What is it with people/ PAX and lounge food

[Matt_01]

I often wonder if something changes in the human brain when people enter an airport lounge and free food is on offer. As an example on Friday, in the VA MEL lounge, which was a zoo, the line for potato chips was 6-8 PAX long, the hot food line was even worse. At the QP in ADL this evening I watched one PAX pile their plate so high with the coughpy salad and hot food offerings, pasties and pies, the food was starting to fall off I then noticed the PAX sitting behind me had a bowl of soup, a seperate bowl of salad and another bowl of hot food mixed with rice all full to the brim (the old style aircraft soup bowls before they became the main meal “large” bowl of soup) and more bread rolls than you can poke a stick at, her partner had the same so 6 bowls of food plus bread between 2 people. Do people/ PAX not realise that if they are hungry and want more lounge food you can go back more than once.

Maybe I have just become jaded and ambivalent to airline lounges. Do not get me wrong I like ‘free stuff’ but airline lounge food???????. Apologies for my rant.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Why on earth would anyone feel the need to BYO food and drink onto a flight if they were travelling in F with CX?

The only way this behaviour makes any sense is if they were in the lounge by virtue of OWE status and were about to board a long haul flight in Y.

EDIT: or maybe taking stuff out to share pre flight with a large group who don’t have lounge access!

Maybe a bit like rich people who steal handbags or shoes... they have no material need to do so.

I wholly suspect these pax have some 'value' to CX which goes way beyond their habits.

 

[jastel]

With the exception of cakes/drinks I have not found food in a QF lounge lately that I want a second bite of, let alone a second plate of...

What is the etiquette of bringing Maccas or similar outside food INTO the lounge anyway??

 

[Buzzard]

I think cruise ships take the cake (literally!!!)

The last cruise I took was like a floating feed lot.

 

[zig]

The last cruise I took was like a floating feed lot.

You are on the wrong cruise in that case

 

[levelnine]

I don't get the confusion over food/drink hoarding. The explanation is pretty straightforward. (I do, of course, get the annoyance/disgust over it.)

Most people who do it fall into one of two categories:

1. People who do not ordinarily have access to all you can eat/drink facilities. The infrequent flyer who saved for 3 years to afford an upgrade to business class on points. The family going on their first resort vacation in years. The office worker sent on a rare business trip. Etc etc. For them, a buffet is like all their Christmases have come at once, so they are going to make the most of it. They are not otherwise rich so the ability to get three meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) out of the breakfast buffet makes great financial sense to them.

2. People who were raised with scarcity mindsets. These are people who were raised to believe that there is always a risk, no matter how well off they are, that they could be left without enough to eat/drink at any moment. Thus, you always take as much as you can get when something free or cheap is on offer. Several cohorts fall into this category: those who grew up during the shortages of World War II, those from countries that experienced mass poverty/famine/food shortages.

 

[kermatu]

What is the etiquette of bringing Maccas or similar outside food INTO the lounge anyway??

Very common occurrence in QF J and VA lounges in my experience. Never seen staff baulk at it.

Have even seen someone bring a Hungry Jacks brown bag into a F lounge. Wondered if that would be frowned upon but didn't seem to faze anyone. Chap was only in lounge for about 10 minutes so may not have been an intentional swipe at the NP food offerings (as I mused to myself upon seeing).

 

[SOPOOR]

The a biscuit pile on another table. Maybe an ADL thing. View attachment 197950

They should get a job in the circus

Thats some juggling skills!

 

[juddles]

.........and they let you board after consuming a full bottle? At least after that you wouldn't care if you were in Y or J (or possibly remember)

it is not about caring if you are in Y or J, it is about just trying not to care in general about being in a tube.

And some people with a bottle in them carry on far less than others with 4 champas in their gut

 

[Melburnian1]

This blows me away... I was in the HKG CX First Class Wing on Friday and three travellers rocked in and spent one hour blatantly filling containers with food and loading them into a trolley bag. They also helped themselves to bottles of water, wine.... end even the champagne complete with stopper! It was something to behold!
I approached them and asked why... they said that they were entitled to take as much food and drink as they wanted. They were very well prepared as their trolley bag was overflowing with containers they brought with them.
The lounge staff watched on... but did not stop them....

This must rank as one of the most bizarre things any traveller, on any mode, has witnessed in the last decade.

But I believe you, as truth can be stranger than fiction, although why the lounge staff didn't intervene is beyond me.

