How quickly can you eat your meal?

[ManAtTheBack]

Travelling on a full service domestic (UK) sector of 35mins the cabin crew managed a full service. Well done to them.

However, it is a rush to eat a meal within 12 minutes before the cabin crew are back to clear up prior to landing.

Would it be easier to offer meals on the ground for short sectors?

[Globaliser]

No, eating in the air during what would otherwise be dead time is sometimes an enormous timesaver - particularly for those days when you don't have enough time to eat before you go to the airport, not enough time at the airport to get any food, and not enough time to eat after you arrive.

If you start serving meals on the ground, you might as well not serve meals at all.

[Quidnunc]

Would it be easier to offer meals on the ground for short sectors?

I spent 30 mins in Pret A Manger today having a bite to eat. Do you think Pret should have slipped a flight into that time? 'cousre not.

Restaurant to buy food,
Alirline to buy a flight.

Do you get food on a 35 min bus journey? Do you get table service on a 35 min train journey?

If you want food and service, stop being a scummy pleb and charter a private jet jet or get a butler like the rest of us. (OK - I don't have butler!)

Prices have dropped to pleb levels in the last 5 years, but the plebs still expect to be treated like the rest of us. Ha ha ha!!! Know your place.

[apaddyinuk]

Quidnunc...VERY HARSH...
But I have to agree with you!!!! :}

[PAXboy]

It will not be long before all plated meals are gone from short haul less than 75 mins duration. Even sandwiches will be purchase only. No problem, folks will adjust to the new way of doing things. The one certainty is that most pax want to pay less for their flight.

[TightSlot]

If you want food and service, stop being a scummy pleb and charter a private jet jet or get a butler like the rest of us. (OK - I don't have butler!)

Prices have dropped to pleb levels in the last 5 years, but the plebs still expect to be treated like the rest of us. Ha ha ha!!! Know your place.

Quidnunc You make a good point about meals and flight duration - why pollute it with needless and pointless comments? Up to you, post as you wish (within the rules and conventions) - it just seems regrettable that you should cheapen your own point. :(

[Lyneham Lad]

The 'meal' served on LH flights LHR-HAM is now a cheese roll of about 60mm diameter - but at least (for the moment) it is free. Personally, I have never seen the point of serving a meal on flights of less than, say, 1 hour or so duration.

Anyway, it will probably not be long before other scheduled carriers follow Austrian's lead - they will no longer serve free meals on flights of less than 2.5 hours duration.

[Pax Vobiscum]

While I'm no fan of the (in)famous LH Kasebrotchen, I can see the point of serving food on short hops. Particularly at breakfast time, when it may be the only chance I get to eat something for many hours!

[Crepello]

I never rely on airline food for sustenance - there's rarely enough to eat and as a fussy bugga, there's a chance I mightn't like the offering/s.

I hear BA's JFK biz lounge now offers pre-flight dining for evening flights to LHR, so people can (try to) sleep as soon as they board. Sounds like a great idea to me - though I'm rarely pushed for time when I fly.

[mutt]

Excuse me, but MATB stated that A FULL SERVICE MEAL was offered...............

So the question remains, do people want that service on a short flight.................

IMHO, i want what i pay for...............

Mutt.

[PAXboy]

I hear BA's JFK biz lounge now offers pre-flight dining for evening flights to LHR, so people can (try to) sleep as soon as they board. Sounds like a great idea to me Yes, BA thought that VS had such a good idea that they would duplicate it. :p Not sure if it was a VS original or they picked it up from somewhere else. There is not much new in this world (as the the old folks say) [HECK - does that make me an old folk?:uhoh: ]

As to meals on short haul? Free bevarages and let me buy a GOOD sandwich and bar of chocco at REASONABLE rates.
--------------------
"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

[BEagle]

A year or so ago, if you travelled LH Economy, it was "Kaese oder Schinken?" Or occasionally a horrid Putenbrost Broetchen. But they were OK, really - and you had the choice of any beverage. So, LHR to FRA with a reasonable Schinkenbroetchen and a glass of red was fine.

Then came the stinginess of April 2004. Initially it was bread and water in Economy (which the cabin crew termed 'prison food'), then came the Eurobox meal which was dire - now it is invariably a dismal little cheese and lettuce bun and a limited choice of beverages...

For those who think that it's unreasonable to have a meal on short haul, don't forget that some of us have to take connecting flights. As I explained to LH, check in at FDH only opens about 60 min prior to departure, so by the time you've queued up, checked in and received your boarding card there isn't time to go to the restaurant before having to go through security - there is NO airside eatery. Then an hour, say, to FRA, wait for a bus, lurch to the terminal, walk miles (have they finished that damn tunnel yet?) to the next gate and there's probably only about 30 min before boarding. Try to find a reasonable eatery near to the gate? Forget it. Then the trip back to UK - followed by the joys of waiting for your bags,etc. Add all that up and it ends up being a hungry experience flying with EW/LH certainly in Economy and also in Business where catering and service standards have plummeted drastically over the last 12 months. Do they care? Well, maybe the 3 (used to be 4) cabin crew do, but Mayrhuber's suits don't appear to give a toss.

[bealine]

Particularly at breakfast time, when it may be the only chance I get to eat something for many hours!

Exactly! It was dropping the meals from so called "short duration" flights that almost crippled Continental Airline Inc in the early 90's - business travellers rapidly switched to carriers that did give a meal!

US company bosses used to argue "If you've got time to eat at your destination, you ain't working hard enough!" and I'm sure the British bosses of today are just as demanding!

[Final 3 Greens]

PAXboyYes, BA thought that VS had such a good idea that they would duplicate it. In fairness, I think you will find that BA extended their own First arrangements.

I remember have a an excellent meal in the first restaurant at Toronto, then boarding for LHR.

[PAXboy]

F3G: I would alwasy want to be fair to BA and, in fairness, have never travelled First with them, so the First time I saw this was with VS in Upper at LHR. So I am glad to give credit where it's due. BA have always had (and continue to have) many fine things about their service.

[Final 3 Greens]

PAXboy

BA or VS, I'd rather fly UK than any of the US carriers - our two knock them out of sight.

[BahrainLad]

BA offered pre-flight dining for FIRST passengers as early as 1992, this was part of the "It's the way we make you feel, that makes us the world's favourite." product rollout.


(It was also the product that introduced duvets into FIRST....of course, as F & J then existed in the same air-con zone on a Jumbo, the F passengers sweated or the J passengers shivered depending on how the crew felt that day....but that's another story!)

[sixmilehighclub]

Correct me if i'm being a baffoon but VS have only just launched their self check in right? BA have been doing that for quite a while... If an airline sees a good idea thats going to enhance their service they will adapt it to their own airline. Its good business sense.