Beverage catering issues ex-IAH?
 

Flew out of IAH yesterday and after take-off the FA in coach announced that due to a shortage of catering in IAH they are only serving water for a beverage in the back. Snacks (pretzels and the stroopwafle were available). This made me scratch my head as I was sitting in first on the right-side window and could see right into the catering truck. The catering truck was literally stocked with cases-upon-cases of non-water beverages including Coke products. I get that this particular catering truck might only be catering for first class and one full truck does not mean the entire catering system has enough beverages to go around.

But I also flew into IAH the day before on a flight catered ex-IAH (for both the outbound and return) and there were zero beverage issues.

I suspect this was a one-off with catering gone wrong. But just in case you're flying ex-IAH, it's possible they are having a catering crunch and these issues are going to become worse.

-RM

exCON not wanting to deal with running the bev cart?

David

Ginger ale has been in short supply all year and apple juice has recently become nearly extinct, but I haven't heard of a flight with no beverages. I suspect the caterers didn't restock or didn't put the correct carts in the galley and nobody wanted to delay the flight to get the issue corrected.

I had issues at IAH a couple of weeks ago. Flying E175 and the catering staff refused to leave liquor for the F galley. The FA very politely informed the caterer every flight she worked recently had liquor in F and requested the proper catering. Upon further refusal by the catering staff the FA requested a supervisor. The supervisor radio’d back to the catering staff that he wasnt coming over and “new rules, no liquor in F for UAX but just like coach only beer and wine for F”. Pilots briefly got involved but decided to push as this back and forth actually did delay the flight a few minutes.

A really weird interaction and all in the F galley.

Maybe related to this?

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...-kitchens.html

Flew IAH to MCI on Sunday on an E175 and got the exact same announcement. Got upgraded to F and there were some beer options but not all of the mixers or standard sodas. Messed up some peoples mixed drinks.

Just had a message from United that short and medium haul flights out of IAH may or may not be catered and may not have old catering/trash removed.

if they can screw something up…

...they can and will in ways unimaginable...oh, wait, at least that they didn't imagine...

David

Not just IAH… expect EWR DEN CLE HNL the same.

Well, they did just fire all the caterers by announcing to the media that they were fired. They didn't even have the courtesy to tell them directly. I guess the caterers don't feel that inclined to do their best work during the last days of their employment.

And there are a LOT of disruptions in food and beverage supply from covid. Enough disruptions that I'm starting to get a little paranoid on a personal level about the food supply. Maybe the preppers aren't insane.

This is still an issue. Yesterday flying ex-IAH and the flight is delayed because they can't find a cleaning crew. After another 15 minute wait the gate agent advises everyone that there will be zero catering on the flight and to go grab your own snack and drink. There won't even be water served on the plane, she said. It's a 3 hour flight.

The plane ultimately left 10 minutes late (boarded 25 minutes late but was only half full). I used the unknown length delay to switch to an alternative airport via the 1K line who didn't bat an eye with my request.

-RM

On Monday I flew IAH-MID on the 745p flight. Boarding was on time, but during his PA spiel the Purser said while usually they had 3-4 cleaners do the cabin, that Monday there was only one cleaner and the F/A crew pitched in but the cleaning was not as thorough as usual. (I wondered about Covid implications, but, oh, well.) Then he said catering was also short staffed so that only the Business galley would be stocked so there would be only "on demand" beverages in Y. The inbound segment was PDX-IAH and there was only a limited amount of soft drinks and *zero* ice available in Y.

To make that scenario even more unusual, we had hot sandwiches served in J. I've taken that flight many times over the years and it *never* had any sort of food. Go figure. (united.com says "Meals are not offered for this flight" for that flight.)

Severe shortages in catering supplies and personnel continue. I would suggest bringing something to eat or drink with you on every flight. If you find out your flight did not get catered, you won't go hungry or thirsty. If they did get catered, well, you over-prepared. My recent experiences out of Denver, Newark and Houston have convinced me to always bring some water at a minimum.

Not bad advice. We can all hope this situation drastically improves in October when the catering company finally changes.

-RM