to beat this to death, but I am curious. IAH_FLYER - you seemed to be informed.

To add to my earlier comments on BF EWR-GRU in July:

I ordered the Halibut main course, which comes with asparagus as the vegetable (same as the chicken dish). The passengers to both my right and left ordered the same entre. Right passenger gets Executive meal option - which came with an excessively large quantity of asparagus - forming a tee pee over the entire plate and other food. Struck me as odd - looked excessive - person did not eat it all.

Then during normal service, the FA brought both my plate and the left passenger's plate. The left passenger plate had a normal serving. When mine was served, it had only one very small spear over the potato dish. I questioned the FA and she said that is the way the meals are packaged, all items for each meal in one package (in other words, like a TV dinner). I found that hard to believe, and told her that pointing to the left passenger's plate. (The right passengers plate was already taken away). I usually eat only the Fish and the veggie and leave the potato. She then brought me a separate, normal serving of asparagus (about 4-5) in an elongated vegetable dish. I also noticed the same elongated dish used for the few cobbler's on the desert tray.

Now the questions:
1. Are the meals packaged as a TV dinner or are the vegetables in a larger, separate container doled out by the FA (in otherwords, was I lied to)?

2. What is the purpose of the elongated vegetable dishes in the BF supplies? Are they only for the fruit cobbler? (or are the FA's lazy in not using them to serve the vegetables)? That would require two trips, one trip for each passenger versus one trip for two passengers - carrying two items in a trip. The veggie dish does make a nice presentation, versus just laying the veggies on top of the other food.

Also, 3. What happened to the wine list insert? If saving paper is the issue then eliminate the chef writeup insert. Or did CO fire the wine steward?
I liked the wine list, if I had a good wine, I would write it down to buy later.

Promise - no more petty questions.

No, your FA was correct. Generally speaking, each individual meal comes in it's own tin, to be heated in the oven, with the various parts of the entree in seperate containers inside the tin. We load them into the ovens, heat them, and then arrange them according to presentation guidelines as we're preparing each individual tray. It's all quite efficient actually - I imagine it would take us much longer to dole out portions from larger serving sizes during the service. Additionally, they're packaged this way to (hopefully) ensure that the entrees are cooked/heated consistently and in a way that fits our ovens. For those that are 'into' such things, it's really an interesting process - one with more forethought than I'd realized until I toured the Chelsea kitchens.

Generally speaking, the portion sizes are identical from one tray to the next. It's rare that I've seen one tin inadequately portioned, to be honest - but certainly it could happen. Everything is pre-packaged in the Chelsea catering kitchens (or in the kitchens of the catering companies that we have contracted with in non-hub cities).

I'm sorry that you felt slighted - but know that it wasn't intentional (or even an unintentional oversight on the FA's part).

I can't answer the last two questions for you as I've just returned to work after a 2-year leave of absence, and haven't worked in BF in quite some time.

I must say that I'm impressed that of the hundreds of hot entrees I've been served on CO or elsewhere, coach or business/first class, the food has always been at (or just about) the right temperature and texture. It reminds me of McDonalds food in that no matter where you are in the world, a Big Mac will almost always taste the same and be served at roughly the same temperature---all very calculated for the sake of consistency. As a flight attendant, do passengers ever complain of their food not being cooked enough (i.e. the outside is hot but the inside is still frozen, etc.)? And if so, I'm curious as to how you could fix the problem--can you put food back into the ovens to reheat?

Sorry for the completely random questions, but for a while (especially in consideration of some of the excellent meals I had on my BF flights last month) I've been curious about how food is prepared onboard. In any restaurant I have no problem sending the food back if something's wrong with it, but you can't necessarily do that on a CO flight--fortunately, though, this has never been a problem on CO.

I have only had that happen once or twice when I was a newbie FA, and still figuring out exactly the best time to start the ovens or how long to cook the various items. It's not brain surgery, but it is a bit of trial and error at first to get it just right. Usually the problem isn't undercooking - but overdoing it, especially with the breads and sandwiches that get too hard. They can be re-heated, but most of them will turn out a bit yucky after going through the ovens more than once. Most everything is pre-cooked..we're just heating them in convection ovens. Some items are cooked/baked on board - cookies, some of the muffins, the rice on long hauls, etc.

Glad to hear you've found the food to be very consistent. You know...you could always ask if you find yourself with a nice and approachable FA in the galley - I think most would be willing to show you around as long as they're not busy in the middle of it.

Also keep in mind that the FA's can only do so much if the caterer doesn't do its job. The kitchen in GUM has put out some really poor breakfast meals between GUM and HNL. I have had better in Y on domestic flights.

CO Mike rules.

I'm also a frequent international business-class flyer -- usually Delta or AA (which I like because I can often upgrade to int'l first). I tried CO a while back, and I thought their in-flight service was fine. Competitive with the other two carriers. Seats were good, food was good.

However, I do have problems with the ground service that CO provides to premium travelers. The airport free-for-all at both EWR at LGW needs improvement. I suggested some ideas in the other thread.