 

[cqtiger]

I hate people stocking up on magazines for the flight.Saw one lady stash 4 mags into her bag along worth 2 muffins

 

[p--and--t]

it is not about caring if you are in Y or J, it is about just trying not to care in general about being in a tube.

And some people with a bottle in them carry on far less than others with 4 champas in their gut

I admire your stamina, 3-4 spirits and I would possibly not be fit to make the trek to the boarding gate, let alone a bottle.

Agree. I have observed many passengers who FAs found difficult to deal with even without any champers; champers only making it worse.

 

[monoccular]

I vaguely recall seeing a guy fill up his bag with beers in the lounge, might have been Darwin by memory.

Sounds like DRW

 

[lonewolf]

I admit, i do go through multiple servings of lounge food at times, but its usually because i dont really get lounge access much at all, so when i have been lucky enough or fortunate enough to get it, i sort of get excited and want to try all the features out plus usually i can eat quite a bit and the plates are quite small. so i go back for repeat servings usually. Except for Qantas Business breakfast, i find their breakfast very ordinary, i struggle to eat even one serving.

 

[waratahbay]

I completely agree. Some people think of them as the place to have a four course dinner with doggy bags.
A bit much IMHO.

Bogan is as bogan does.

 

[JoshuaEicke]

My thinking is that their behaviour is just a reflection on the type of person that they are. They are just being themselves. Vultures being let loose in the lounge.

If they were given a free morning tea at work once a week, then they would take as much as they could carry and hide it in their desk drawer.

Spot on, its only thr bogan pigs who let things like this bring our their true nature

 

[JoshuaEicke]

This blows me away... I was in the HKG CX First Class Wing on Friday and three travellers rocked in and spent one hour blatantly filling containers with food and loading them into a trolley bag. They also helped themselves to bottles of water, wine.... end even the champagne complete with stopper! It was something to behold!
I approached them and asked why... they said that they were entitled to take as much food and drink as they wanted. They were very well prepared as their trolley bag was overflowing with containers they brought with them.
The lounge staff watched on... but did not stop them.
After the 'guests' departed the lounge staff said that this was a regular occurrence. They told me that the guests were frequent travellers and their colleagues at The Deck advised that they had already 'raided' The Deck!

Now the big thing here (apart from their terrible behaviour) is that the food at CX lounges is pretty average at best. Stale bread, cold 'hot' dishes... a la carte is a little better, but thankfully the booze is OK! I am still flummoxed why you would want to take the food with you! The Perrier-Jouet I can understand.

Bothers me a bit!

Ooh ROo

Willie

What a bunch of pigs

 

[Dennis Colquitt]

I think cruise ships take the cake (literally!!!)

Oh Really. And which cruise ships did you have in mind?

 

[Lawlass]

The only time I have done something like this is when I was travelling LA-Melbourne on VA in J and had apparently forgotten to specify vegan food for my partner. They told me in no uncertain terms on checkin that there was no way he was going to be able to get any vegan meals. So in the lounge I wrapped up all the vegan food I could find so my poor fella wouldn't starve while I chowed down on the long flight. A lounge dragon spotted me stuffing my backpack and gave me a raised eyebrow and I was mortified! I wanted to explain the situation, but also didn't want to draw any further attention to myself!

As it turned out, they were able to rustle something together for him on the flight anyway (I don't think it was strictly vegan but more scraped some cheese off a meal or something, and I was totally down with the 'don't ask, don't tell' situation).

Now I triple-check that bloody box is ticked every flight!

 

[JoshuaEicke]

The only time I have done something like this is when I was travelling LA-Melbourne on VA in J and had apparently forgotten to specify vegan food for my partner. They told me in no uncertain terms on checkin that there was no way he was going to be able to get any vegan meals. So in the lounge I wrapped up all the vegan food I could find so my poor fella wouldn't starve while I chowed down on the long flight. A lounge dragon spotted me stuffing my backpack and gave me a raised eyebrow and I was mortified! I wanted to explain the situation, but also didn't want to draw any further attention to myself!

As it turned out, they were able to rustle something together for him on the flight anyway (I don't think it was strictly vegan but more scraped some cheese off a meal or something, and I was totally down with the 'don't ask, don't tell' situation).

Now I triple-check that bloody box is ticked every flight!

Lounge dragon is only used by people who break the rules and then play dumb after, not surprising reading your story!

 

[Snowant]

Best.Topic.Ever.