ozstamps

Joh and I did 38,000 miles of flying in the first 2 weeks of June on a number of carriers and it was interesting to compare the "flatware" provided.

I do not know about anyone else, but using 1¢ McDonalds type knives in a premium cabin really is annoying and totally un-necessary. (As well as making it impossible to cut things like filet!) As 1000s have commented a metal fork can do more damage to anyone than the round tip metal knifes that were previously used, so this silly knee jerk restriction was one of the most dumb post 9/11 moves.

And as all wine bottles on every flight to/from and within the USA are still glass, a smashed bottle is 500 times more lethal than either round tip metal knife or fork. So does a smashed wine or champagne glass they still happily use. Duuuhhhh.

Anyway, sanity may one day prevail again. How have others been finding things on other carriers?

We flew before this trip up front with Qantas domestically and were amazed to get 100% plastic utensils. There are no Government rules whatever here on that - so I wonder how many other carriers worldwide serve plastic in front cabins? Here is the past couple of week's experiences:

* Flew BA 'Club World' to and from London - AMS. All plastic. (BA crammed THIRTY pax up front in a 100% packed 737 on a 50 min London-AMS dinner flight, those poor stewardesses!)

* Flew Concorde both ways across the pond. All plastic utensils and cheap common looking plastic at that. Why on earth someone can't make a CLASSY looking metallic plastic for It'l First Class sure beats me. Detracted significantly from the entire magic Concorde 'experience'. A few airlines use black plastic, and some use a dark gray plastic, both of which are slightly more visually acceptable that white, but not much.

* Flew British Midland (coach) to and from Dublin Ireland from LHR and that was all plastic.

* Flew KLM to and from Norway in coach and seem to recall it was all plastic - not sure what they had in biz.

* Flew KLM 747 to and from AMS to Malaysia in biz upstairs and all METAL cutlery both ways. ** BRAVO! **

* Flew Malaysian Airlines to and from KUL to SYD in 747 coach exits and had plastic both ways. Understand they had metal up front.

* Flew several flights across USA in June on United, in Biz and First, and recall on both transcons JFK/LAX and SFO/JFK in 767s that the knife was certainly cheap plastic, and recall that fork and spoons were also plastic. Their UA website still promises "fine flatware" on Premium transcons! I guess on that basis McDonalds can also advertise "fine flatware" with each cheeseburger.

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~ Glen ~


[This message has been edited by ozstamps (edited 06-18-2002).]

Carioca Canuck

This week I flew on United (2 segs), AC (1 seg), TAM (2 segs) and Varig (1 seg).

No one had metal knives....but AC had metal forks.

BTW....all of it was in Y except for the AC segment which was an operational upgrade to J.

[This message has been edited by Carioca Canuck (edited 06-18-2002).]

jsmeeker

I'm not sure what McDonald's flatware looks like. I eat from there with my hands.

Anyway, the plastic stuff AA uses up front on domestic trips is decent plastic, IMHO. In fact, I think its better than the mini forks and knives they used before (again, this is standard domestic F. Not flagship or international). Those little forks and knives sucked. At least the plastic ones are full sized.

raffy

On our flight from SIN to Bangkok two weeks ago, SAS was back to using metal cutlery.

eastwest

Even their hotcakes?

Leisuremiles

Oz- I was in your wonderful country in mid-May and flew Quantas BNE-SYD in Biz and was suprised to receive not one but two stainless knives in my napkin rollup. Coach still had the plastic, I guess they're a less trustworthy group or maybe the Taliban are only allowed to fly coach.

apx068

Hi there,
Metal knives have been banned on *all* flights by all airlines into and out of the UK. Thank you to the UK government there.

On my last UA transatlantic flights (coach out, upgraded biz back) everything was the "heavy" duty black plastic. Actually, I don't mind these too much.

On my regular London-Bucharest trips on LH, the food service has been cut back to a sandwich on the London to Frankfurt/Munich leg. Apparantly it's a direct response to the UK laws so that you don't need cutlery. The Germany to Bucharest leg suffers from none of the silliness and you get the little cold plate snack with a bread roll and a real metal knife.

Jason

jsmeeker

I don't eat breakfast at McDonalds. I may have once or twice, but that would have been a *long* time ago.

oldpenny16

Oh my, you haven't had the experience of the 'spork'! That's a combination spoon and fook. Supposed to be both a money saved and weight saver. Thanks to BA for making this available to those in the cheap seats!

Steve M

I was in CX J class last month LAX-HKG. Although all flatware was plastic, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was custom-made for CX. It was a sort of translucent turquoise (looks better than I make it sound), with the CX logo molded in the knife handle. They have to use plastic to comply with gov't rules, but at least they're making an effort to have the colors match the rest of their meal service and cabin, and display their logo.

I think this would be a good example for other airlines to follow. I can't imagine that it would cost that much to have these items custom made in the quantity that a large airline must be buying.

[This message has been edited by Steve M (edited 06-21-2002).]

christep

I've seen this stated many times, but I can never find a source to verify this. If you go to the UK Government website here:

http://www.aviation.dft.gov.uk/transec/06.htm

you will see that the government claims that airlines have some discretion in what is carried, although it is not clear how far this extends.

As other countries (e.g. KLM, SAS) allow their carrier to use real cutlery this is becoming a factor in my choice of long haul airline / hub in Europe.

NM

Any flight to/from/within the USA must use non-metal cutlery. Any other flights do not come under the FAA's control, so airlines are not constrained to the their rules, but the rules set down by the bodies that do control the flown sectors.

Flights to/from/within Australia are allowed to use metal cutlery, with the obvious exception of those flights that fly directly to/from the USA. If, for example a one-stop flight (such as QF25) flies BNE-AKL-LAX, the sector BNE-ALK can be metal (and if on QF), but the AKL-LAX must not be metal.

There may well be other countries that have banned metal cutlery (as some have said is the case in UK).

ROADRUNNER

I am from the school, where many things are best left unsaid!

I really don't see how this information is necessary for ALL to read and learn!

Just my $2.00 worth!

Ken hAAmer

Exactly what would they be learning, other than certain airlines still use metal knives, and why would that be of any consequence? If you're going to suggest that a plane could be hijacked with a metal "butter" knife any better than with a metal fork, then you may havea future in airline security.

Saudia Airlines and Turkish Airlines, although not to the US.