Now Boarding ... Chicken or Beef?

[markis10]

"Subtly, each airline is different..."

Nah, "Gday Captain, gday Captain"

 

[Mardi]

"Subtly, each airline is different..."

Oh god I cannot tell you how much I hated that one, and I didn't even fly that often back then!

 

[Paddy55]

"Subtly, each airline is different..."

"... And here's a few pointers". Sure, I'll give you a few pointers

 

[drewbles]

Oh god I cannot tell you how much I hated that one, and I didn't even fly that often back then!

Don't fly JQs A330's then. They still have that one

 

[oz_mark]

"Subtly, each airline is different..."

Pretty sure they said that every airplane is different rather than airline.

 

[markis10]

Pretty sure they said that every airplane is different rather than airline.

"Each aircraft is different"
Qantas Airlines Safety Demonstration - YouTube

 

[petercr]

"... And here's a few pointers". Sure, I'll give you a few pointers

"... Here you go captain... you sit up that end of the plane (pointing forward), we sit somewhere here (pointing to Y+ or wherever the Oz Cricket team are sitting) and if we don't beat England in the next Ashes series, we'll be sitting here...(pointing out the window)..."

 

[drewbles]

Pretty sure they said that every airplane is different rather than airline.

Exactly. Was parodying it

 

[Bjet]

What's your fav other airlines' flight attendant uniform?

 

[legroom]

Hi

There was some angst in another thread about the OP missing out of his preferred meal option while sitting in Y.

Could someone more knowledgeable shed some light on the issue of meal allocation for Y pax ?

How do airlines work out the statistical averages of say chicken: beef : pasta etc... for that particular flight ?

Would it be straight down the middle (50:50, 1/3 each...) or it is more complicated than that taking into account possible preferences (say ethnic / gender bias etc...) ?

I would have thought it would be straight down the middle but I honestly don't know how it works.

Also, do airlines carry more meals than the number of pax ?

Some may ask for a second serve !

Cheers

 

[simongr]

Jackets

OK I admit I am one of those FFers that takes off his jacket and stows it in the jacket locker at the front of whY on a 763. On a 737 I take my jacket off and put it over my knees - if the crew have time they often offer to hang my jacket up.

Now the question is - why when the crew are handing out jackets do they ask the whY pax if they want their jacket? Without fail all jackets are handed back to J pax (and this is of course done first) but pretty much without exception I am always asked if I want my jacket.

 

[harvyk]

I don't know why I thought of this, but have you ever caught anyone actually joining the mile high club (either at the seats or in the lav's)? (Talking real MHC not the solo version).

Also just out of interest if you did see a couple go into the lav (most likely to join the MHC) would you do anything to stop it? (talking say middle of the night, and without a large queue to use the lavs)

 

[milehighclub]

Hi

There was some angst in another thread about the OP missing out of his preferred meal option while sitting in Y.

Could someone more knowledgeable shed some light on the issue of meal allocation for Y pax ?

How do airlines work out the statistical averages of say chicken: beef : pasta etc... for that particular flight ?

Would it be straight down the middle (50:50, 1/3 each...) or it is more complicated than that taking into account possible preferences (say ethnic / gender bias etc...) ?

I would have thought it would be straight down the middle but I honestly don't know how it works.

Also, do airlines carry more meals than the number of pax ?

Some may ask for a second serve !

Cheers

Interesting Question.

When the menu initially comes out the product team would decide the ratio of the meals based on an array of statistics and general preferences (like meat dishes are usually more popular than a vegetarian dish). After each flight, managers generally provided feedback on catering. If the team in the office notice a trend, then the load scale is changed to more of the popular choice and less of the other. It has to be a consistent trend for them to consider changing it. Even if you do the same flight with the same menu, one day it could be option A more popular but a week later option B. It's very hard to predict but I think on the whole we do a pretty good job ensuring the most amount of people get their meal choice.

In terms of ratio of meals the most common ones are 50/50 or 30/70 or 20/30/50 when three choices are offered.

In economy you will find that catering is spot on when full (or just a handful of extras when not full), with more meals to spare as you go up the cabins.

I find telling passengers that they will miss out on a meal choice one of the hardest things to do. Almost every heated discussion I've ever had with a passenger has been because of them missing out on their choice. Some people really lose their cool over it. I appreciate they are disappointed but at the same time predicting what over 300 people will eat is impossible.

 

[milehighclub]

I don't know why I thought of this, but have you ever caught anyone actually joining the mile high club (either at the seats or in the lav's)? (Talking real MHC not the solo version).

Also just out of interest if you did see a couple go into the lav (most likely to join the MHC) would you do anything to stop it? (talking say middle of the night, and without a large queue to use the lavs)

I haven't seen it and despite my username I haven't done it either!!. I know it has happened on my friends flights though!

