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UA Express drinks catered in garbage bags

UA Express drinks catered in garbage bags

Old Jun 24, 2015, 10:51 am
  #1  
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UA Express drinks catered in garbage bags

On a recent UAEX flight from ORD on a Barbie dream jet, the galley was catered by putting garbage bags full of drinks on the floor. While I get that there's nothing inherently unsanitary about it, the f/a (who was already really cranky) had to dig through the bags on the floor, put like beverages together, and then stock her cart. It actually delayed the flight about 2 minutes because she had not finished rummaging through the bags and had to figure out where to stash them so the plane could taxi. After the plane took off, she finished sorting, but there was no service (or offer). I'd never seen this before, not only does it not seem terribly efficient - at least for the f/a - it looks awful.
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Old Jun 24, 2015, 11:11 am
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I've seen this quite often from the really small airports. Sometimes I have seen them bring a cooler on board, sometimes a grocery bag, etc. My guess, there is probably not a true catering company onsite at that airport and the carrier purchases it from a local vendor (or bulk order of cans in a box and keeps them in a storage room at the airport) and then when they need to stock, they put them in a bag and bring on board.
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Old Jun 24, 2015, 11:41 am
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Maybe, but Ohare?
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Old Jun 24, 2015, 11:48 am
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Originally Posted by CO DCA
Maybe, but Ohare?
Could it be that the catering company/employees/workers differ amongst the different regional carriers, or from regional/mainline?

I have no idea, personally, but just speculating.
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Old Jun 24, 2015, 12:03 pm
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Using garbage bags or boxes would allow restocking without using a catering truck. I've seen this with other regional airlines: someone driving around in a regular truck with supplies to restock between full catering services.

It saves a lot of time and money on the catering side, but clearly puts more work on the FA.

Hopefully they weren't being super cheap and reusing garbage bags.
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Old Jun 24, 2015, 12:13 pm
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"Barbie dream jet" - has me chuckling hardcore.
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Old Jun 24, 2015, 2:35 pm
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And places, including the Flyertalk front page, are already casting this as "the FA had to dig through the trash for drinks." Whenever I move I stuff all my undies, socks etc., into big plastic bags. Does that make it trash? Sigh.
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Old Jun 24, 2015, 3:17 pm
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Originally Posted by milepig
And places, including the Flyertalk front page, are already casting this as "the FA had to dig through the trash for drinks." Whenever I move I stuff all my undies, socks etc., into big plastic bags. Does that make it trash? Sigh.
How does the front page title get created? I was amazed to see it labeled as a flight delay for a 2 minute wait
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Old Jun 24, 2015, 3:51 pm
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Originally Posted by fly18725

Hopefully they weren't being super cheap and reusing garbage bags.
As long as they're still clean, why not re-use and keep them from going to a landfill each time?! Would of course be better to use (and re-use) something more sturdy (like a box!)
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Old Jun 24, 2015, 4:46 pm
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What I'm missing here: why go to all that trouble and then not serve anything?
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Old Jun 24, 2015, 6:44 pm
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Originally Posted by awu25
How does the front page title get created? I was amazed to see it labeled as a flight delay for a 2 minute wait
Looks like they have a click bait editor.
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Old Jun 24, 2015, 7:05 pm
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When I read the thread title I was hoping to come in and see that drinks were served in little bags like you get on the street in South East Asia.
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Old Jun 24, 2015, 8:35 pm
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Originally Posted by milepig
Whenever I move I stuff all my undies, socks etc., into big plastic bags. Does that make it trash? Sigh.
Hopefully you weren't carrying your undies in a trash bag on a UAX flight. They could easily be mistaken for beverages and the FA might be unpleasantly surprised when he/she reaches in for a club soda.
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Old Jun 24, 2015, 8:39 pm
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One of my favorite UA flights was SFO-LHR on the upper deck of a 747. The plane took a two-hour mechanical delay and we didn't even care; we were just having a blast watching movies and hanging out and enjoying the upper deck. We were young and in love.

At some point during the flight my wife told the FAs that she really liked the cute little form factor of alcohol minis ("what a fun way to package liquor!" or something).

At the end of the flight a FA discreetly brought my wife a huge UA garbage bag stuffed with unopened minis. "You have to take these."
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Old Jun 25, 2015, 8:34 am
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Originally Posted by notquiteaff
Looks like they have a click bait editor.
SLIDESHOW: UA FA feeding pax juice from the bottom of a garbage bag. What seat 1A did left me speechless.
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