The following ia an excerpt from a post I put on another board. It was written after a transcon flight I took on USAirways, and I wanted it to go where some employees could see it:
I have a slightly different take on the meal thing. Firstly, I flew bck to Seattle from CLT and they were selling dinner in Coach on a 5:45 PM departure. I must have missed something, because I thought on those transcons, they would continue to feed everyone. The First Class meal was bare bones, and featured all plastic knives, forks and spoons. Gone was the glassware. Forgive me, but since being comped top tier at Alaska, all my transcon flying has gone there, and they do everything the old fashioned way. Some thoughts, however. Hearing the F/A hawking the $10 chicken dinner tonight was embarrassingly tacky. You've got to wonder what some poor slob paying full fare in either compartment must think, at that moment, not to mention the poor F/A. Secondly, they will do all this, and never make a dime on paid meals. The relatively small scale, unpredictability of consumption, and spoilage from unsold units will kill them. When you feed everybody, the scale is such that the average cost is only a couple of bucks. It's madness. Another Business Select, MetroJet, RJ, let's run as many people as we can through our most ****** up hub, type decision. Finally, as you blur the distinctions between yourself and the discount guys, you set the place up like the proverbial spider and fly. When it comes to a meal, for air travelers, since it began some 75 years ago, a meal with your ticket was a birthright. Whether or not it was any good was not the issue. You simply got one. It's a given that the guys running the jetBlue's of the world are smarter, and more innovative than their counterparts at places like Ft. Fumble. Having leveled the playing field on this one, watch the new guys come out with better(and cheaper)meals for sale, that make these look silly. A bit like jetBlue letting AA come out with their there's no difference ads, watching as American puts the scrunchy seats back in, and then announcing it's removing them from the jetBlue fleet. Game, set, match.
I have a slightly different take on the meal thing. Firstly, I flew bck to Seattle from CLT and they were selling dinner in Coach on a 5:45 PM departure. I must have missed something, because I thought on those transcons, they would continue to feed everyone. The First Class meal was bare bones, and featured all plastic knives, forks and spoons. Gone was the glassware. Forgive me, but since being comped top tier at Alaska, all my transcon flying has gone there, and they do everything the old fashioned way. Some thoughts, however. Hearing the F/A hawking the $10 chicken dinner tonight was embarrassingly tacky. You've got to wonder what some poor slob paying full fare in either compartment must think, at that moment, not to mention the poor F/A. Secondly, they will do all this, and never make a dime on paid meals. The relatively small scale, unpredictability of consumption, and spoilage from unsold units will kill them. When you feed everybody, the scale is such that the average cost is only a couple of bucks. It's madness. Another Business Select, MetroJet, RJ, let's run as many people as we can through our most ****** up hub, type decision. Finally, as you blur the distinctions between yourself and the discount guys, you set the place up like the proverbial spider and fly. When it comes to a meal, for air travelers, since it began some 75 years ago, a meal with your ticket was a birthright. Whether or not it was any good was not the issue. You simply got one. It's a given that the guys running the jetBlue's of the world are smarter, and more innovative than their counterparts at places like Ft. Fumble. Having leveled the playing field on this one, watch the new guys come out with better(and cheaper)meals for sale, that make these look silly. A bit like jetBlue letting AA come out with their there's no difference ads, watching as American puts the scrunchy seats back in, and then announcing it's removing them from the jetBlue fleet. Game, set, match.