Bureaucracy and inept govenment officials can be added to that list.

Probably corruption as well...

Summer 1970 I flew as an unaccompanied minor JFK - HOU on Eastern Airlines. On the return trip the Eastern metal went tech so I was put on a Delta Airlines CV880 in First Class. Heavy china, salad w/Green Goddess dressing & filet mignon.
February 2008 LHR - SEA BA First. Lemon sole was good but the wine! My veins were singing! I've never had that sensation before or since...

I fly Royal Brunei a bit and they have some amazing meals in economy, hats off to their catering crew. I do a hell of a lot of Qantas flying and some of the domestic Econ meals are down right appalling, Neil Perry has to be the worst "chef" on the planet. Some of Qantas biz meals can be OK on a good day but down par compared to other major airlines. Qatar biz meals amazing and Econ meals reasonable. I was impressed with LOT a few years ago on domestic Econ. The worst by a country mile are JetStar and Virgin Econ purchase meals, stale and over priced. Singapore Econ have always been great

Airlines and celebrity chefs
 

When distributing the hot meal service, the Qantas flight attendant asks 'are you joining us for dinner?' When I politely decline, the flight attendant says, 'Ah. I can see that you have dined with us before!'

I really feel for the flight crew having to serve up such rubbish and I agree wholeheartedly with your 'celebrity chef' comments.

In the early 2000's, the Chaser satirised Neil Perry's 'Rockpool' blue crab signature dish being served up in a Qantas cardboard box with wooden cutlery at a time when Visy and its CEO Anthony Pratt had their claws deep in Qantas.

My experience with Royal Brunei matches yours. The food is great and as a 'dry' airline, they also serve the most delicious fruit cocktails.

Last time we flew BA shorthaul europe we took a bag from Pret on board - the CC said "ah - very wise"........................

I used RBA often about 15 years ago. Whilst dry, they had no objection to BYO and would happily chill it for you.

I have posted about this before, but on my flight last month with SA's Airlink, they yet again demonstrated their efficiency and good service. E-190 ac, 45 mins flight, they managed to serve a full flight with a choice of sandwich, as well as cold drinks/wine/beer.


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AirLink are indeed the best airline of South Africa.

I think that I enjoyed the meal on Concorde - but the overall experience has taken over all memories of the flight!

One of the most memorablefood related moments: 1987, on VS LGW-EWR. It was a Sunday afternoon and work in the week ahead, then a short holiday. In Upper - beyore lie flat but still very good! I was in the A seat and, after a good lunch, with glorious sunshine through the window. Stil big screen movies in thiose days BUT they were running a series of Tom & Jerry and they served high quality ice-cream in those little tubs.

Sheer bliss. Not least as I was not paying for any of it!

Relative regaling us recently some tales from her days ar squeezy jet.

The flight she disliked most was the return leg from Amsterdam, due to the spaced out passengers on board. Bearing in mind its a short hop they would approach said passengers who would faff about not knowing what they wanted.

So the routine was

"Coke?"
"OK"
"Kit kat?"
"OK"

Rinse & repeat through the cabin!

I once flew KLM AMS-LHR and they got the drinks trolley through the cabin 3 times in an hour................ cash only!!

Did you fly BA or AF? I have a sample AF menu that was posted on the 'net and I downloaded.

Excellent thread Mr. Mac !

I am reminded of the catering in the Airplane! movie, which I saw the other day for the 15th time.

Likewise reminded of trips in the 80s on SAS and Icelandair, proper cutlery and cognac glasses even in monkey. I managed only to collect three of them,they somehow dropped into my briefcase.

Best one I've experienced was Quatar from Philly via Doha to Singapore, then back on business. Excellent !

Worst one was BA Dhaka - LHR, but that had nothing to do with BA, let's say the condition was pre-existing. Wish I'd had a cork, and if I had I'd have propped it in a certain place.

I call Loperamide (an over-the-counter medicine) corks. They serve the same function. They are effective taken orally, you don't have to apply them as suppositories.

Essential if you are travelling to Iran. The water supply in Tehran is not that clean, and as there is no alcohol to help sterilise it, you are more than likely to suffer Khomeini's revenge.

Just returned from a trip on MH in and out of KL. Both fights late night departure (2330 local) and early morning (0600 local) arrival. Why does that schedule require two meal services on each flight? Most pax just want to get some sleep but that's not possible until the "dinner" is served which means after midnight or close to 0100 and then "breakfast" has to be started about 0400 so the cabin can be ready for the 0600 arrival.

My suggestion - which I make each time I fly that route - is announce that hot snacks are available in the galley throughout the flight.

Am i the only one who thinks the current "service" is a waste of time and money, let alone causing inconvenience to the majority of pax?

Gne

CX used to have adhesive stickers saying 'wake me for meals' to attach to the headrest next to your sleepy head. They also used to serve frequent meals. No sticker, you wouldn't be wakened.

This was some years ago, I don't know if these stickers are still issued. If not, perhaps you could print some off saying 'Don't wake me for meals' in English and Malay?

I think I've posted this before, but it's kinda relevant to this thread.

I was flying Qantas LHR to SYD. I was in Business class, which at that time on Qantas was the top deck of the 747. Even better, I was the only person up there.

At that time, Qantas slipped in Bangkok. So we landed in Bangkok, the old crew got off, and the new crew got on. They were wrecked, in worse condition than the crew who'd got off. Probably much partying. I had a private purser on the top deck. He came up and said "Mr T, I'm supposed to serve breakfast after takeoff, so I'll do that. But I really need a bit of a snooze, so let me know what you'd like to drink, and I'll bring you a case of it. Then I'll have a little snooze. When I wake up, you can then have anything you want."

Sure enough, he served breakfast. I was on a Drambuie jag at the time, so he brought about a dozen Drambuies. Then after his snooze, he was fully attentive.

Magic trip. It was when Qantas CC were a bit larrikin.

Flying 10+ hrs in the back of RAFAIR E-3D the catering was up to whoever was free - but the provided food was, shall we say’ plentiful’

Thanks for asking justapax it was BA LHR-JFK. I was able to get one of the discounted seats, in the run-up to the closing of the service. They had 1,000 seats that were Westbound and return via 777. The other 1,000 seats for the Eastbound, were only sold to Americans.

The day after my arrival, I was on a New Jersey beach with friends and we saw the fabulous machine on a clear afternoon. Which was the same as the previous day.

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Wot, no caviar? Standards at BA were obviously slipping.