Continited

Had an interesting experience today, flying in paid F with my family on a domestic 787 flight. It was a breakfast flight and the options were eggs or waffles. By the time they got to us they told us that only waffles were left, and being generally keto-minded people we declined the waffles. No biggie. About halfway thru the flight though I got up and passed thru the galley and found two FAs enjoying their eggs. The one who took the orders was among them and there was some awkward eye contact and silence.

Maybe I don’t quite know what the crew is contractually guaranteed as far as meals on domestic trips but it did seem a bit off-putting to be flying in F and then being told your meal choice isn’t available while the crew is enjoying that same meal after the service… is this part of their deal or something a little more sneaky? Just want to know if it’s worth mentioning in a survey or not. Thx!

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Before you accuse FAs of snatching passenger meals, you need to be sure crew meals aren’t provisioned separately. In recent past, I know passenger meals were catered exactly to the number of seats and then crew meals were separate. You might complain about not getting a choice, but take care not to lob a bomb where one isn’t justified.

There might be (for example) 16 egg meals, 8 French toast meals catered specifically for F in a 24-seat 753 and then crew meals.

Maybe Fezzington or another FA poster can chime in.

In the future, without higher status (GS or 1K) you want to sit as far forward as possible if meal choice is important (forward in the cabin, not in your seat )…

If awkward exchanges occurred, maybe FA is embarrassed that UA doesn’t provide an excess of meals in F to make sure everyone gets their choice (no matter how much food is wasted).

WineCountryUA

Crew meals are provisioned separately and based on their advance choice. They were not eating passenger meals. Your beef is with UA and the decision by catering on the number of meals of each choice.

KE81

In fairness, I think OP was trying to be sensitive about the possibility that crew meals might be provisioned separate from pax meals…

m907

I can't imagine being upset about not receiving 50¢ worth of powdered eggs.

fezzington

FA meals and Pilot meals are two different beasts. FAs cannot (currently) pre-order meals, unlike pilots. There's language in the contract about when meals are catered, but to be quite honest, I don't know the parameters off the top of my head.

Domestic FA meals are provisioned separately to pax meals, and in OP's case, would have been labeled "Crew Egg" and "Crew Non-Egg/Vegetarian/Waffle" (depending on the station). Crew egg and pax egg are not always the same thing. To further complicate it, on no-galley-cooler a/c (read: 737,757) both pilot and FA meals are provisioned completely separately, on dry ice, in a cooler bag (think a foil lined). This bag is not opened until the crew has time to look at their meals, so often times, there is no telling if crew meals match the passenger ones. On cooler-equipped a/c (airbus & widebodies), domestic crew meals are loaded into a different cart than the passenger meals (which are loaded into the ovens by catering), so checking & subbing in a crew meal is possible, but not SOP on domestic flights (and frankly, not done unless no one on the crew wants that meal. FAs have to eat too.)

All of that said... it's likely there were crew meal eggs onboard that matched pax meal eggs. Highly unlikely to be something nefarious. Yes, it looks weird, and is awkward for FAs.

goodeats21

Yet another example of why it is sooo great to have fezzington on here.

Continited

Thanks all, I’m certainly not making a complaint or making any allegation against the crew, that’s why I suggested that perhaps I didn’t fully understand the process. No one was upset, we just found it a bit weird. Thanks again for the clarifications.

eng3

You can certainly make a complaint about not boarding a sufficient number of meals so you can get your choice. Hopefully with the upcoming pre-order system will resolve some of that.

As for your encounter with the FA, I think it is always awkward when you encounter someone outside of the typical relationship. (ie. Running into FA during a meal break). And who knows, maybe the FA was thinking (I hope he doesnt think I stole his meal ... that would be awkward). The people most likely to not get their meal choice are also the people lease familiar with the airline's specific policies.

Also, as for the tip of sitting forward, the FA doesn't always go forward to back. Sometimes they decide to go back to forward or, most often, in order of priority.

WineCountryUA

Another way to have noticed there was a difference between crew meals and passenger meals, are not passenger meals pre-plated while crew meals are in plastic containers? and silverware vs plastic? (not sure )

Repooc17

Survey is conducted by a third-party vendor of UA. If you want to write-in, use the UA contact form to get in touch directly.

fezzington

Dead giveaway is a half sized tray, though occasionally FA meals are also on full sized trays. Meals themselves are plated the same (assuming the entree is the same) and the same grey silverware roll up is used.

I assure you, the survey results make their way to UA.

heh. thanks?

lincolnjkc

A little OT but I can guarantee that results get to UA -- I've mentioned things in surveys (including compliments for specific employees -- and even Huntleigh contractors -- and a week or two later there will be a "Attaboy"/"Attagirl" tweet/certificate/etc. calling them out and congratulating them on the compliment "from a 1K passenger".

I'm less positive that they know the specific passengers but there is some circumstantial evidence that that is also passed along (or the UA folks at my home/most frequent airports just know my travels and writing style well enough to draw the correlation).

Certainly for something like catering the best bet is to mention it in the survey and follow it up with an email to 1KV or customer service.

Joshua

If it makes you feel any better, my understanding is that F/A crew have to pay for their in flight meals, whether they want them or not.

ExplorerWannabe

I rarely get the surveys anymore (maybe because I'm back to being a lowly Gold?) but I have emailed in specific compliments or complaints (mostly compliments) and received response roughly a couple of weeks later with a promise to forward to the respective parties and their supervisors. In all cases, the responses seemed actually written by individuals rather than form responses. It would be inappropriate to tell me, a customer, exactly what they did afterward but I do feel like the company took note of situations that I took the time and trouble to email them about.