cutlery
Hi ukhomerj ,
The cutlery thing is all about cost. Scheduled carriers tend to charge more and therefore spend a little more on their inflight product. Charter prices are generally extremely reasonable and competitive and therefore do not budget for such niceties . Speaking from experience in several airlines and several cabins within , the most feisty passengers are often in Business Class not charter passengers. Just look at some of the well publicised behaviour of certain celebs and business people who drink too much , knock back a few tranquillisers , go la-la , behave abysmally then pull the "don't you know who I am ? " card.
As far as the UK goes , the CAA have banned the use of metal cutlery (even tea-spoons) into and out of the uk since 9.11.
You may however find metal cutlery on shuttle flights operated by UK carriers. i.e. flights which stop in Bangkok for instance may well have metal cutlery between there and Sydney. I can't comment on any other nations I'm afraid. I do know that this is a big problem for crew working in the premiere cabins on scheduled carriers as the customers sometimes cause a big old fuss when they have to use plastic. And if you think about it , it's all a bit silly really as there are plenty of potential weapons still on board. Another example of an ill thought out , reactionary measure by some official somewhere. (Who probably has shares in a plastic cutlery company).
On a more positive note , I have to say that disruptive passengers really are still a rarity and although I sound bitter , I'm giving you worst case scenarios here. It's actually still a pleasure to serve the majority of punters and a job I am proud to do.