Please Explain CO Catering Decision
 

I am still relatively a newbie when it comes to CO. I'll be taking my first set of flights next week. I'm very excited :) If you have any tips or suggestions, please let me know.

Anyway, I've been checking the PDA sites for my flights coming up and I noticed this strange catering decision.

IAH-LGA in F
10:35am dep time: Light meal with choice of hot sandwich or salad main course option
11:47am dep time: Light meal with choice of hot sandwich or salad main course option
1:10pm dep time: light cold snack plate
2:15pm dep time: Hot meal with choice of two main course options
3:55pm dep time: Hot meal with choice of two main course options
5:45pm dep time: Hot meal with choice of two main course options
6:45pm dep time: Hot meal with choice of two main course options

Why is the 1:10pm flight getting a cold snack plate while all other flights even during non-meal times like 10:35, 2:15, and 3:55 all get an actual meal??? :confused: Of course, I'm on the 1:10pm flight :rolleyes:

It's the same for the reverse:
LGA-IAH in F
10:50am dep time: Light meal with choice of hot sandwich or salad main course option
12:00am dep time: Light meal with choice of hot sandwich or salad main course option
1:12pm dep time: Light meal with choice of hot sandwich or salad main course option
2:30pm dep time: Light cold snack plate
5:24pm dep time: Hot meal with choice of two main course options

:confused: :confused: Why is the 2:30pm flight serving a snack plate while all other times get full meal? What gives?? Even the 1pm flight gets a full meal, but the IAH-LGA 1pm flight gets a snack!!

And, of course, I'm also on the 2:30pm flight :rolleyes:

:confused:

The others are not "full meals" - they are light meals.

It just means you won't have a choice. The quantity/standard will be the same.

Maybe full is not the right word. But all other meals are far more substantial than the ones I'm on. I'll take a salad over snack plate anyday.

I still don't understand why those 2 flights are the only ones with cold snack while all others ones get at least a salad/hot choice.

It's because the flight does not cross a meal time. I think it's 7am 12 noon and 7pm that the flights must cross. Someone can correct those times if I'm wrong. As far as the meals, light means choice of a hot sandwich or dinner sized salad w/protein. Included is a small fruit bowl and a cup of soup. Really a decent amount of food. This is basically for lunch service that crosses noon time.

Hot meal means a choice of two hot entrees, one of them being a sandwich the other, dish-up. It comes with a small salad and a cup of soup. This is for a dinner service that crosses dinner time.

Cold snack plate is for flights of sufficient duration that do not transition meal times. The cold plate is on the small side but it also comes with a fruit bowl, crackers, sometimes cheese (but not usually in my experience, and no I don't snag it for myself) and a packaged cookie like a Milano.

Referencing your examples above, the first flight leaves at 1:10 and gets in around 5:40. The second flight leaves at 2:30 and gets in around 5:00 neither cross the magic hour.

Edit: After thinking about it, cheese is always there but either it's on the plate or it's prepackaged on the side. On the side is rare, on plate, common.

By the same logic, the LGA-IAH at 1:12pm flight should also get a snack, but it doesn't. It gets a full light meal. It also doesnt cross the 12 or 7 time.

:confused:

Not always
 

Unless it is being used to make shrimp pizzas for the F cabin FA. ;)

From co.com:

Dining

48 U.S., Alaska, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America Resort Destinations*
In general, meals or snacks are served in First Class on flights over 1 1/2 hours and in Economy Class on flights over two hours that fall within standard mealtimes. Beverages are served on all flights.

Standard Mealtimes
Breakfast / Snack: 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Lunch / Snack: 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Dinner / Snack: 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

In addition, a light snack is offered in First Class as noted below:

Flights over two hours: 5:00 a.m. - 7:59 p.m.
Flights over three hours: 8:00 p.m. - 4:59 a.m.


The time is measured by the time zone of the originating city. So, the 1:12 departure from IAH never makes it into the 5:00 pm Central meal window as measured by city of origin. The 2:30 pm from LGA does make it into the 5:00 pm Eastern meal window, but barely, so they do not bother with a full meal.

What really is a travesty is when flights like CLE-SFO only get the snack because they are not considered true transcon and are outside the standard meal windows as measured by city of origin.

The 1:12pm is from LGA-IAH. It barely crossed the 5:00pm meal time, yet still gets a full light meal while the 2:30pm LGA-IAH definitely crosses the 5:00pm meal time yet gets only a snack.

It still doesn't make sense :confused:

According to what was said in one of the break-out sessions at last fall's big CO Do in Houston, the mealtimes are stretched by for each time zone change the flight makes. IIRC they add 30 minutes to the schedule for meal purposes for each time zone boundary crossed. So with IAH-EWR (or vice versa) you can add 30 minutes to the flight's times to determine if it falls in a meal period or not.

And yes, there are always oddball flights where this doesn't seem to make sense. I got a cold plate last year on a lunch JFK-IAH flight that left around 12:30 PM. Flights out of EWR and LGA leaving around the same time had a hot lunch with two choices. The timetable and website both said "lunch" not "snack" for F on my flight, but apparently the cold plate was standard on that flight.

I think CO makes meal decisions on a flight by flight basis, with competition in mind. CO competed with B6 on JFK-Houston, so I would assume that is the reason for the reduced catering. Same with some of the Florida routes.

The 30-minute add-on per time zone is not always the case either, as is shown by very long midcons that depart at late hours and that do not have full meal service (e.g., 8:00 or 8:30 pm CLE-SFO, CLE-LAX, certain IAH-West Coast flights).

Out of interest, what catering is available on say a lunch time flight EWR - PHX? It's timetabled at 5hrs 23mins, but would be interested to know what the F catering is?

Thanks!

It's the same as any other lunch flight (other than a true transcon), with a choice of a sandwhich or salad with a protein.

Cheers -and apols for the basic questions - never flown CO, but looking at them for an upcoming flight. Trying to work out whether the £225 difference between economy and first is worth it!

The fare difference is worth it. Despite being a great all around US airline, CO domestic coach is among the least comfortable in the industry. On flights of that length, go with first if the roundtrip fare difference is only $450 (and if comfort is a priority).

I find CO coach to be just as comfortable as AA and in a much much cleaner plane and seat!