graytidy

Leaving some details out so that this flight can't be traced.

Flew home INTL -> US D1 (full rev) yesterday on 9+ hour flight. Pax directly across the isle from me was sick, coughing every 2 minutes on average (but not while asleep, weird). Took off my bose because all they were doing was cancelling out the engine noise so I could hear him cough in high fidelity.

Meal service starts, they get to me, FA looks a bit confused and realizes someone else gave sick guy my meal. They converse a bit and agree on that he has the wrong meal, FA starts to pick up sick guy's food and sick guy says "but I've already started". FA picks up the meal, reconstructs it from items on his trolly (I wasn't paying close attention) AND THEN PLACES IT IN FRONT OF ME.

The horror of the situation racing through my mind, I just place the tray on the seat rest and say thanks but I've changed my mind.

Maybe 30 seconds later 2nd FA shows up with another tray of my meal (which I decline, as I was still contemplating what would have happened if I wasn't adjacent to sick guy but a few rows ahead).

Otherwise the flight was great.

SFO777

OK, definitely sounds gross. But why are you concerned about revealing flight details??

graytidy

Selfish reasons, I would prefer that those FA's not get into trouble because I will absolutely be on that flight again.

btonkid12345

If it is as you describe, they should be reprimanded because this is both a food safety violation and also a violation of Delta's protocol. If I were you, I would file a formal complaint online with FA names if you can. They won't ID you to the FA, just generally retrain them that re-serving food that has already been placed in front of another passenger (and who has already started working on it, possibly coughed all over it) is completely unacceptable.

Can you elaborate how they reconstructed from the items in the trolley? Why didn't they just swap his meal out and be done with it? If I were you, I would have kindly raised this matter with the Purser on board so it was addressed then and there and would decrease the likelihood of it recurring.

graytidy

No, not from my angle, nor was I paying close attention.

I can only speculate. Maybe the FA mis-estimated the amount of time it had been sitting in front of the other pax (as in only a few seconds vs a few minutes) and/or he didn't hear him when he protested. The FA also would not have had any reason to know the guy was sick. I think the FA's are reasonable people, if he was aware of any of these it seems unlikely he would have done it. It was just a mistake.

Often1

The time to deal with problems, especially ones relating to safety, is on the spot. If you did not bring this in a clear and concise manner to the FA's attention on the spot, it cannot have been that important. If you did not bring it to the purser's attention immediately, it cannot have been that important. Yet, you have spent the time to post about it here, where it will do no good.

DL is not going to terminate a FA for this, but if you don't bring it to DL's attention, the underlying issue can't be dealt with.

Frankly, it doesn't matter whether the other passenger was overtly ill. Basic hygeine and health protocols would dictate that once the other passenger had access to the tray, what he doesn't eat goes in the bin.

btonkid12345

Thanks for the reply. Mistakes happen, but sometimes people need to be retrained in them. I appreciate your mercy towards the FAs, but if the passenger protested the removal and they still did it (and they were reconstructing stuff) it was clear the food/tray was not reusable or sanitary. FAs are people too and sometimes screw up, but the choice they made on how to proceed with this wouldn't ever be acceptable on any Delta plane in any class of service.

You obviously cared enough to come post about it here. I wish you had addressed it with the Lead FA/Purser on the flight itself because it would have been most efficient to address it then, while it was fresh in everyone's minds - now look, you are worried about it here and conflicted about whether to report it (which you should) to Delta or just let it go. Didn't you or your work spend thousands for this ticket (and won't you continue that trend in the future)?

If I were you I wouldn't want that same FA to be on my flight again thinking it was OK to serve me touched food again (which is what could happen if you leave it unaddressed, by not filing a complaint now).

jk88usa

An obvious health/food safety violation, and retraining would seem necessary.

But...I completely understand the OP's point of view here and not reporting it in flight. I hate to raise a stink in public, especially in a confined space like an airliner, and I'm sure the OP is the same way. While I've seen people raise issues respectfully, I've also seen a bunch of people be extremely rude towards the FAs for no valid reason (hell, a couple weeks ago a guy got mad that the FA decided to include an extra glass of water on his meal tray). Instances like that make me more hesitant to say anything in flight and make an already difficult job even more so; I would agree you should submit feedback as "kindly" as you can in this case, but I completely understand not doing it in flight....

flyerCO

Who appointed you to the position of knowing how important something is to someone? Not everyone has the same level of comfort regarding bringing issues up. Especially on a plane where even if right to complain, a pissed off FA could ruin a passengers day.

Sorry, but your message is just plain off putting/rude.

BTW posting here let's others be on the look out for/be aware of a possible issue. This is the whole point of having these discussion boards.

fpmurphy

Feeling snarly today?

flying_donkeys12

No one on this site must have ever worked in the food industry. Sorry to break it to you, but your food has been touched, coughed on and who knows what else. Luckily this is usually not done in front of you.

flyerCO

Feel it's ok to discredit a posters post? Attack user for posting on a flyer discussion board? Discredit how they felt about something? Sorry, but IMO that post was quite rude. Sorry, but lately we seem to have people basically being rude to posters. This website ought to shut down since posting here doesn't communicate to the airline (complaint about OP posting the issue here).

Good Grief. This is a discussion board, people post to discuss things. Finally absent being God, you have no clue how another feels/what is important to them.

orlandodlplat

I understand - and even commend - OP's reluctance to complain, particularly in front of the other passenger.

But I don't get refusing to eat outright. If you are on the flight, presumably hungry, and "full-rev" (which is irrelevant but whatever), you are entitled to enjoy your meal. Not sure why you didn't discreetly say something to the FA, or get up and talk to them in the galley. This would have gotten you a fresh tray, and probably would have taught the FA that this was the wrong thing to do in the first place.

Instead you didn't eat, the FA never recognized what he/she did wrong, and now there's a whole debate among FTers which will have zero impact on anything.

HMPS

So the beat gors on....? The F/As can ontinue to repeat such lapses if it is never brought to their attention ! I never accept sub standard production. That ultimately will make me do or my staff do the same .

bennos

I totally get refusing to eat outright. I totally get not discussing with the FA on the flight. Some people aren't comfortable with confrontation. Some people might lose their appetite in such a scenario.

I think the one impact that could happen here is that OP should file a post flight compliant with DL. If OP is concerned about FAs "knowing it was him" but still wants to actively address the problem, this is the way to report it.