Food for Thought: F meal IND-PHX

[Dont call me Shirley]

Look up FFocus on the internet. This group originally started to harass USAirways and their employees and has tried to extort free flights and first class upgrades from USAirways for many years.

They keep on saying they are flying on another airline, using the free market choice, but they always come back with vengeance in their hearts no matter what flag of right and wrong they choose to fly on any particular day.

UA and Continental airlines are rumored to merge in the future, hence their motive on combining "elite benefits".

I beg to differ. The original FFocus members, and before that, "cockroaches" were great supporters of US and its front line staff. They had some major differences with some decisions made by management (this was in the CCY days), but to its credit CCY met with and listened to the concerns voiced by the group. Many Ffocus members used their time, money, and energy to support the airline and its front line staff.

Folks, we are getting into serious topic drift here. Maybe we should start another thread to discuss the merits of FFocus.

 

[Richard]

Folks, the topic here is the meal service and the alleged tin meal served. If you wish to discuss the merits of an organization, do it in another thread.
This one is one step away from being closed.

 

[SS255]

Perhaps! Get 'em girl!

I will say, tho, we US gals take care of our CP's with what little we have, and we will continue to! We ain't no Delta, but we still fight...

This is sooooo true........and probably why that meal was served in a tin pan rather than not at all. US crews are still the very best in the business, IMO. Thanks to all of you who have maintained such a high standard of service.

 

[Travelpro72]

After watching the latest crew news session Hector goes into detail about catering and the fixes that are underway. The food window for first class needs to change and change NOW. Doug even agreed while Shambles was in da house that if food is sold in coach it should be offered in first. PERIOD! ! ! ! Hector, this needs addressed and right away. Working at US you quite frequently have to well, pull a rabbit out of your......to get the service done.

 

[Furloughd4now]

I just still cannot believe, for the life of me, that this was served. It boggles the mind completely.

First of all the FA didn't even bother to remove the wrap from the salad. That is sheer LAZINESS. No apologies there!

Secondly assuming it is double provisioned, I would have worked SOMETHING out to prevent this from happening. If it was the previous crewmember's negligience going out and "taking all the snacks oh and the plates" then both FAs working both of the flights should have a discussion with their Supervisor.

SMART FAs do inventory and check water levels if they want to prevent themselves from embarrassing situations. Heck I would even sent someone to grab paper plates from one of the restaurants. Obviously someone was not working smart and as a result you work harder and its more stressful.

How did the FA come up with 12 tins? Assuming it is 1/2 grilled chicken and half salad (not knowing the options) then what was the salad served on?

Something just isn't right here. But serving food at all in this manner is just unacceptable!

End of rant ;-)

 

[SS255]

Secondly assuming it is double provisioned, I would have worked SOMETHING out to prevent this from happening. If it was the previous crewmember's negligience going out and "taking all the snacks oh and the plates" then both FAs working both of the flights should have a discussion with their Supervisor.

Whose ultimate responsibility is it to make sure that the flights are properly provisioned? I have been on numerous Eastbound transcons where the snack basket is not passed because they ran out of items on the Westbound flight. Sometimes if I asked the FA privately, s/he would invite me to take what I wanted from whatever was left in the stash. They don't usually pass the snack basket unless there is enough to go around.

Doesn't it make logistical sense to have a system in place to provision the flight at each departure airport? It stands to reason that if you double-provision, you run the risk of the outbound taking more than their fair share. Then you end up with disappointed customers, embarrassed FA's.........and pictures like this.

 

[Furloughd4now]

"Usually" (and I will use that term loosely) Westbound flights originating from the east are going into a hub station. Long hauls (ie. CLT-LAX) are not double provisioned, but catered at the stations. However I've worked "double-provisioned" flights (PHX-ORD) where meals are served. I personally have never experienced any significant issues, because I inventory, knowing the flight has to return. But thats just me. If there is a problem with inventory I let them know well in advance what I need. "Most" times, I am catered properly to avoid situations such as these. In addition, when I am in a "base" and I don't have enough snacks (which is rare, they usually leave their excess on the galley counter) I call for them. I typically have too much stuff. Figure this, if catering can't find a spot within the galley to store it and they leave it on the counter, what makes you thing I will be able to find a space???

