VA LAX Catering Debacle November 2017

[Denali]

Seriously, although I would have been disappointed, at the end of the day you get home safe and then cough and moan for a bucket load of points while ordering Domino's to deliver a pizza.

Im fat, I like to eat, I can also last 14hrs on a musesli bar and a bottle of water. Skipping an airline meal for most people is not the end of the world.

 

[ozjuice]

Fasting is a very healthy thing.....and better than dying i heard. ;-)

 

[Cult of one]

As a person who travels this route with family living in Miami area this scares the hell out of me. Flying cross country from Miami last time landing in one terminal and running to the other I arrived at the gate lounge to find the plane boarding. There was no time to grab food at airport or in the LAX lounge.

I am a type one who travels around 50-100 flights per year depending on the year I always have food on me but after a 5 hour cross country flight in the USA via Atlanta on Delta with yet another tight connection in AtlantaI may have to take half a food store with me.

A few weeks ago I was stuck on the Tarmac at OOL due to storms after a 2 hour flight from MEL and was watching my glucose levels, I had a muffin from the flight service and a musli bar along with jelly bean stash. The lady sitting next to me was watching me measure my levels and getting worried on my behalf. It was 3 hours on the Tarmac but with plenty of fuel I was not worried but if I had no food it would have been a different story

Type ones do not like to rely on airline food but in the case that I outline above supplies can get depleted. I will be well prepared for my upcoming trip to the USA on VA and Return.

 

[Kremmen]

Im fat, I like to eat, I can also last 14hrs on a musesli bar and a bottle of water. Skipping an airline meal for most people is not the end of the world.

I'm thin and I'd be totally miserable if this happened. Airlines such as VA sell an experience, not a bus ride. One of the activities that keeps people entertained and happy during a flight is eating. Failing to provide the advertised level of catering and failing to advise customers in advance is pathetic. I'd suggest that a full refund is appropriate compensation, so that passengers can get the experience they paid for next time.

 

[Dee#]

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.

yes true. as a diabetic you may have some boiled sweets on you but not breakfast, lunch and dinner. Regular food intake is required depending on how severe your problem is. Fortunately mine is not that severe, but after 15hrs I don't know. Appeared they didn't starve. There was some food. How ridiculous. Did anyone demand to get off?

 

[Rebekkap]

they take the fruit off you before you board… ( or you can cheat .. just don't pull that banana out when someone is peeking...) ...

Since when do they take fruit off you before you board? I have taken a couple of thousand flights in the last five years, almost always with a piece of fruit or two to eat on the plane since I can't eat most of the snacks, and never once has anyone suggested I can't do so. No crew member or member of the ground staff has tried to take fruit off me, no signs indicate you can't take fruit on board anywhere I've been around Australia or around the world... fake news!

 

[Travelbugz]

I flew AA from LAX to JFK in J class on 5 November. I received an email the day before apologizing that the catering would not be up to their usual standard because they had terminated their catering contract and advising that a USD 200 travel voucher would be posted to me. There was no catering (other than a snack and one bottle of water) for the Y passengers. But they were advised at the gate so that they could either eat at the airport or bring food on board. Big difference in customer relations to the VA experience and on a much shorter flight.

 

[Jo145]

Hmmm, the headline said travellers were "left starving". Really? Hungry maybe, but hardly starving.

Yes, the situation was far from ideal and Virgin really dropped their bundle. But the headline is total sensationalism.

 

[Tas]

I can't speak for all flights affected by the catering crisis. However, I flew in J from LAX - BNE departing 6/11/2017. And this is my experience.

Upon checking in I received a letter from VA explaining their decision to cancel the catering. I was also given a total of $32 USD in vouchers to spend inside the terminal. I arrived in the partner lounge, and mentioned to the VA employee that I accepted the commercial decision, however felt the $32 compensation was not adequate for a J flight. She went on to explain that it was her belief pax would receive further compensation by way of FF points. I went on to enjoy a meal in the partner lounge and proceeded to board my flight. I also made the decision not to utilise the vouchers as I didn't see a problem in fasting, in fact I actually do this each night between dinner and breakfast anyway. However I was pleasantly surprised when I did receive some food on the aircraft for both dinner and breakfast. And whilst it is not the usual J class standard, it exceeded my expectations which were to receive no food at all.

Throughout the flight, as I enjoyed a whisky from the bar (thank god the alcohol wasn't affected), I discussed the situation with several of the crew. And whilst I have no way of verifying this, they explained that it was only the premium cabins which were affected as the economy cabin has a different catering provider.

After arriving back in Australia, I spoke with the platinum call centre, who advised me to complete the online feedback form regarding my experience. I did this, and received a response within 24 hours which included a gift of 50,000 FF points. These were available in my account immediately.

All in all, in my experience, all of the VA agents and employees handled a difficult experience very well and I am a satisfied customer.
However, I will suggest that any affected passengers take the time to complete the feedback, as I get the feeling VA won't be chasing you to offer compensation.

