Goodbye Kettles, hello McCallisters!
Dec 8, 2008, 6:47 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: PHX
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 1,377
Goodbye Kettles, hello McCallisters!
Got a bit of a chuckle after reading this [less than satisfactory] FAQ from the most recent About US:
Answer:
The food provided by LSG has been overpriced and less than tasty since we first allowed them to supply our flights with BOB meals. Maybe it's time we live up to our "low cost" reputation and just get rid of the food. Our customers can and often do buy food before the flights. And what they buy in the airport is ten times better than anything we offer through LSG.
Though we don’t provide free beverages in coach, we do still offer the ability to purchase them as a value-added service in conjunction with our a la carte-style pricing. We try to think of meals in the same way. Customers don’t always have time to grab something on their way to a flight (think of the McCallisters running through the airport in Home Alone). Further, customers often don’t decide they want something until they are at least 35,000 feet from the nearest restaurant. And even though we don’t receive any revenue from BOB meal sales, it’s just another option we provide that passengers on other low cost carriers won’t find.
Dec 8, 2008, 7:07 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Programs: DL Silver, UA Silver, Marriott Lifetime Silver, IHG Plat, Hilton Silver
Posts: 5,695
Value-added service!?!?
I love this:
What!? Them why do it/why charge?
I love this:
And even though we don’t receive any revenue from BOB meal sales...
Dec 8, 2008, 9:54 pm
#3
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: San Diego (SAN)
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 939
As is explained in the FAQ answer, we offer the BOB as a service to customers, so that they (or at least some of them) have the option of buying food if they don't have their own. We don't get any revenue from it because all revenue collected for food sales is handed directly to LSG. LSG provides the food, and assumes the risk of the food not being sold. In return, they collect 100% of the revenue. The only thing USAirways gets out of the deal is the ability to advertise that they offer food for sale on board, which is an option that isn't offered by some airlines.
Dec 8, 2008, 10:23 pm
#4
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: mystic island, nj, USA
Posts: 2,377
I'm a little far "into the evening"! none the less I'm surprised Tempe can even spell Value Added much less use it in a complete sentence.
Dec 9, 2008, 5:29 am
#5
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Athens, WV, USA; a US cockroach long before it was in FFOCUS; now a lowly US5 for only the 2nd time in 20 years.
Programs: US5
Posts: 3,050
It still gets my attention how much in denial they are about being a "low cost carrier". 
Dec 9, 2008, 6:01 am
#6
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: PHL
Programs: AA EXP MM, HHonors Lifetime Diamond, Marriott Lifetime Ti, UA Silver
Posts: 5,035
Dec 9, 2008, 7:13 am
#7
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Arlington, VA
Programs: UA 1K, AA PLT, SPG PLT
Posts: 1,612
Are those posted on the US website?
Is it me, or do those quotes seem a little unprofessional - if they are posted on a website, news quote, etc.?
-jeremy
Is it me, or do those quotes seem a little unprofessional - if they are posted on a website, news quote, etc.?
-jeremy
Dec 9, 2008, 7:38 am
#8
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Programs: DL Silver, UA Silver, Marriott Lifetime Silver, IHG Plat, Hilton Silver
Posts: 5,695
As is explained in the FAQ answer, we offer the BOB as a service to customers, so that they (or at least some of them) have the option of buying food if they don't have their own. We don't get any revenue from it because all revenue collected for food sales is handed directly to LSG. LSG provides the food, and assumes the risk of the food not being sold. In return, they collect 100% of the revenue. The only thing USAirways gets out of the deal is the ability to advertise that they offer food for sale on board, which is an option that isn't offered by some airlines.
I am glad I do not have to worry about this nonsense anymore!
Dec 9, 2008, 7:41 am
#9
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Programs: DL Silver, UA Silver, Marriott Lifetime Silver, IHG Plat, Hilton Silver
Posts: 5,695
Dec 9, 2008, 9:57 am
#10
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: UA 1K 1MMer & LT UC (when flying UA); Hyatt Credit Cardist; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold via UA 1K
Posts: 6,956
Now if US allowed customers to order and pay for their meals online or at the kiosks to ensure that they got one if they wanted on.......THAT would be a value added service!!!
Dec 9, 2008, 10:07 am
#11
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: mystic island, nj, USA
Posts: 2,377
Way way back when CCY actually talked to me I had asked about ordering meals on line. I got an interesting answer. Apparently there is more to it than the IT side of it. Each city has seperate agreements with the food concessions in the airport and this impacts US's ability to set up something like ordering on line.
The feel I got was that it was looked at pretty long and hard because they felt it might offer a competitive advantage
The feel I got was that it was looked at pretty long and hard because they felt it might offer a competitive advantage
Dec 9, 2008, 11:25 am
#12
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Commuting around the mid-atlantic and rust-belt on any number of RJs
Programs: TSA Random Selectee Platinum, * Gold, SPG/HH/MR mid-tier, and a tiny bag of pretzels.
Posts: 9,255
Dec 9, 2008, 12:36 pm
#13
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: mystic island, nj, USA
Posts: 2,377
Old US could have handled it as IT services were mostly contracted out to EDS which has the ability to actually run an IT department and build infrastructure.
Unlike the rolling abortion of an IT department formally run by "Scary Joe Beery" at the current US. All we've seen from them is the inability to organize a one car funeral
Dec 9, 2008, 2:24 pm
#14
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: UA 1K 1MMer & LT UC (when flying UA); Hyatt Credit Cardist; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold via UA 1K
Posts: 6,956
Way way back when CCY actually talked to me I had asked about ordering meals on line. I got an interesting answer. Apparently there is more to it than the IT side of it. Each city has seperate agreements with the food concessions in the airport and this impacts US's ability to set up something like ordering on line.
The feel I got was that it was looked at pretty long and hard because they felt it might offer a competitive advantage
The feel I got was that it was looked at pretty long and hard because they felt it might offer a competitive advantage
If selling meals on long flights proves to be too complicated, they should either figure out a method of revamping the way they provision and sell meals......or they should provide them for free.
Customers are not necessarily expecting a free meal, but I don't think that there is any reason to fault pax for expecting food to be available for purchase on flights exceeding 2.5 hours (which really translates into 3.5+ hours, when you factor in boarding and tarmac wait times). The problem lies in the guesswork, and their has got to be a better way to eliminate more of the guesswork.
Dec 9, 2008, 4:18 pm
#15
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Commuting around the mid-atlantic and rust-belt on any number of RJs
Programs: TSA Random Selectee Platinum, * Gold, SPG/HH/MR mid-tier, and a tiny bag of pretzels.
Posts: 9,255
The infrastructure pieces were. Application management, in some (many) cases was not. Remember "the programmer?"
