deelmakur

I have a slightly different take on the meal thing. Firstly, I flew bck to Seattle from CLT and they were selling dinner in Coach on a 5:45 PM departure. I must have missed something, because I thought on those transcons, they would continue to feed everyone. The First Class meal was bare bones, and featured all plastic knives, forks and spoons. Gone was the glassware. Forgive me, but since being comped top tier at Alaska, all my transcon flying has gone there, and they do everything the old fashioned way. Some thoughts, however. Hearing the F/A hawking the $10 chicken dinner tonight was embarrassingly tacky. You've got to wonder what some poor slob paying full fare in either compartment must think, at that moment, not to mention the poor F/A. Secondly, they will do all this, and never make a dime on paid meals. The relatively small scale, unpredictability of consumption, and spoilage from unsold units will kill them. When you feed everybody, the scale is such that the average cost is only a couple of bucks. It's madness. Another Business Select, MetroJet, RJ, "let's run as many people as we can through our most f***ed up hub", type decision. Finally, as you blur the distinctions between yourself and the discount guys, you set the place up like the proverbial spider and fly. When it comes to a meal, for air travelers, since it began some 75 years ago, a meal with your ticket was a birthright. Whether or not it was any good was not the issue. You simply got one. It's a given that the guys running the jetBlue's of the world are smarter, and more innovative than their counterparts at places like Ft. Fumble. Having leveled the playing field on this one, watch the new guys come out with better(and cheaper)meals for sale, that make these look silly. A bit like jetBlue letting AA come out with their "there's no difference" ads, watching as American puts the scrunchy seats back in, and then announcing it's removing them from the jetBlue fleet. Game, set, match.

j_mee

Isn't it rumored that AS is going to drop 1st class all together?

geo1005

On a recent transcon, I heard one FA tell a passenger they were out of the Einstein chicken sandwich and only had salads left. Later, on the way to the lav, this FA and another were splitting a chicken sandwich. It seems that FA's used to get free meals (leftover coach and/or FC meals) but that little perk has been taken away, thereby perpetuating the passenger vs. employee theme...

deelmakur

j_mee, the food issue is primarily about coach. There is discussion at AS and other carriers about dumping the front cabin. That's fine, but if you have one, operate it professionally. If the company concludes that what's getting into those seats isn't what they want, many options exist for them to control entry.

CPRich

Nope, anything over 700 miles (I think) are offered food for sale.

Been like that for at least a year, iirc. It was slowly phased out - glass, then metal.

There's a distinction?

TomBascom

Yeah, the discount guys actually offer cheap fares...

NeoOfTheCRS

Deelamakur brings up some very good points. Only time will tell if this is successful--probably 50/50 chances.

My solution for them is to serve no food whatsoever. But to give each passenger a food voucher (or at least a big discount coupon) to buy whatever they want from an airport vendor. I think that would be a win-win for everyone. What do you guys think?

underwoodn

Well I had an outstanding experience with the meals on Monday. Flying from CLT to IAH in FC I decided to catch some ZZZs before we took off. I woke up about 30-40 minutes before touchdown and asking the FA if I could get my breakfast. She told me THEY SOLD IT!!! Every other time I've fallen asleep, the FA will ask me if I'd like my meal, but this bi% h sold my breakfast. Anything to make an extra penny nowadays.

NeoOfTheCRS

Did you check to see if your wallet is still in your pocket??? You might have been sitting next to BBB!!

A320 EOW

I have to agree with deelmakur that this sales approach is tacky. I love hearing the F/As announce how you get such and such food for "only $10." The last few flights I've had they've repeated the "only $10" part numerous times during their spiel.

vector

hscottm

I'd post this on the 'In flight cafe' topic, but is degenerating into something potentially ugly.

Anyway I bumped into an employee in PIT 2 weeks back who was sitting off to the side in the concourse with a clipboard and calculator across from the in-flight meals 'display cart' that they roll out in front of the gate. This is the cart with the highly appealing plastic versions of the food they are selling ;-)

I glanced at the clipboard and saw the in-flight cafe stuff across the top. The employee looked to be counting people in the gate area, how many were 'looking at' the display cart, etc. Did not seem to be counting the number of people walking over to the McDonalds line.

Anyway I struck up a conversation, and introduced myself. Employee asked how often I fly, etc. Asked how IFC was going. Asked if I ever bought one (NO - just received free in F). Apparently, success is really mixed. Some routes great, some not. I asked the obvious - is it doing badly at PIT and other places that actually have decent, cheaper meals? YES. Duh!

The employee then made an unsolicited, interesting comment: "This is part of the last ditch effort to save PIT". I kind of looked at him funny, as if to say "you're kidding, right?".

Was completely serious. I hate to speculate, but might someone be foolish enough to blame 'low purchases of IFC meals in PIT' for the next de-hubbing move?

Also, as airports wise up to the fact that more travelers spend half their day waiting for their plane due to new security restrictions, food quality and choice in the airport is only going to increase. Thus we'll see fewer and fewer takers on meals bought on board.

deelmakur

I'll repeat my earlier assertion. Nobody will make a dime selling food on airplanes. With all the problems these airlines have, going into the restaurant business, whether directly, or on a revenue share with a caterer, is about the last place they need to be, given the limited management resources they have. By the way, when everybody agreed that BAA would manage PIT, the conditions they in turn set for all in-terminal vendors was that prices had to be the same as in their off airport operations, which explains the relatively good value on food. Evidently that concept of fair pricing did not extend itself to the interior of the aircraft cabin.

geo1005

hscottm, the crowd at Einstein Bros. who cater the meals have no insight to US's strategic planning (or lack thereof). I'd liken this encounter to getting investment tips on the subway headed to lower-Manhattan.

hscottm

geo

Understood on taking the comments with a grain of salt, but note this was a US employee, not an einstein. Pretty sure from the conversation this was someone who had flown in to observe.

I remain completely puzzled about why this employee would have said this.