More Meaal Cutbacks

[biztraveller29]

I got this in my e-mail today. Thanks AA! It's not like people are going to starve on flights of 2.5 - 3 hours, but it really outlines how "full-service" carriers are that in name only.

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On April 1, 2004, American Airlines will reduce the number of flights with Coach Class Bistro service. Bistro service will no longer be available on flights between:

Dallas/Fort Worth and California, the Washington D.C. area, Hartford and Providence

You recently made a reservation on a flight for travel on or after April 1 that may no longer have Bistro service. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We do however, invite and encourage you to bring food to take aboard or visit airport dining locations. To bring more food options to you, American Airlines supports the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Buy-at-the-Gate program.

American will continue to offer complimentary Coach Class Bistro service during meal times only on flights greater than four hours as well as flights between:

Dallas/Fort Worth and:

Boston
Montreal
The New York City area
Portland
Seattle

Chicago O'Hare and:
Las Vegas
Reno
Palm Springs

St. Louis and:
Los Angeles
Orange County
San Diego

Miami and:
Denver

 

[MiAAmi]

I got this in my e-mail today. Thanks AA! It's not like people are going to starve on flights of 2.5 - 3 hours, but it really outlines how "full-service" carriers are that in name only.

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On April 1, 2004, American Airlines will reduce the number of flights with Coach Class Bistro service. Bistro service will no longer be available on flights between:

Dallas/Fort Worth and California, the Washington D.C. area, Hartford and Providence

You recently made a reservation on a flight for travel on or after April 1 that may no longer have Bistro service. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We do however, invite and encourage you to bring food to take aboard or visit airport dining locations. To bring more food options to you, American Airlines supports the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Buy-at-the-Gate program.

American will continue to offer complimentary Coach Class Bistro service during meal times only on flights greater than four hours as well as flights between:

Dallas/Fort Worth and:

Boston
Montreal
The New York City area
Portland
Seattle

Chicago O'Hare and:
Las Vegas
Reno
Palm Springs

St. Louis and:
Los Angeles
Orange County
San Diego

Miami and:
Denver

If AA bleeds to death you'll be left with the low fare carriers anyway. Besides there are much more important differences that seperate us. The industry is changing rapidly and its the consumer that demands it. So for a little less fare you give up that meal that you always complained about anyway.

 

[WingNaPrayer]

Those Bistro Bags (nick named bAArf bAAgs) sucked anyway. I don't think this will be any great loss.

 

[MiAAmi]

They are using the budget from the coach meals to upgrade service in First Class.

 

[SVQLBA]

It's not a case of the gap between AA and SW closing, in reality the gap between SW (and JB) and AA/UA et al is increasing. Even on short flights you get more snacks, and a greater variety. Cutting bistro bags is a drop in the ocean in the unit cost difference -- it's productivity that is still the key.

The exception in the legacy carriers is CO. I'm always pleasantly surprised to get an OK-ish tray at meal times, even on 1.5 hr legs like MEM-CLE, and even on Express. However, CO has failed to get that message out to the market. It's not a point of differentiation if no-one knows about it.

 

[LiveInAHotel]

Those bAArf bags you're refering to have nothing of value in them anyway. Wow, you get a bite size sandwich (includes your hockey puck bread), brownie or oreo cookie, once in a while you may get lucky and get a rotten apple. As a bonus you get a napkin!

Go to Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, McDonald's or whatever is in the terminal and buy food.

 

[woztwa]

Those bAArf bags you're refering to have nothing of value in them anyway. Wow, you get a bite size sandwich (includes your hockey puck bread), brownie or oreo cookie, once in a while you may get lucky and get a rotten apple. As a bonus you get a napkin!

Go to Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, McDonald's or whatever is in the terminal and buy food.

yep, they bring it on, you clean it up--been there, done that......
Management has their bean-counters up their own asses, they don't have to eat this crap, YOU do

 

[biztraveller29]

I understand that food is available in terminals at airports. What I don't understand is why they would cut the (admittedly minimal) food that they provide on important markets such as SoCal-DFW. Is it for cost reasons? As others have said, it is a drop in the bucket. For productivitiy reasons? If people bring their own food on, clean up will have to happen anyways. Besides, it doesn't make F/A's any more productive, as the Bistro Bags (obviously) were carried on by passengers, not served to them.

Actually one point I agree with is that I had it wrong -- the gap between WN (and B6) and AA is not narrowing, it is increasing, with AA falling further behind. And I say this as a Gold (former Plat) frequent flyer.

 

[MAH4546]

With all this talk of meal service ending, thought I would add that two routes are resuming meal service on 1 May 2004: Miami-Port of Spain and Miami-Bridgetown.

 

[jimntx]

When I get called back, I certainly will not miss collecting the trash on a bistro flight. Particularly on flights inbound to DFW where we usually had to clean. You could go through 3-4 times, end up with no more cart space for trash storage, and STILL have a bunch of bags shoved under the seats after deplaning. I think the bags breed during flight.

 

[MiAAmi]

I understand that food is available in terminals at airports. What I don't understand is why they would cut the (admittedly minimal) food that they provide on important markets such as SoCal-DFW. Is it for cost reasons? As others have said, it is a drop in the bucket. For productivitiy reasons? If people bring their own food on, clean up will have to happen anyways. Besides, it doesn't make F/A's any more productive, as the Bistro Bags (obviously) were carried on by passengers, not served to them.

Actually one point I agree with is that I had it wrong -- the gap between WN (and B6) and AA is not narrowing, it is increasing, with AA falling further behind. And I say this as a Gold (former Plat) frequent flyer.

Well I hope all those meals you get on Southwest make up for the loss of meals in coach on AA.

 

[orwell]

I got this in my e-mail today. Thanks AA! It's not like people are going to starve on flights of 2.5 - 3 hours, but it really outlines how "full-service" carriers are that in name only.

Reminder:

There is a BIG difference in what customers want and what they will pay for.

Reductions in service will always be met with boisterous complaints and threats/promises to shift to competitors.

Enhancements in service are not greeted with the same vigor - lowest price remains king.

 

[flydcoop]

Honestly, I did 2 "Barfstro" (as a friend refers to it) services DFW-EWR last week.

When we did the pick-up, I was shocked at how many sandwiches were still in the bags untouched. There was a ton of wasted food.

I think it's a good move to cancel Bistro to bring back F/C meals on flights with over an hour-and- a-half block time.

F/C in the prime NYC and SoCal markets (the 2 largest high-tier markets for AA) is dominated by Executive Platinums and Platinums.

Granted, they are usually upgrades from Coach fares but they deserve to be in that cabin for their loyalty to AA. Upgrades are not necessarily free. They use their mileage and electronic upgrades (which are awarded in increments after flying so many miles on AA and can also be purchased if they don't have enough). I think the threshold is 10,000 miles, perhaps a Platinum or Gold can chime in on this.

If it is 10,000 miles, that is a lot of time sitting in a seat on AA or one of our partners.

More than a few times (just my last trip, actually) I have brought a Platinum/FF into a city and had them on the flight the next day.

JMHO, I think it is more important to feed our loyal, frequent travellers versus the low fare pax that are price-driven and not brand-loyal in coach.

I do wish we would offer a variety of snacks like JetBlue, people are sick to death of the pretzels.


Coop

 

[LD max]

BISTRO = Basic Instituded Substance To Reduce Overhead.