But real world "stuff" happens. Again, a *smart* FA does their counts well enough in advance to prevent this from happening; I will leave the rest up to your judgment.

 

[formeraa]

"Usually" (and I will use that term loosely) Westbound flights originating from the east are going into a hub station. Long hauls (ie. CLT-LAX) are not double provisioned, but catered at the stations. However I've worked "double-provisioned" flights (PHX-ORD) where meals are served. I personally have never experienced any significant issues, because I inventory, knowing the flight has to return. But thats just me. If there is a problem with inventory I let them know well in advance what I need. "Most" times, I am catered properly to avoid situations such as these. In addition, when I am in a "base" and I don't have enough snacks (which is rare, they usually leave their excess on the galley counter) I call for them. I typically have too much stuff. Figure this, if catering can't find a spot within the galley to store it and they leave it on the counter, what makes you thing I will be able to find a space???

But real world "stuff" happens. Again, a *smart* FA does their counts well enough in advance to prevent this from happening; I will leave the rest up to your judgment.

Exactly! Stuff does happen occasionally. I guess the FA could have just told the passengers that their meal wasn't catered at all. Perhaps the FA's on the inbound flight had to deal with some other issues and didn't have time to inventory everything properly. Clearly, US should follow up with the FA's involved to try to get a handle on what exactly happened and work to avoid the situation in the future. Other than send a personal letter of apology and a free upgrade certificate to the F pax on that flight, we can't really reverse history.

 

[DrBeth]

Exactly! Stuff does happen occasionally. I guess the FA could have just told the passengers that their meal wasn't catered at all. Perhaps the FA's on the inbound flight had to deal with some other issues and didn't have time to inventory everything properly. Clearly, US should follow up with the FA's involved to try to get a handle on what exactly happened and work to avoid the situation in the future. Other than send a personal letter of apology and a free upgrade certificate to the F pax on that flight, we can't really reverse history.

And in posting the photo, that would be my wish as well, that there should be follow-up with regard to this incident and the pax receive an apology and perhaps an upgrade certificate to try F again.

 

[DrBeth]

Perhaps! Get 'em girl!

I will say, tho, we US gals take care of our CP's with what little we have, and we will continue to! We ain't no Delta, but we still fight...

I agree. I was US CP when I started moving my business to DL (because of a horrid 2007 on US), and that was what I missed the most, being CP. Being CP on US still means something and the service delivered has always been excellent.

 

[Itestwell]

I agree. I was US CP when I started moving my business to DL (because of a horrid 2007 on US), and that was what I missed the most, being CP. Being CP on US still means something and the service delivered has always been excellent.

.. and we miss you too....Give Hector some time; according to our latest communication, he has some great things in store.. we shall see....

 

[DrBeth]

.. and we miss you too....Give Hector some time; according to our latest communication, he has some great things in store.. we shall see....

Just to add "balance" to this thread, today I saw some photos from a friend's PHL-MAD roundtrip in Envoy and those meals looked fantastic. What a contrast! If only US would put just a little more effort into domestic F. <sigh>

 

[SS255]

.. and we miss you too....Give Hector some time; according to our latest communication, he has some great things in store.. we shall see....

I was talking to a US employee today, and she thinks Hector is really good, but his hands are tied by budget constraints. How frustrating that must be.

 

[Dog Wonder]

No offense to high paying customers.

There will be no fine dining on airplanes.

 

[hp_fa]

The high paying customers aren't even going to get a mediocre meal.

How much would you like to bet that if there was an airline that was convenient to their home, offered no meals but had seats larger than coach and an area where they were guaranteed no screaming kids, that they would buy seats there and bring a decent offering from home, a deli or whatever.