Glad United (USA In General) Use Tongs For Bread Basket
 

Having flown different airlines, I remember being offered the bread basket and myself just sitting their dumbfounded after pointing to a piece of bread I wanted. I didn't know I was supposed to grab it out of the basket with my own fingers, including the oil/butter and the little dish to pour it into. Then, when one flies United, everything is placed on your plate by the FA using tongs (USA practice in general). Now with the outbreak of the Corona Virus, I'm so glad for this practice and I really hope those foreign carriers go with tongs as well. This isn't just airline thing.

It wasn't so long ago that people bashed plastic water bottles, but now you will rarely find anyone right now who is willing to refill their own bottles from any public dispensers, let alone the hoopla regarding plastic packaging and how we won't drop dead if everything wasn't sealed in plastic seems to have "died" during this outbreak. I've seen FA's touch the 1.5 liter bottle on the rim of the cup that someone drank out of one too many times.

How many of you that used to think "What you don't know, won't hurt you" now have changed your tunes a bit?

What airline has people take bread directly with their hands? I've never seen anything like that.

Except that your assertions really don't stand up to any closer scrutiny. How do you know, for example, that the FA didn't sneeze all over the bread basket, or whether he touched the end of the tongs with his fingers that had just been in his mouth? It's similar to those idiots who wear face masks but then lift them up s they can scratch their nose. The lid of a plastic bottle could be just as unsanitary as the rim of a pitcher.

What do you mean by 'hoopla regarding plastic packaging'? Rampant excessive packaging is awful and I wish it was stopped.

Swiss for one. It seems to be a general practice to grab with hands even at hotel breakfast buffets in Europe.

Regardless if you like it or NOT, PLASTIC keeps things clean and free from contamination. Personally, I'd rather take my chances from 1 FA vs you and 149 others. Not saying it won't happen with FA's. We've had outbreaks of hep because of one employee working sick at restaurants before.

And on cruise ships when there's listeria outbreak they don't let ANYONE but gloved and masked employees serve the buffet. I'm guessing its a cultural thing on both sides of the Atlantic. Here we like to scrub, disinfect, refrigerate and seal it in protective material.

So it is not possible for plastic packaging to be unsterile?

No one is talking about surgical grade here are we???? Just a barrier against your dirty hands and other tampering with the final product. Tylenol tampering in the 80's, the morons licking stuff like ice cream and putting it back for social media thrill NOW the list goes on!

Pretty sure Austrian and Turkish as well, to name a couple others.

Tell that to the ocean

Thankfully Delta also uses tongs but I can see how people would think that it's not a hundred percent sanitary or something.

Lufthansa is in my recent (early Feb) experience using tongs.

I have seen people grab rolls from hotels buffets using their fingers all over the world. Of course, I don’t know their nationality. It might even be more sanitary if you are careful and touch only the one roll you actually want. Touching the tongs that a hundred other guests have used before you isn’t exactly safe, which is why many cruise ships have eliminated self-service via spoons/tongs at buffets.

I am not particularly concerned about the (United or otherwise) FA touching the tongs. At some time someone has handled your food and serving items.

I've weaned myself off the bread basket offerings in last year or so. Already plenty of starch/carbs on tray. I miss the cinnamon rolls :(

My recent shorthaul flight on OS did not have tongs or utensils to grab the bread. AC and TG longhaul both had FA serve bread from basket using utensils.

But based on the trend these days, I'm expecting all meals in F/J to be served in pre-packaged form soon.

Mmmmm. Coach in First. And Kirby will tell us it's a benefit too.

"More Oreo Thins, please. Oh, and please use the tongs."

David

To be clear, I don't think we are anywhere near this point, but if we get there, I will take safety over a hot meal every time.

Let’s hope not!