AA, for example, offers sometimes good, sometimes excellent lounges for int'l premium class cabins. Also has a great drive-up "Park Avenue" check-in service. AA agents thank their revenue passengers for traveling, etc. AA does not escort the passengers onboard, but that would be one solution that CO could implement because of the crowded boarding areas that CO chooses to use.

My experiences with BF (approx. 16x) has been generally very good. Food ranged from tasty to pretty darn good but never *** restaurant and who would expect that. Capucinno OK. COokies and Sundaes terrific. Flight crews range from competent and efficient, if not overly friendly, to warm and chatty (if you want to chat).

The PC lounges are far from luxurious, but serve their purpose, which for me is a relatively uncrowded place to sit and read or make a call, a place for a drink or a light snack, and a clean restroom.

But what's with all the complaints about boarding? What's with being escorted to your seat? I found mine without a problem. I board when I feel like it rather than when someone is ready to take me aboard. I guess it would be nice to have someone assist you getting your luggage into the bins, etc., if you're elderly or disabled, but I'm 65 years old and don't expect to need that kind of help for awhile. I fly from EWR and althought there can be people ahead of you in the Elite security line, I don't think my wait to move through security has ever exceed 10-15 minutes at worst. Hey, give me a limosine on both ends, a massage in flight, full flat sleeper seats, an on-board lounge, in-flight wi-fi for free, world class wines, and maybe a free Nikon D-70 in the amenity kit ---- I'll take them all, but let's get real, if you want the real first class experience, check into the Crillion in Paris, shop at Hermes, and eat at Alan Ducasse. If I get a really pleasant trip across the pond, that's all I'm looking for.

I noticed that the new BusinessFirst menus for August now offer:
"Fresh steamed asparagus is available upon request to accompany any entree"

Maybe it will be served in those mysterious elongated dishes. Based on this, I doubt that the very uneven servings of asparagus (just dumped on top the food - and then only one on my plate versus a dozen on another plate) by the FA's on my July flight in BF (EWR-GRU) were from the individual tin - and more likely as I suspected from a common tin. The uneven servings were just sloppiness on the part of the FA. The FA's do have to transfer the food from the tin to the plate - do they not?

In the 5 years that I've worked for the company, all cooked foods have come in individual servings. As I said, Chelsea does this for a number of reasons: to ensure consistency in cooking, efficiency in the galley, and consistency in portion size. There is no 'family style' anything on board - our ovens just won't accomodate any large cooking dishes. The only items that are served from larger portions are your wine and champagne, some liquors on BF flights (though I believe this is no longer occuring), the toppings for the sundaes, and occasionally the grated cheese topping for the salads. Even the cookies we bake on board come to us pre-formed into patties, lest you feel your cookie is a nibble short.

Perhaps there was an error at Chelsea. Perhaps there was some turbulence, which left your missing asparagus spears on the floor. Or maybe she was a bit clumsy and dropped it by accident. Perhaps your tin got jammed in the oven, and made a mess as it was being removed. You can believe me or not...call Chelsea and inquire or not...ask your FA for a galley tour on your next BF flight and see for yourself or not...let it go or persist in feeling slighted. The unfortunate side effect of our limited space in the galley is that if an entree does end up on the floor, or burned in the oven, etc - there is no larger serving by which to scrape together a replacement (or to even out the portions so that you don't feel slighted by a few lacking asparagus pieces).

Personally, it seems a bit ridiculous that you insist that it must be from a common tin even after I've explained how our galleys are set up. I suppose your evidence, blind assumptions made from the seat, outweigh the thousands of entrees I've prepared from said tins? I suspect that your life will be much more pleasant if you let the small stuff go.

Flymeaway - how do you suspose that the new August BF menu is going to package the a la carte asparagus. Too much waste if you did one per meal - just in case someone orders it. The a la carte vegetable appears to be a new thing with BF. Most of the Asian carriers, including Qantas, have a la carte vegetables - you choose which ones you want - hence they have to be packaged separately.

BTW, on Qantas - everything is a la carte, not only for dinner but including all the breakfast items. No having to just choose cereal or eggs, but everything down to the tomato is a la carte. MH is also a la carte.

I have no clue what is going on in the BF kitchen, but your statement does not have to be true per se. For example, in F at Emirates, everything is a la carte: the caviar with all of its additional side servings, the entrees, vegetables etc. They serve it from a cart with large plates. These items are heated/prepared in toto, i.e. not every single tomato apart. So, everything does not have to be packaged separately. I guess, the new BF asparagus migth also be served using a large plate. If nobody or only 1 or 2 pax take some, the rest will be superfluous; so, I agree with you that if this is indeed the case, it is not very economic.

Typically, each serving of the item would be in it's individual container - with several containers inside the tin. (usually, the asparagus servings would be in paper cups - several paper cups inside the tin). When preparing your tray, we simply invert the paper cups and place the item on your plate.

I know you're convinced that they're portioned from a family style serving and that you were somehow slighted - you are welcome to believe whatever you choose if it's that important to you. But you might consider that I've served literally thousands of meals out of those galleys and just might know a wee bit about this.

In any case, I can't see how this is worth discussing anyway. It's trivial.