VA LAX Catering Debacle November 2017

[Must...Fly!]

But in the real world as a diabetic you don't always pack a lunch box of food before a long haul full-service flight. As I said, when we travel we take an emergency supply of a few cracker biscuits (they don't spoil) and maybe a piece of fruit. Packing a lunch box might be fine if departing from home, but not so much if you're in transit. And in 99.9% of cases you're not going to need it and either let it spoil or have to throw the contents away (entering Australia).

Once on the plane to be told there's no food would be a serious concern.

I don't think I am articulating my point well.

Few would reasonably pack a lunch box of food in case no catering appeared on the aircraft. Maybe if you were fussy with food, or had allergies, you might well do that.

It's obviously a very uncommon occurrence, particularly on long haul where SPMLs are available on almost all decent airlines. Surely you pack what you need to survive and if you have a medical condition e.g. diabetes you pack appropriately.

Relying on an airline for anything is fraught with danger, I don't understand why specific catering is any different. I am not trying to victimise here, just trying to understand why precautions around surviving (not enjoying) a flight may not be taken seriously.

 

[serfty]

I live with diabetes in various forms daily.

It is a syndrome; various ailments/issues causing failure to adequately handle carbohydrates.

As people live longer the more likely it is for to occur (also overconsumption can ascerbate the issue).

For many diabetics food is essential, as the medication/treatment regimes generally undertaken assume consumption of food.

Having posted that, most simply carry emergency sweets such as barley sugar or a muesli bar.

No thought is taken other than the diabetic meal pre-ordered for the flight.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Relying on an airline for anything is fraught with danger, I don't understand why specific catering is any different. I am not trying to victimise here, just trying to understand why precautions around surviving (not enjoying) a flight may not be taken seriously.

A tuna pot for dinner and a sweet pasty and sugar-laden juice for breakfast is probably not going to be suitable for a 15 hour flight. Communication is the key. It really should be for the diabetic or any other person to decide if they wish to fly on a plane with limited or no food... not the airline to tell you after doors have closed.

 

[Must...Fly!]

A tuna pot for dinner and a sweet pasty and sugar-laden juice for breakfast is probably not going to be suitable for a 15 hour flight. Communication is the key. It really should be for the diabetic or any other person to decide if they wish to fly on a plane with limited or no food... not the airline to tell you after doors have closed.

How can you be sure the options available in any cabin will be suitable to your condition?

What if your SPML is not loaded?

I sympathise with diabetics and it must be a real pain to live with. I hope I never have to deal with the consequences of it. But I still don't really understand the argument as to why emergency supplies are taken but not suitable for survival in the very rare case your preferred catering is not available.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

How can you be sure the options available in any cabin will be suitable to your condition?

What if your SPML is not loaded?

I sympathise with diabetics and it must be a real pain to live with. I hope I never have to deal with the consequences of it. But I still don't really understand the argument as to why emergency supplies are taken but not suitable for survival in the very rare case your preferred catering is not available.

Ah - perhaps this is where the misunderstanding has come in. Not all diabetics require a SPML. So they don't always need to be ordered. As part of a healthy diet a standard airline meal (perhaps minus the dessert!) may be perfectly adequate (and indeed mitigates the risk of a SPML not being loaded). For snack you can save the bread roll and some cheese, or grab a piece of fruit, or a proper sandwich if they have them. In premium cabins you can mix and match.

Now change a meat and three veg for dinner, or omelette and fruit for breakfast for a tuna pot and perhaps nothing until a sweet pastry and juice 12 hours later and all of a sudden you can have a problem.

 

[Mattg]

I don't fault Virgin Australia for deciding to change their caterer due to the food safety risk, nor for putting together (admittedly pretty terrible) alternative meals at the last minute.

However, I do fault VA for failing to communicate this with passengers before they boarded. They should have warned that the catering would be limited and provided all passengers with meal vouchers before they got on the plane. To only inform passengers once already on board is reprehensible.

 

[Denali]

.....should have warned that the catering would be limited and provided all passengers with meal vouchers before they got on the plane. To only inform passengers once already on board is reprehensible.

I thought this was happening as I read on VA's FB page that people were getting vouchers and being warned to get a meal in the lounge if they had access.

 

[Sprucegoose]

To cut through all of the hyperbole, the only issue here is the J meal may not have been up to scratch...

Despite the fact that VA could most likely claim force majeure, sue away if that makes you feel happy....

It’s not a legal matter of any note but a huge PR issue that doesn’t appear well managed from Virgins’ perspective.

It will compound and affect them, apparently deservedly so. I don’t like being mislead and nor do you.

I vote with my feet, and so do you .

 

[Pleb Status]

It’s not a legal matter of any note but a huge PR issue that doesn’t appear well managed from Virgins’ perspective.

It will compound and affect them, apparently deservedly so. I don’t like being mislead and nor do you.

I vote with my feet, and so do you .

The OP was the one who wanted to bring in the lawyers... for a J meal that was not to their liking.

 

[Danger]

American Stops Catering Food at LAX Due to Listeria Outbreak - View from the Wing

To cut through all of the hyperbole, the only issue here is the J meal may not have been up to scratch...

Despite the fact that VA could most likely claim force majeure, sue away if that makes you feel happy....

I have no knowledge about how listeria occurs but a quick web search suggests it may have something to do with inadequate preparation of ingredients. I think you'd be hard pressed to call that force majeure. A volcanic eruption is caused by God; a food contamination, not so much.

This sort of broad issue comes up from time to time and to me is representative an airline - of which I have no doubt there are a great many - who does not adequately plan for extraordinary circumstances. We often hear about how poor an airline's handling of a diversion is, for example.