 

[Renato1]

Stories like this one remind me of why I continue to always have two packets of beef jerky in my bag on every flight I've flown since 2005 (the last time I was left starving, on a BA flight).
Regards,
Renato

 

[Quickstatus]

Nothing to Sue unless you can demonstrate injury or damage.
Breach of contract -the monetary amount in question would be so small that the cost of 1 hour at the lawyers would be more than the compensation offered.

Speaking only for myself, I would have said "buckle up, lets go"

In the end I assumed no diabetic was harmed because there would be enough sugar on board to deal with any hypos. Safe to assume that there would be diabetics on board (1:300 is a fair bet). The plane did not divert.

So people are cranky (rightly) about not getting what they paid for. Wait for compo.
Not handled well by VA. They should have told the customers.

I wonder what the weight loss was per customer.......

 

[Must...Fly!]

After arriving back in Australia, I spoke with the platinum call centre, who advised me to complete the online feedback form regarding my experience. I did this, and received a response within 24 hours which included a gift of 50,000 FF points. These were available in my account immediately.

Glad to hear your experience was far from a nightmare.

Though I must say 50,000 points is a nice haul!

 

[Oneworldplus2]

VA dropped the ball on this one for sure.

 

[Tas]

Glad to hear your experience was far from a nightmare.

Though I must say 50,000 points is a nice haul!

You're right, a very nice haul and in redemption terms, 50% of the value of this flight.

 

[Denali]

Hmmm, the headline said travellers were "left starving". Really? Hungry maybe, but hardly starving......

Hunger Games at 30,000ft, its a new VA experience!

 

[flybynight]

I'm one of the few people who would be happy that there was no food. I haven't eaten any food (including peanuts and pretzels) on any flight for the past 4 years. I mainly just drink some water and maybe have a few red wines. I do make sure I have a proper meal before flying. The reason I do this regime is I discovered that I feel much better arriving if I don't eat. My last longhaul was from London 3 weeks ago and a couple of weeks before that a return HKG BOS (16 hours) which I did in 60 hours total elapsed time - only had one meal in Boston for the total trip.

 

[Polbathic]

My experience with VA tends to be that everything is sweet until something goes wrong. Of course there are exceptions and things are much better these days than even a few years back, but a flight failure or something like this catering chaos - seems to cause a general meltdown. Is there not someone who has a “list” of what to do and how to deal with it? A bit like the pilot, who has a checklist for aircraft issues. So, catering issues.... the written approach might be advise travellers in advance if possible, advise passengers at the gate (by conventional means, not FB!), advise, advise, advise. You see all those reality TV shows where there is a hard working flight dispatcher who seems to have their finger on all the pulses... where is the VA equivalent?

 

[Polbathic]

This “standard of airline” ... what do you mean by that ? VA has an excellent flying safety record and is held in high regard winning numerous awards in the aviation and tourism industry. I think you need to get out more!

 

[TomB]

This is the type of post that we should be seeing more of on this site. Not only does it let others know of the failings and/or successes of an airline but it should come to the attention of the airline and contain the warning that people are or are not happy and that they are passing the message around, instead of just sucking it up.

My own beef. Last Monday I was on QANTAS flight QF777 seated next to an extremely obese couple, who both overflowed their seats and made it more than an uncomfortable flight. In fact it has resulted in a re-occurrence of a painful shoulder injury. Surely QANTAS staff should realise their duty of care and ave a procedure to monitor and correct such seating issues

 

[RB]

I can't speak for all flights affected by the catering crisis. However, I flew in J from LAX - BNE departing 6/11/2017. And this is my experience.

Upon checking in I received a letter from VA explaining their decision to cancel the catering. I was also given a total of $32 USD in vouchers to spend inside the terminal. I arrived in the partner lounge, and mentioned to the VA employee that I accepted the commercial decision, however felt the $32 compensation was not adequate for a J flight. She went on to explain that it was her belief pax would receive further compensation by way of FF points. I went on to enjoy a meal in the partner lounge and proceeded to board my flight. I also made the decision not to utilise the vouchers as I didn't see a problem in fasting, in fact I actually do this each night between dinner and breakfast anyway. However I was pleasantly surprised when I did receive some food on the aircraft for both dinner and breakfast. And whilst it is not the usual J class standard, it exceeded my expectations which were to receive no food at all.

Throughout the flight, as I enjoyed a whisky from the bar (thank god the alcohol wasn't affected), I discussed the situation with several of the crew. And whilst I have no way of verifying this, they explained that it was only the premium cabins which were affected as the economy cabin has a different catering provider.

After arriving back in Australia, I spoke with the platinum call centre, who advised me to complete the online feedback form regarding my experience. I did this, and received a response within 24 hours which included a gift of 50,000 FF points. These were available in my account immediately.

All in all, in my experience, all of the VA agents and employees handled a difficult experience very well and I am a satisfied customer.
However, I will suggest that any affected passengers take the time to complete the feedback, as I get the feeling VA won't be chasing you to offer compensation.

Interesting to read a balanced post by someone with knowledge