Even more service cuts being tested
Oct 18, 2019, 3:00 am
#31
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B6 has been known to send 200-seat A321s out with zero working lavatories, so I wouldn't be surprised if they sent one out with no food or beverages.
The other issue I see is that JetBlue is still advertising 'unlimited' snacks and drinks. Most people take one or two things from the basket on the first pass, and then don't know or don't bother to go get more from the FA in the rear galley. Unless they get the FAs to ration/limit the snacks and drinks, they're going to run out. And if they do ration/limit for the sake of this catering circus, then they can't truthfully advertise 'unlimited' anymore.
Oct 18, 2019, 9:04 am
#33
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The coffee makers heat up water to the 180s (F). With an average cabin altitude of say 7,000 feet ASL (at least on the Airbus), boiling is around 199. I once had a coffee maker with a bad circuit go above 200 and it started spewing out smoke. That was fun
-J.
Last edited by GW McLintock; Oct 18, 2019 at 10:30 am Reason: wrong quote
Oct 18, 2019, 10:31 am
#35
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The other issue I see is that JetBlue is still advertising 'unlimited' snacks and drinks. ... Unless they get the FAs to ration/limit the snacks and drinks, they're going to run out. And if they do ration/limit for the sake of this catering circus, then they can't truthfully advertise 'unlimited' anymore.
There was a video going around where they quoted how many items were leftover after a turn. I know the galley packouts and what he said was impossible.
You can't advertise "unlimited" if you don't have anything to serve in the first place.
-J.
Oct 18, 2019, 12:01 pm
#36
Join Date: Feb 2019
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That's not quite true. On a flight over one hour (IIRC) you need to have one working lavatory. Under an hour is the captain's discretion.
The coffee makers heat up water to the 180s (F). With an average cabin altitude of say 7,000 feet ASL (at least on the Airbus), boiling is around 199. I once had a coffee maker with a bad circuit go above 200 and it started spewing out smoke. That was fun
-J.
The coffee makers heat up water to the 180s (F). With an average cabin altitude of say 7,000 feet ASL (at least on the Airbus), boiling is around 199. I once had a coffee maker with a bad circuit go above 200 and it started spewing out smoke. That was fun
-J.
Oct 18, 2019, 12:28 pm
#37
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I thought I read/saw elsewhere that someone looked up the actual coffee pot thingy that was used (perhaps not on all aircraft though) and it only heated the water to like 156 or something? Plus I think in order to get rid of the nasty, you have to have the temperature maintained for 30 minutes.
-J.
Oct 19, 2019, 12:10 am
#38
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On Oct 5, a BOS-LAS and returning LAS-BOS flights were delayed because the captain on the BOS-LAS flight rejected the aircraft for having zero working lavs. The outbound and subsequent return were delayed, but it was the right call. And instead of actually fixing the aircraft right away, they put it on a roundtrip BOS-MCO flight instead, and then was finally fixed after it came back. From what I heard, the toilets were clogged, that was all.
Last edited by diburning; Oct 19, 2019 at 12:18 am
Oct 20, 2019, 1:30 pm
#39
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Oct 21, 2019, 7:47 am
#40
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I just had a friend (a B6 employee) vent tonight about the cutbacks. As some had feared, aircraft are indeed running out of catering supplies. Worse, some of them are running out mid-cycle. They mentioned one aircraft which was completely out of catering items (no water, soda, etc.) and needed to go out for one more leg before it was scheduled to be replenished. Since they weren't scheduled for catering, it apparently took quite a bit of effort to get something put onto the aircraft, and even then it wasn't a full catering service.
As far as this being a move to improve turn-around times, I call bull. It doesn't take any appreciable more time for catering to drop off a bag of ice compared to swapping out catering carts. I know SkyChefs ain't cheap, but they can't be THAT expensive compared to a cancelled flight.
From our office's own travel, B6 used to be our #1 choice, followed by DL. In the past few years, that's been reversed. B6 used to be different. Anyone remember 2 bags included? Flexible about changes? Now they're just another legacy carrier, without the robust network and hubs. As of the August '19 DOT report, JetBlue has the worst on-time performance out of all the carriers, even substantially below Spirit and Frontier. While they're not dead last in cancellations, I do wonder if any flights will be cancelled due to the lack of catering. I know I wouldn't send up a plane with 150 people and no drinks / potable water on-board -- to me that'd be a safety issue.
As far as this being a move to improve turn-around times, I call bull. It doesn't take any appreciable more time for catering to drop off a bag of ice compared to swapping out catering carts. I know SkyChefs ain't cheap, but they can't be THAT expensive compared to a cancelled flight.
From our office's own travel, B6 used to be our #1 choice, followed by DL. In the past few years, that's been reversed. B6 used to be different. Anyone remember 2 bags included? Flexible about changes? Now they're just another legacy carrier, without the robust network and hubs. As of the August '19 DOT report, JetBlue has the worst on-time performance out of all the carriers, even substantially below Spirit and Frontier. While they're not dead last in cancellations, I do wonder if any flights will be cancelled due to the lack of catering. I know I wouldn't send up a plane with 150 people and no drinks / potable water on-board -- to me that'd be a safety issue.
We will see what happens with these catering changes.
Oct 21, 2019, 12:12 pm
#41
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My flight from BOS to SFO last week boarded 50 minutes late because the gate was waiting for catering. I know this is just one data point, but it was frustrating as hell. Once the gate crew told us the reason for delay, a customer then asked "can't they cater while we're boarding the plane?" They were told the B6 A321s (including neos) need to be empty for catering due to the mid-cabin food/drink.
Oct 21, 2019, 1:37 pm
#42
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My flight from BOS to SFO last week boarded 50 minutes late because the gate was waiting for catering. I know this is just one data point, but it was frustrating as hell. Once the gate crew told us the reason for delay, a customer then asked "can't they cater while we're boarding the plane?" They were told the B6 A321s (including neos) need to be empty for catering due to the mid-cabin food/drink.
-J.
Oct 27, 2019, 3:03 pm
#43
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I've flow narrow bodies over the ocean for decades. AA and UA have done it and they're completely fine. I've also flow Norwegian's 737 Max (pre grounding obviously
) from Newburgh to Europe. They are all fine.I personally can't wait for Jetblue to start flying to Europe. I love Norwegian, and have had a dozen great flights with them over the ocean, and with them starting to cooperate with Jetblue, we may all get some finally needed variety in carriers over the ocean.