Major airline caterer Gate Gourmet is scheduled to face a worker strike starting July 30th. I told you we wouldn’t see an American Airlines strike. We aren’t. But unless there’s a last-minute breakthrough in negotiations, this will happen.
July has already been miserable for air travel with the CrowdStrike issues and ensuing Delta Air Lines meltdown. July is about to get worse in a week.
Gate Gourmet isn’t the only caterer, but other companies won’t be able to pick up across-the-board slack. Airlines are preparing not to have meal service or full beverage service.
Japan Airlines is expecting to offer box meals only in all classes of service out of both Boston and Dallas. First class, even, will get cold box meals on the 13-hour Dallas Fort Worth – Tokyo Haneda flight. (HT: Demetrius M)
Instead of something like this in business class…
It may be something more like what you see on an American Airlines regional jet, since they haven’t returned to pre-pandemic meal service standards for those.
When British Airways flight attendants struck in 2010, and the airline brought in replacement workers, they did all cold catering even in first class long haul. That reduced training time and the work that these cabin crew needed to perform.
Back then at least American AAdvantage awards on British Airways earned miles for the flight, and customer service provided 18,000 miles by way of apology.
Gate Gourmet was originally Swiss Air catering. It’s owned by Singapore’s state investment fund and Singaporean private equity, having acquired it from China’s HNA Group in 2019.
Oh no I will starve on my Southwest flight Lax to SFO 😉
Gary – first world problem. Do you think anyone REALLY freaks out over the fact they can’t get the airline meal they expect. If so those are petty, entitled individuals. The plane gets you there and you won’t starve. That should be enough.
If I’m paying for a first class seat, I expect first class service. The airline is not at fault but they should give a major discount to my fare for the lack of amenities that I paid for. Those who are flying internationally for 10+ hours would sure like a snack or something! Ah…the unions. They are like hemorrhoids. They are a pain in the butt and hard to get rid of.
So the DOT is going to investigate United because they are forcing their people to work? Oh, wait…United is trying to reduce the number of employees “getting sick on Friday and a miraculous cure by Monday”. So the people that have that “disease” on a regular basis are forcing the company to stem their losses by making EVERYONE get a doctor’s note. As long as every employee must submit a note, someone please explain what is wrong with that?
Would be helpful to know which airlines this could affect. Every US airline and every airport? I think not. Prior post does not illuminate, either.
In any case
(1) How hard would it be to empower your employees to order subway sandwiches (minus condiments) for all transcon and TATL flights (sans condiments). Not difficult.
(2) it is always a mistake to rely on your airline for food, esp. given how bad the food is on USA flights. Better to allow yourself sufficient time to buy at airport and carry on airplane. Or just fast and drop a few lbs.
No problem. Just bring a sleeping bag and denatured MRE (heating pack removed).
@ Gary — So, I guess this won’t impact United since all they serve are these gross boxes on most flights that used to have meals. Delta’s snack basket is better than United’s “meal” boxes.
Plane food making is a CUT THROAT business where all that matters is COST. They need to aggressively keep labor costs down. I wish management luck and a stiff spine.
@ Gene
At least on United you get to your destination. On Delta it does not matter what they serve , since you won’t get to your destination.
With a little creativity a cold meal can be great, but given the baseline pictures posted that would certainly be quite the disappointment of a downgrade
@retiredgambler, you clearly haven’t flown JAL F.
For US airlines, I agree .
@Gary – How do we find out which cities/airlines/routes this will affect?
Going forward Gate Gourmet can serve Delta passengers on the Concourse before their flight is even cancelled…
An easy way to solve this would be for travelling customers to buy there own food before they get on the plane, that way you don’t have to wait for semi-bad meals chosen by the airline company
The pay is terrible & there are no decent health benefits. This issue started more than 6 years ago, due to legalities, it’s now happening. Canada gate gourmet went on strike for 2 weeks this April. Gate gourmet profits billions & hasn’t given employees a dime. They took a covid bail out meant for workers, then laid them off. There’s been no raise in wages since 2018. I’m glad they are union, without it, this company in Singapore is just profiting off of cheap American slave labor. With the state of our country where it is, & where it could be heading, this should be embarrassing to all of us. Don’t blame unions for greedy corporations that take advantage of American labor & our laws. I’m honestly embarrassed, americans don’t support laborers in America, & there’s a lunatic running for president. Other countries are laughing at us.
Unions are jumping the shark now. Withholding from customers their garbage food that nobody wants? Just like government shutdowns remind 90% of people just how little what federal bureaucrats do matters to their day to day lives, so too will this strike make people realize they don’t miss this “service”. Sorry, no leverage gained on this negotiation. Strike away, slop peddlers.
In other news without airline food during the gate gourmet shut down
ecoli listeria and food poisoning were down 92%
I had lobster thermador on Qatar business class. Hoping to have it again in September
Gary, do you have any insight into what the IBT is demanding? Is it just wage increases or more?
This is going to be a major hit to UA, DL, and AA out of certain hubs. Everyone is focusing on “meals” but this is going to mean that beverage carts are empty, only water on board, no food of any kind, etc. I was told that UA would be providing meal vouchers on any flight where people would get a meal and it’s possible that DL and AA follow suit. It’s not the end of the world but it’s not going to be a great experience for anyone .
It will also be interesting to see how many IBT members agree to walk off the line and not get paid. This isn’t like Auto workers or other skilled trades, these are minimum wage workers who can’t afford to go weeks or even days without an income.
A few weeks of packed lunches is a price I’m willing to pay in the fight for those workers to earn a living wage for their labor.
@Retired Gambler I suspect your comment was predicated on short domestic hops. When someone is paying $8,000 or more one way for an F seat on a 10-hour long-haul flight to Europe, it’s pretty reasonable to expect a high standard for in-flight catering.
The FAs must be celebrating. A finger pointing rationale for cobtinued laziness and bad attitudes.
“Oh, so sorry. We have no beverages on board or food on board to serve you. Otherwise I surely would not be sitting in the galley, playing with my phone.”
Gary
You put me to sleep ..
How’s about you advise readers or the peeps on X flying in First Class to eat in the lounge if they really are hungry?
Non-US airlines, International flights affected from Boston:
Virgin Atlantic, Air France, Swiss, Austrian, Japan, Cathay Pacific, SAS, Iberia, Level.
@Robert – what about Hawaiian out of Boston? That’s one heck of a flight without catering!