If I did see it, I would stop it. I'm no buzz kill but there is a time and a place and aircraft toilets are not the place to be getting it on. Plus I don't want to have to clean up that kind of .... mess

 

[crm911]

Question about breakfast menus, particularly on SQ and more particularly for Hindu vegetarian.

First, here is the MEL-SIN AVML on SQ218 18/03/13:

Fairly substantial meal and quite tasty.

Here is the one departing 21/06/13: SIN-MEL SQ227:

Fruit, juice, one roll and margarine. The local time was close to 5 AM. Questions:
1. Why dairy creamer instead of milk?
2. Why such a sparse meal on the SIN-MEL leg?

By way of comparison, a nearby pax had an VLML:

Appeared to have real milk, cereal, roll. Not sure about her neighbour, but it was a couple plus toddler, so it might have been a kid's meal. Also not sure if she received yoghurt and moved it to the next tray.

By way of comparison, here is today's standard continental breakfast (only choice, no eggs or bacon in the menu):

Similar to my AVML but with a muffin and butter instead of margarine.

 

[legroom]

.... Some people really lose their cool over it. I appreciate they are disappointed but at the same time predicting what over 300 people will eat is impossible.

Thanks for the detailed reply

I find it difficult to understand why some people thinks airlines must have their choice at the ready when statistically it may not always be possible to do so as you pointed out.

Plus, all menu has the proviso clearly warning that 'occasionally' meal option may not be available.

So sorry that FAs have the unpleasant task of explaining that to those pax.

 

[anat0l]

Question about breakfast menus, particularly on SQ and more particularly for Hindu vegetarian.

...

milehighclub might struggle on this one, because it's SQ rather than QF.

That said, it's a question too about the subtleties of Hindu vegetarian versus other (and standard) diet meals.

Thanks for the detailed reply

I find it difficult to understand why some people thinks airlines must have their choice at the ready when statistically it may not always be possible to do so as you pointed out.

Plus, all menu has the proviso clearly warning that 'occasionally' meal option may not be available.

So sorry that FAs have the unpleasant task of explaining that to those pax.

As it happens, sometimes pax know it's inevitable but that doesn't stop them from being disappointed.

Some claim how is it possible, i.e. how can you possibly think that only 70% want beef over fish, when it should be more like 90%. A bit specious reasoning but you get the idea.

Some claim that airlines should over cater to near guarantee that all pax will receive their option (the extreme case would be stocking each choice for every pax, i.e. guaranteed 50% meal wastage beyond people eating seconds). That is mainly impractical due to weight. I have heard a story (not QF) where one pax in Y made such a fuss about not having her choice that the only way to pacify her was to offer her a meal (main course) from J, which was brought to her.

 

[milehighclub]

As it happens, sometimes pax know it's inevitable but that doesn't stop them from being disappointed.

Some claim how is it possible, i.e. how can you possibly think that only 70% want beef over fish, when it should be more like 90%. A bit specious reasoning but you get the idea.

Some claim that airlines should over cater to near guarantee that all pax will receive their option (the extreme case would be stocking each choice for every pax, i.e. guaranteed 50% meal wastage beyond people eating seconds). That is mainly impractical due to weight. I have heard a story (not QF) where one pax in Y made such a fuss about not having her choice that the only way to pacify her was to offer her a meal (main course) from J, which was brought to her.

I'm sure the cost to over cater in economy is probably very minimal, and on average when people miss out it's generally no more than 20 or so. My last flight however we had a group of school kids, and they all wanted the pizza meaning a lot of people missed out, but something like that is a one off.

Not only is over catering extra weight, it's extra space required too. And mostly it is such a waste when there is already so much waste as there is.

I understand the disappointment. I experience it too when I travel and while a little disappointed myself I can accept it as part of traveling. Even as a crew member I can miss out on my crew meal choice (can be up to 4 choices depending on the port meaning only 2/3 choices of each).

 

[Ewing]

Some claim how is it possible, i.e. how can you possibly think that only 70% want beef over fish, when it should be more like 90%. A bit specious reasoning but you get the idea.

Don't do that, it means I might miss out on my fish! *gasp*

:mrgreen:

 

[Hvr]

<snip>

Some claim how is it possible, i.e. how can you possibly think that only 70% want beef over fish, when it should be more like 90%. A bit specious reasoning but you get the idea.

<snip>.

Well it may seem old fshioned but I reckon there would be more fish on Fridays than the rest of the week.

When flying AA F last month I liked being to preselect my main meal beforehand. It was treated as a special meal and I was served first. This caused consternation to a pax in the front row (think FEBO) who wanted the same meal I was having in the third row. The FAs explained to him that I had pre-ordered my meal and was entitled to my choice.

He wasn't happy, but now knows you can pre-order meals on flights >2 hours.