Weird "lunch" timing
Jan 31, 2018, 7:28 pm
#1
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Weird "lunch" timing
Was on SQ 634 and SQ 011 recently in J. The first departs at 1405 from SIN to HND and the second departs from NRT at 1455 both with flight times of >6.5 hours. Yet both served a full meal about an hour and a half after take off. It struck me that it would be so much more sensible to serve a full dinner say 3 hours after take off i.e. close to 6 pm and a normal mealtime.
I thought it might be the crew just wanting to get their meal service done so they can relax, but on the SIN/HND flight the meal is actually labelled "lunch". Does anyone know the reason for this strange timing?
I thought it might be the crew just wanting to get their meal service done so they can relax, but on the SIN/HND flight the meal is actually labelled "lunch". Does anyone know the reason for this strange timing?
Jan 31, 2018, 11:50 pm
#5
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There could be cost matters in considering serving dinner later in the flight instead of lunch right after departure. It might be costly to maintain the food quality for an additional 3 to 4 so hours for a dinner service. There could also be logistic concerns with certain food items that can't be served because they can't be kept at an acceptable level for that long (but since I don't work at an airline caterer, these are just guesses).
Feb 1, 2018, 12:15 am
#6
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There could be cost matters in considering serving dinner later in the flight instead of lunch right after departure. It might be costly to maintain the food quality for an additional 3 to 4 so hours for a dinner service. There could also be logistic concerns with certain food items that can't be served because they can't be kept at an acceptable level for that long (but since I don't work at an airline caterer, these are just guesses).
I should add that satay was served on the NRT/SIN flight which departed NRT at 1455, and that would have been loaded in Singapore so would have spent at least 7.5 hours on the plane already on the way up to NRT + turnaround at NRT.
Feb 1, 2018, 12:59 am
#8
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The only other things I can think of is A) that this is the 'conventional' or 'traditional' flow of service non-frequent passengers come to expect when flying and so SQ kept it, i.e. board > take-off > meal > sleep / work / IFE / whatever > 2nd meal if there is one > land or B) this is how SQ management want it done
It also comes down to passenger preference, some want lunch and other would like dinner. It's like those LH flights where the 2nd meal is labelled 'Breakfast' because your first meal was 'Dinner' but you're arriving at 9pm destination local time. Some find this fine, others find it weird since they're already trying to acclimate to the new time zone and would have preferred dinner as the 2nd meal.
It also comes down to passenger preference, some want lunch and other would like dinner. It's like those LH flights where the 2nd meal is labelled 'Breakfast' because your first meal was 'Dinner' but you're arriving at 9pm destination local time. Some find this fine, others find it weird since they're already trying to acclimate to the new time zone and would have preferred dinner as the 2nd meal.
Feb 1, 2018, 2:37 am
#9
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Doesn't apply for SQ 634, but for SQ11, for probably half of the passengers, it's already 9pm (body clock time) by the time of pushback ... so it probably feels like a late dinner .... 
Feb 1, 2018, 5:44 am
#10
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But that also means the satay was loaded in Singapore well over 24 hours before.
Feb 1, 2018, 6:20 pm
#11
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: LAX
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It makes sense to me. Consider my itinerary for Jan 2019:
BKK > SIN dep. 9 PM arrive 12:30 AM
SIN > NRT dep 9 AM arrive 5 PM
We'll see how it goes, but I doubt I'll be interested in blowing some cash on a hotel at SIN. At best, I could get a few hours of sleep. Alternatively, I could hang out in the lounge and then sleep on the flight to NRT. That way, I'll still have some pep to see a bit of Tokyo once I get settled.
BKK > SIN dep. 9 PM arrive 12:30 AM
SIN > NRT dep 9 AM arrive 5 PM
We'll see how it goes, but I doubt I'll be interested in blowing some cash on a hotel at SIN. At best, I could get a few hours of sleep. Alternatively, I could hang out in the lounge and then sleep on the flight to NRT. That way, I'll still have some pep to see a bit of Tokyo once I get settled.
Feb 1, 2018, 7:16 pm
#12
Join Date: Jan 2016
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i don’t think satay is served on LAX departures.....may be wrong but I can’t recall having it.
Feb 2, 2018, 1:07 am
#13
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: New York
Posts: 7,347
It makes sense to me. Consider my itinerary for Jan 2019:
BKK > SIN dep. 9 PM arrive 12:30 AM
SIN > NRT dep 9 AM arrive 5 PM
We'll see how it goes, but I doubt I'll be interested in blowing some cash on a hotel at SIN. At best, I could get a few hours of sleep. Alternatively, I could hang out in the lounge and then sleep on the flight to NRT. That way, I'll still have some pep to see a bit of Tokyo once I get settled.
BKK > SIN dep. 9 PM arrive 12:30 AM
SIN > NRT dep 9 AM arrive 5 PM
We'll see how it goes, but I doubt I'll be interested in blowing some cash on a hotel at SIN. At best, I could get a few hours of sleep. Alternatively, I could hang out in the lounge and then sleep on the flight to NRT. That way, I'll still have some pep to see a bit of Tokyo once I get settled.
Harilela Hospitality
Carfield
Feb 3, 2018, 2:05 am
#14
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SQ has weird way of serving food. I was on SQ308 (SIN-LHR, 13h 40 mins) in May last year and they served breakfast after the departure from SIN and then lunch before arrival to LHR. Considering 09:00 departure and 15:40 arrival, I was thinking that lunch would be served about 3 hours before arrival to LHR. Wrong! They started serving lunch six (6!) hours before arrival to LHR. By the time I reached my hotel in London, I was starving...
Feb 3, 2018, 7:42 am
#15
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I suspect the reason for not serving satay on the LAX/NRT leg is it departs at 9 am and arrives at 1:45 pm. So presumably breakfast and lunch are served, and satay is not served for either of these meals.