Staff for the Vice President are reportedly “revolting” over “the inferior quality of lunches on Air Force Two, the vice president’s plane.”
President Biden’s staff on Air Force One receive filet mignon, and the service comes on “gold-rimmed plates, accompanied by cold beers.” In contrast, staff for Kamala Harris receive “soggy sandwiches in brown paper bags – and no booze.” Instead, expect “cold pasta salads and water.”
One staffer calls it “horrible slop,” complaining that it is “more Southwest Airlines than Four Seasons,” which they expect instead. Frequent travelers accompanying the Vice President refuse to eat on board.
In one way, though, they have it better than their counterparts staffing President Biden.
- Many government jobs working for senior people come with very low pay. When I started working in DC 26 years ago I was happy to be earning $21,000 because new hires in the Senate made $19,000 and that was more than first-year pay in the House.
- And staff on Air Force One are required to cover the cost of their better meals, which puts the lesser-paid among them in a tight spot. Unlike the Vice President’s staff, they don’t have a choice to opt out of paying.
One former staff member estimated that frequent travellers could end up forking out $1,000 (£810) a year in meals while travelling on Air Force One. “It’s really hard to pay off on any junior staffer’s salary,” they said – although, they conceded, the food is “truly incredible.”
Part of the problem with billing staffers for their meals inflight may involve how government calculates cost. FAA staffers calculate the cost of flying one of the agency’s private jets at $1,000 per hour (which is much lower than real cost) while employees of another agency flying the same jet have it costed at $5,000 per hour.
Since the beginning of the Harris Vice Presidency there have been numerous reports, sourced to staff members, about unhappiness in how she treats them. If the Vice President prioritized better food on Air Force Two for her staffers that’s something that could be solved.
When the Bernie Sanders 2016 Presidential campaign chartered a Boeing 767 to go meet the Pope, Sanders knew how to do it up right:
- Amuse bouche: Coriander crab salad with lemon poached prawns and lime crema
- First course: Country potato salad with creamy bbq dressing & spring greens or Red lentil soup
- Main course: Herb crusted lamb loin with lemon risotta, endives, and wild mushroom sauce; or corn-fed chicken breast with polenta cake, creamed spring peas and baby carrots; or Penne pasta with Italian meat balls and marina sauce; or Caprese ravioli with yogurt and spring pea sauce and sun-dried tomatoes
- Dessert: Vanilla ice cream sunda with choice of sauces, biscoff cookie crumble and whipped cream, or chocolate ganache with yogurt, or cheese selection (montero, royale mrbier & fourme d’ambert with fresh fruit and onion jam)
- Snacks: Warm chocolate chip cookie service
- Pre-arrival: Lobster sliders with mixed green salad or Fettoush Salad with grilled chicken, pita chips and fresh fruit
Ironically, the Sanders campaign was a private entity, while Air Force Two is catered by the federal government and while Air Force One food is apparently better that government program creates a hardship for low-income workers.
Wow, that’s different then when I flew on AF2 as a media member during VP Gore’s term. MY AF2 flight, from Andrews to Nashville had the best Jumbalaya I’ve ever had.
Even guests of the President get charged even if they don’t eat.
(Saw that on TV so it must be true).
It’s ridiculous to charge anyone
who doesn’t eat.
This burden on junior staffers has been going on for decades…..
Well, just make sure they don’t get anything better than the military guys that crew any of the AMC cargo flights or other inflight box lunches. Army has been know to cater MREs for their troops on long cargo flights rather than pay cost for other food.
DC staffers can stay home of find other jobs. Fly coach in the US and take the cookies and water.
AF2 staffers would be better off by simply brown-bagging their own homemade meal(s) and/or bring a small Igloo with blue ice packs and their favorite microwaveable meals (AF2 does have a microwave, right?).
@ Gary — Maybe they can have the AA turkey sandwiches catered?
Received a BBQ sandwich on GW Bush’s AF1…wasn’t bad, but don’t recall any shiner Bock on board ;). The souvenir Presidential seal M&Ms were awesome.
Best food was on media plane that follows AF1: full courses, endless minis…and crew serving meals at all times — even when rolling down the runway.
Maybe a good rule of thumb would be that government employees get served the same quality food as our
Military? Then no need to charge staff anything extra.
So glad the Socialist Bernie caters so well.
I was a federal employee and spent a week on an aircraft carrier back in the late 1990s. They charged me something like $7 a day per Diem. Everyone thought that was pretty funny. Just processing that paperwork probably cost more than $7 a day.
Nothing has changed.
Beer with filet mignon?? Gov’t manages to screw up everything 😉
Maybe AF2 is being catered by Devon Nunez Catering.
Ah the youth of America. EASY fix. Put them on UA.
“DC staffers can stay home of find other jobs”
Oh, look, Doug’s back, making sure everyone knows how God fearing he is…and making sure to slap down folks looking for a better life. He’s got a good reason, he does.
I don’t know. Breakfast pizza isn’t on my nutrition program, either. (I’m more of a yogurt and granola person).
Can’t they just install a flying Starbucks and make all the staffers happy?
I know that a lot of government regs and ethics control this. But there should be some more respect by our elected officials to their staff.
Coffee is for closers. Perhaps Harris needs to start pulling her weight.
For Total: Not sure where you are coming from. I spent 20 years in the military, worked with various companies and some DC staffers. Way too many feel entitled and think they have their bosses rank.
A few years living like the majority of military or other federal employees wouldn’t hurt.
As one commenter said. “Put them on United” or some other carrier in coach.
Your comment isn’t really relevant or useful.
I thought the order of the day remains that staff on AF2 are also required to pay for meals provided on their flights. While the cost would be typically lower than for the big AF1 flights, I thought there was still a charge for both when it came to staff flying since they are being assigned a meal on board these flights whether they like it or not.
Given both how little a lot of the junior staff get paid and the costs of living in the DC area, it would be beneficial for them if they would be able to opt out of catered meals, but they are undoubtedly not going to be encouraged to self-cater on all such trips and a “you fly you pay” for catering is simply just easier from a planning/logistics perspective.
Also, even the Air Force 1/2 Air Force staffers are required to pay for the meals on board the flights they are serving.
Apparently, at some point someone realized it was not going to be politically attractive for there to be free food for the passengers on government-provided-and-operated flights and the user-fee mentality took root there too.
With regard to the “Ah the youth of America” trash-talking above, these “youth of America” are not in an envious economic position. Coming of adult working age post-high school or post-college/university during the era of the 2008 Bush bust and the Trump pandemic have long term negative consequences for the “youth of America”.
Or do some here prefer that only the privileged children of the top 5% of Americans be the ones to work in these positions and that they either be subsidized by their parents while working or drop out of consideration for these positions so that these positions end up being reserved even more for the incestuous and nepotistic world of the “elite” top 5% than is already the case?
@ Harry Zolides
Yep the failed presidential candidate who I understand owns 4 homes (rents one out) honeymooned in the former Soviet Union,whose wife was directly responsible for the bankruptcy of a college…oh cherry on sundae -voted for Communist Party candidate ,Gus Hall…yep certainly someone to emulate
MRE’s would be adequate and in many cases appropriate. The MRE’s that I have are slightly superior to AA Economy Class meals on international flights (one of the reasons I no longer fly economy. The other is if I don’t fly First Class . . . my children will).