Catered Cockroach
 

Funny story. Sort of. Flight crew finds a cockroach with the catered food on UA 1400 SFO-ORD today. Captain decides to offload food and recater. Mentions over the PA that it was a tough call but decided to play it safe for health reasons. Flight delayed. Somewhat stunned captain noted that this was an announcement he never thought he would have to make.

Correctness of the call aside, the captain and the crew have been super professional and friendly about keeping us updated and apologizing for the situation. If you can believe it, I think it's because of their professionalism that we're all just waiting patiently. I don't hear many angry voices even among those who disagreed with the choice to delay.

Are you in F or Y? I think if I were in F, I'd be understanding about waiting to have my food reloaded. If I were in Y, I'd know my food was sealed in a shrink-wrapped box, and thus resent delay for a #firstclassproblem.

SFO-ORD is what, 4 hours or so? I'd say throw that crap back into the catering truck and let's roll. Time for a liquid lunch - you can keep the food. Last thing I'd want is another meal from the same kitchen.

Yeah, yeah, I know how common it is... just don't want to see it. Yuck.

F or Y I wouldn't want a cockroach near any of my food!!

I'm not sure what is gained by taking food with cockroach and exchanging for more food from same place cockroach came from.

It's very rich in protien! :). Gotta lift some weights before that meal.

I assume you don't go out to eat in the DC area during the summer.

:):)

That's the easiest tell that someone didn't bar-tend/serve their way through college... ;)

I'd venture to guess that if the food was not destroyed, it ended up on another flight...

I have issues with this. The FAs preboard at like T-40 or so. It is their responsibility to make sure that everything is ok before the passengers board. If there was an issue like that they could have caught it early and have it fixed with no delays to the passengers

But, of course, that meant that they would work and not chit-chat...

i hope it was extra crispy. nobody likes soggy roaches.

And the truck just made a tour of the airport then came back with the exact same cart....:D

And I'm sure they did check everything that was essential to the safety of the flight prior to letting the passengers on. If they are to poke their noses under each piece of foil too, every meal flight will be delayed.

With all the on-time issues as of late I'm a little sympathetic that pre-boarding checks are more hurried than usual. They did, after-all, identify the issue. As the OP opined, the right call by the captain -- if a bit inconvenient.

If the caterer is LSG, this is pretty much what happened.

You do realize that cockroaches have legs and move around? That even if they did check each and every tray, it's not like it would have been sitting on a lounge chair waving to them?

Not sure how you can blame the crew for not noticing one bug early enough not to delay the passengers.