Originally Posted by
WHBM
It was a concept of Court Line. They dispensed with the galley and catering storage, which allowed five (maybe 10) extra seats. The seats were custom-designed by Rumbold. They had two compartments in the upper half of the seatback which the passenger behind faced, and two prepackaged "meals" were put in there. One the passenger could open when they wanted, the other was "securely" (see below) locked, because that was the meal for the return sector. All was loaded at Luton before the pax boarded. On turnround at the Med airport the packaging was disposed and the lower compartmment unlocked. I believe (because I never experienced it) that the food packs included a slug of dry ice underneath to keep cool.
Definitely something from the "seemed like a good idea at the time" camp. Children of course would wolf down the food before boarding was even complete and then grizzle an hour later that they were hungry, or take their neighbours before they arrived. But the biggest problem was the locked return compartment was too readily opened by a nailfile, car key, etc, and the return catering eaten, only to be discovered on the turnround. There were apparently some spares loaded, but once one saw what to do it could spread like wildfire down the cabin, and the spares were not enough.
The DC-10 in economy, with the supplementary oxygen compartment in the seatback in front of you rather than in a drop-down always reminded me of this.
Thankyou WHBM. Another example of an airline going to extraordinary lengths to get more seats in.