Tag Archives for inflight meals.
Just when I wrote off upgrades, suggesting that buying them at a discount for $40 was the way, my luck with them seems to have turned around. I’ve cleared on three of my last four segments.
Raising more money for airlines by delivering a better product to customers is a better and more sustainable business model in a competitive industry than trying to charge more for the same or lesser product.
Delta Air Lines flight 136 from Detroit to Amsterdam diverted to New York on Tuesday night after a couple dozen people became ill from the “spoiled food” on board. This was airplane food!
American Airlines is having problems feeding passengers, at least at two of its large hubs. While passengers aren’t necessarily being warned in advance to buy food and drinks inside the terminal before they board, they’re in for a surprise that their flight might not have anything for them once they’re in the air.
Increasingly, airline customers have been willing to spend more money for a better experience. It used to be that people booked on schedule and price and were willing to take whatever they had to in order to get where they’re going as long as things operated reasonably on time. That’s no longer the case, yet even premium airline products haven’t adapted, at least domestically.
A year and a half ago I revealed that new amenity kits, bedding, and meals would be introduced when American Airlines rolls out business class suites that will be arrive with new delivery Boeing 787-9 aircraft, and eventually be added to Boeing 777-300ERs.
The idea is that an elevated business class seat would be accompanied by new investments in other elements of the product. And it turns out we’ll see this new business class soft product Memorial Day weekend – even before the new seats arrive.
A special IATA meeting was held in London to define a sandwich, and hear violations. The airline industry body declared that sandwiches had to be “cold… simple… unadorned… inexpensive” and had to “consist of a substantial and visible chunk of bread.” Moreover they could not contain anything “normally regarded as expensive or luxurious, such as smoked salmon, oysters, caviar, lobster, game, asparagus, pate de foie gras” nor could they feature “overgenerous or lavish helpings which affect the money value of the unit.”
To mark 10 years of British Airways service to Austin, BA will be serving barbecue in business class and premium economy out of the Central Texas city in March and giving barbecue sauce bottles from world famous Franklin Barbecue to business class passengers. These bottles will be labeled BA-B-Q.
A travel blogger’s meal on China Eastern is being called the “worst meal after” after being served “mac and cheese topped with shrimp and ‘slimy’ mushrooms’” for breakfast. Nicola Easterby, “Polka Dot Passport,” described her “bad smelling” fish pie and then things got worse. Nicola and James were given ‘bad smelling’ tuna fish pie accompanied by vegetable couscous and a pear and ricotta crumble, which she claims was the only ‘fully edible’ part of their dinner. She told viewers: ‘I tell you what, it tasted even worse that how it looked,’ before rating it a measly two out of 10. The travel blogger added: ‘Out of all the things to serve on a plane, the smell was so bad. …However, the worst food combination came when they recieved their final breakfast and were met with…
American Airlines has introduced a new ‘shelf stable’ “Meal of the Moment 3 Cheese Pasta” that flight attendants will mix hot water into prior to serving. This replaces the shelf stable MyPasta introduced in fall 2022.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
