Just wondering, since my OP was in relation to Virgin Upper, could they show me the menu and let me choose my options when I get in their car to the airport? That's usually 4 hours ahead of departure time - is that far enough ahead to sort out the catering allocations or are they already done by then?

That sounds like a very smart idea. Make the suggestion and, when implemented, make sure to claim a fat load of Flying Club Miles. :ok:

@ paxboy. Agree
The sadly lamented Lauda Air used the same principle, albeit during flight.

MIA-MUC, one chose one's breakfast on departure and it was there - perfectly prepared - within moments of awaking.

Simple top tip - when flying East in F or C/J, go SQ, CX, MH, et al. Avoid VS and definitely BA:yuk:.

VS are hurting big time right now and making huge cut backs across the board, including the catering loading into J. The days of a ''First Class product for a Business Class fare'' are sadly long gone (some say it started with the downgrading of the amenity kits (the Y kits are better now!) and moved onto the removal of the IFBT and so it goes on....).:(

Do the wishes of cabin crew (as to what meal they want) over-ride that of passengers?
I'd imagined that CC got the choice of 'what was left' - except the flight deck crew perhaps.

It could get tedious if the remaining meals were always the vegetarian option (though maybe CC would prefer that to the steak? :E ), but they could at least make their displeasure known to the catering staff. Does the purser have any influence on the number of which type of meals are loaded? After all, the purser has to act as the restaurant manager (amongst other functions) and possibly has some ideas about what 'sells' - or do the caterers merely prepare whatever they have the ingredients for?

Do all flights get the same menu? I appreciate that flights heading for Asian destinations might need different choices to flights heading for Scandinavia.

WRT ordering your meal in the courtesy car, I'd imagine that that's way too late for the caterers to respond and would result in a knock-on in the supply chain if the actual meal load was dictated by passenger choice (yes, I know that the passenger is the customer, but think about the time needed for getting the prepared meal to the aircraft).

Question to JSL or anyone QUALIFIED to respond
 

The mantra seperate meals for the flight deck, is repeated many many times in training, and outwardly appears to be complied with.

However they come from the same kitchen, posible prepared by the same hands, stored in the same chiller cabinet, delivered in the same truck, I wont go on and on, you get the point.
Untill 100% separate supply chains are adopted, there is always a slight chance of cross contamination.
I almost forgot: Your chicken Kief looks better than my chicken a la whatever. Same chicken.?
As to CC meals, in general as you say, it is often or certainly was the case, that certain off "cuts" would be prefered rather than the supplied catering.

In conclusion, yours is the worst job in aviation, and I thank you for your smiles...(even at 03 very dark).

There is only one emergency worse than the double incapacitation at 35,000 ft and thats the one at 45,000 ft.

glf

Not at all. The actual passenger load fluctuates until the last moment and the catering goes with that quite straightforwardly. Are those four F pax on the inbound connecting flight going to make it or not ? When are we going to know if any Y need to be upgraded to C ? Catering takes all this in its stride, some pre-ordering hours ahead is much more straightforward.

WHBM,

As you say, the final load figures fluctuate right up until departure but we're usually talking about a relatively low amount of passengers. 5, 10 or even 15 people arriving last minute can usually be accomodated, but I'm not so sure it would be possible for the entire Club cabin to be able to choose their meals, that close to departure. Once the catering rep has run out of uploads from his van, that is it and we have to make do with what we have. If anyone is in the know, I'd love to know the time frame, from taking the first meal out of the freezer, to loading the whole caboodle onto the aircraft.

Maybe a choice could be made at the time of booking, but then again, I could see that causing other problems. Cost would no doubt be an issue for the beancounters, but there is also the fact that people may change their minds. On Friday they may fancy chicken, but by the time they board on Monday, they could be leaning towards the lamb. As it is, a fair number of people that order a special meal, change their minds once on board, although to be fair, it's not always the passenger that has booked the choice. PA's, in particular, seem to be very keen on putting their bosses on diets!

Gulfstreamaviator,

I'm sorry. I'm probably being really thick here, but I'm not completely sure what you are asking. As far as cross contamination of flight crew meals goes, I suppose it's a case, as with everything in life, of minimising the risk as far as is practical. That and making damn sure I know how to operate the radio on every aircraft I fly, just in case! :uhoh:

@ BobUpndown ...

Interesting observation. The last time I flew VS [to USA] was in 2004 ... it was "OK" in PE. I've been tempted occasionally to try VS Upper, especially with the current problems with BA. However, with the only options on my sector being BA and VS [and 2 US 3-star carriers] it's a bit of a conundrum. VS does cheap USA car hire, though, if you find the right buttons ... depending on which one you click, I could have paid either £520 or £900 for the same rental from the same company!!

Airline food
 

I allways fly Yorkshire Airlines, Allan Bennett class. Their pie and mushy peas is quite exquisite "Cuisine du Heckmondwike", and you don't get the smell of whippets and ferrets from the working class section.

YouTube - Yorkshire Airlines

Lid

This is standard SOP in Swiss J class.

It works very well.

Two-Tone_Blue,

Ah! You do indeed have a conumdrum Sir! I think in your position, given the choice between BA, VS or one of ''those carriers'' out of the US, I'd see if there's any cruise ships doing the Soton - Miami run around the same time:}

Well, OK, I guess VS at a push! Def not BA (last and final trip in C, I had to check with Mrs Bob to see if I'd done something to upset the crew; with the aggressive attitude and surly demeanour from every one of them, I was sure I must have shot one of their family members:sad:)

Thread drift I know, but talking of ''those carriers'', has anyone seen the AA business class adverts featuring Kevin Spacey on TV lately - good god, that seat is about ten years out of date, what were they thinking???!!

Ahhh, Bob ... I'm not going to Miami [EVER]. My destination is the undiscovered tourist world of Northern Virginia - as it has been for the last 10 years or more. They can't get cruise ships up the Potomac!

As I have BA miles to burn [in April if they let me fly] I shall re-evaluate the position before September. We had noticed VS going off the boil several years ago, so I'm REALLY not sure who to pick.
The one that's still operating will be a starter! :}