I don't fault Virgin Australia for deciding to change their caterer due to the food safety risk, nor for putting together (admittedly pretty terrible) alternative meals at the last minute.

However, I do fault VA for failing to communicate this with passengers before they boarded. They should have warned that the catering would be limited and provided all passengers with meal vouchers before they got on the plane. To only inform passengers once already on board is reprehensible.

Sums it up nicely, in my opinion.

 

[N860CR]

The internal communication has been awful from what I've heard, and the crew were also not provided with any meals.

There was a last minute "here's a $20 voucher, go to Panda Express" thrown at the pilots prior to boarding, which would have caused the delay. Not wanting another delay, the crew are now being told to go to Walmart in their own time and grab some coughpy salads for the flight home (at their own expense).

It seems everyone has been screwed with this.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Not wanting another delay, the crew are now being told to go to Walmart in their own time and grab some coughpy salads for the flight home (at their own expense).

Are VA that hopeless to their own staff overseas. I have no reason not to believe it. You'd think 48 hours is all they'd need to sort this so that the customer barely notices...oh dear...

AA are in the lucky spot of having a/c flying in an out from all over the country so can bulk load catering (meals) elsewhere to stick on the flight.

 

[UP4014]

If it were a matter of life and death, I wouldn't be relying solely on an airline to feed me.

No but you rely on the airline to have food....if they aren't going to have food they should tell people in advance.

Matt

 

[UP4014]

How much food could you possibly need for 14 hours that couldn't fit in a standard lunch box in a carry on bag to avoid you expiring prematurely on the journey.

Get real.

Diabetics don't carry lunch boxes with enough for every eventuality, they rely on an airline providing food if it says it will and the person can substitute some. If the airline is not then a different story. over 14 hours two meals and snack. They should have told everyone prior so people who needed to could buy extra. I would guess they didn't say anything to avoid delays and then crews hours burning up.

I avoid seafood so if I Y i would have been starving by the look of things.

 

[jbman]

Was there a diabetic incident on the flight or are these hypotheticals here?

 

[andyhui01]

I would have been upset if I was not told in advance so I can prepare for it. A simple Email/SMS 3-5 hours before the flight would have been sufficient. It isn't the end of the world for LAX-AUS as the flight leaves after dinner and arrives early morning. I would have just bought some food with me and asked for some points as compensation.

I guess the problem is you can never predict how people will react and might delay the flight further. (aka. the post everything on social media tagging all the media outlets, how they could have died because they didn't eat for 14 hours... etc). From an ops perspective, even the Captain might have felt best decision is shut the doors and sort it out later.

 

[Dolphin42]

I flew LAX-BNE 8 Nov in J.
I had transferred from DL to TBIT and was advised of this catering issue at the Etihad lounge.
A letter was provided explaining they had ceased using their LAX cater due poor standards and that catering would be available on the flight but it would not be to their usual standard. Vouchers were offered if I wished to get something in the terminal to take on the flight and I was also welcome to eat in the lounge.
Announcements once boarded indicated the issue was hygiene related. Luckily for me I had eaten on my inbound flight and managed to sleep for good proportion of flight. Breakfast consisted of toasted muesli and sweet banana bread (as referenced in earlier posts) or savory muffin.
Crew were apologetic and obviously embarrassed, however they did their best in the circumstances.
One crew member indicated most food for our flight had come from Australia on the flight that day and that catering options on that inbound flight had been reduced to allow room for that to occur. That indicated to me that the issue was at least a couple of days old and that's now confirmed via the earlier posts.
I'll be interested to see if there is any follow up from VA. My lingering questions from the experience and following info in this thread is whether VA reacted to the hygiene issue in a reasonable time and could they have found alternative catering options in the at least a couple of days since reacting to the hygiene issue. However, bottom line for me is that while the food service was not acceptable, I arrived at BNE safely and on time.

 

[Milboo]

Lol at the OP lawyering up for the sake of a few hundred dollars compensation - when VA are already indicating willingness to discuss. You know a decent lawyer is going to charge you at least $300 an hour...

The case is weak too - you did receive food, it just was not to your liking.

I think it is good that VA put the safety of pax first. Listeria is serious business for the likes of pregnant women etc

At the end of the day - the vast majority of people eat prior to boarding and even then no one is going to starve to death because they don't eat for 12 hours (ignoring here that food was in fact offered).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Lol at the OP lawyering up for the sake of a few hundred dollars compensation - when VA are already indicating willingness to discuss. You know a decent lawyer is going to charge you at least $300 an hour...

The case is weak too - you did receive food, it just was not to your liking.

I think it is good that VA put the safety of pax first. Listeria is serious business for the likes of pregnant women etc

At the end of the day - the vast majority of people eat prior to boarding and even then no one is going to starve to death because they don't eat for 12 hours (ignoring here that food was in fact offered).

I agree this isn't really a mater to be pursued through legal avenues... but not that it's not a case of receiving food 'just not to your liking'. Food is an key part of an airline's offering, and it's advertised and promoted as such. You pay for it as part of your ticket. They don't usually advertise a choice of four x chicken. Or a cold tuna pot.

I'm not sure I agree that the vast majority of pax eat before travel. Airport prices are sky-high, particularly in the US (my last visit there you couldn't get a sandwich under USD9.95 across the half-dozen airports I went through). 300 economy pax all eat before flying? What's the point of a full service carrier?

If the airlines aren't paying for the food they've ordered, that price should be refunded.

 

[Flying Fox]

And now its made the news -

Virgin Australia flights out of LA hit by listeria scare

It is understood Virgin passengers have been given food vouchers to the value of $32 before their LAX flights.