Experience 024. Into the mailbag - Part 1. Inflight meal service and free overnight accommodation. The Seat 1A Podcast.

11/17/19 • 57 min

In this experience Vinny and Geoff go into the mailbag and review a bunch of different questions and feedback. We look at what is the logic and order of the meal and beverage service that takes place during a flight? We also look at free hotel stops – are they still provided by an airline?

Why do some passengers get served first? how do the cabin crew decide to serve passengers? How does the airline decide how many crew members to have? Who's in charge of the cabin crew? Why is one cabin crew always in the galley? Vinny shares his experience of working as inflight crew on multiple airlines.

How does the service flow and order work in first, business and economy classes? How does the length of flight change the timings and flow? What are all these different meals that are available for flights? The serving of your beverages, there are different methods that crew use. Which row does the crew start their service at? What happens when passengers have to get up?

Why do special meals have to get served first? How does the crew have to adapt to buy on board options? Here comes the turbulence – how does the crew handle the baggage carts in bumpy conditions? Just how much beef or chicken meals are there? Is your flight being catered independently or from a centralized kitchen? Geoff shares an experience at ORD where the special meal didn't match up where he was flying to. And what about the crew – what are they eating? Geoff shares a story of a travel agent who got a bland surprise. Sitting at the back, might not be bad for service – it all depends on the airline. Vinny remembers his favourite lamb pastry flying to Canada from LHR on Air Canada. There are shared memories of getting leftovers as ground crew – both above and below the wing.

Airlines that provide free overnight hotel stops – Vinny shares a childhood memory of a flight from YYZ-KUL via HKG with an included stay at the Kimberly Hotel. We share a story from Evelyn W who got a complimentary stay at a hotel in DEL while flying from SYD-FRA. But alas it is a rare thing nowadays. Some airlines though offer a stopover option without an additional fee.

News Items:

Business Traveller article "Southwest tests boarding from rear of planes"
pointmetotheplane article "Jail Time For Baggage Handler Who Swapped 250+ Luggage Tags"

If you have a meal or free included hotel story, a question or other experience that you would like to share, please email us at stories(at)seat1a.org or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Patreon. Show notes are available online at http://podcast.seat1a.org/

News Items:

Business Traveller article "Southwest tests boarding from rear of planes"
pointmetotheplane article "Jail Time For Baggage Handler Who Swapped 250+ Luggage Tags"

Previous Episode

Experience 023. Sometimes the situation just goes bad. Making the most of the experience. The Seat 1A Podcast.

In this experience Vinny and Geoff share more of their experiences when, try as they may, the situation just went badly.

First of all, we want to send a shoutout to fellow podcasters Plane Talking UK. We're lining up co-hosting in an upcoming episode of theirs. Stay tuned for more info.

By popular demand, we're sharing more of our travel experiences – good, bad and ugly – and how we worked at resolving them or made the best of the situation.

Shoutout to Sam Chui for his review of the Air India (AI) Dreamliner business class experience.

Vinny shared a rant about the security experience at MAA in Experience 021 from his RTW trip in the summer of 2019. The rant is back in this experience with full force for his experiences with Air India (AI) – both for in-flight experiences from SIN-MAA-CMB, and one of the top three worst ever lounge experiences he ever had at MAA. You might need a cold lassi after listening to the rant.

Geoff shares his multiple ground travel experiences trying to get from Penang to Kuala Lumpur in July 2019. First the train Google says he should take didn't exist, and then there was a ticket circus with the bus ride that he took instead.

Vinny pulls out a story from his vault of crazy experiences – this time in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2003 hitchhiking to make a train connection to get to Helsinki. But what happens when he missed the connection? (Hint – he got to Helsinki and experienced a Tupolev Tu-134).

Geoff shares his overnight ground transport experience at SIN from his summer 2019 RTW trip. Where was the shuttle that was supposed to leave every 15 minutes? Sometimes waiting ends up being worth it – thanks to a great family from Perth who shared sightseeing advice.

Vinny shares a recent experience from autumn 2019 at SFO. How to get to the Caltrain station to take him into the city, with minimal signage and lack of directions from Google transit. Not only that, where and how did he have to pay for the ticket?

Geoff shares a terrific airside tour experience he had in October 2019 at YYZ. Thanks to Russ, Mark and Haaz for their great work and wealth of information.

News Items:

Independent (UK) article "Airline passenger stuffs laptop down her jumpsuit and pretends to be pregnant to avoid excess baggage charge"

Associated Press article "TSA finds gun-shaped toilet paper roller in bag at airport"

If you have a story of when your situation just went bad, a question or other experience that you would like to share, please email us at stories(at)seat1a.org or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Patreon. Show notes are available online at http://podcast.seat1a.org/

Next Episode

Experience 025. Opening the mailbag - Part 2. Inflight meals - second service. The Seat 1A Podcast.

Well, would you look at that – it's the 25th recorded experience. We'll have a celebration soon when it's the 25th experience that both Vinny and Geoff have recorded together.

We give a shoutout to the Layovers podcast for recently reaching their 100th episode – great job Paul Papadimitriou & Alex Hunter!

In this experience Vinny and Geoff go back into the mailbag for a second meal service.

We take a look back at when meal service really started to take off (sorry) on intercontinental flights...and then we divert to Vinny's cutlery drawer – which airlines are in there?

As we fast-forward to today, we have to remember that your senses work differently in the pressure and (lack of) humidity at 30000 feet. Airlines must produce meals in massive production kitchens and try to match flavours from the ground to the air. How long ahead do they make the meals? How do airlines set up bidding with caterers?

As we step onboard the flight, how are the carts and trays set up? We'll look at examples from long haul flights. The airline has to ensure that there is maximum cleanliness and hygiene of the carts, but also that they're available. How does the airline line up meals on the trays on a cart shelf? We look at an example of a 2 meals service flight. Are you the first meal off the cart – you're probably getting it quickly. Why does there seem to be a lot of hand motions and dinging during meal service with flight attendants? Vinny shares his Qantas garlic bread experience from LAX-MEL. Your meal is frozen at takeoff, how do they get it hot for you at cruising altitude? Second round of food, yes there are even more carts stored away. But where do they keep the food? What happens if there is a delay or diversion? What's that dripping from the overhead bin? (hint – it's not gravy). What was that smell that Vinny had to deal with in Cuba – and did the passengers get their meal? How does the airline keep cold food fresh? When customers handed back trays, Vinny had a very specific pet peeve. What was it? How did others get around the problem that so irked Vinny?

What happens to waste after landing – especially after international arrivals?

Questions from listener Alana H. Be prepared if you're on an irregular operations flight, sometimes the crew's timings may be off, or choices can go awry. Are alterations allowed for inflight meals? How long should you give advance notice for special meals? Check if your special meal is actually available. Be aware of the meal service that is being provided on your flight. What if you miss pre-ordering? What if you miss a meal? What if you fall asleep before meal service? Ice Cream – yes and wait until you hear of the service Vinny got from IAH-GIG on United (UA). And don't get too hungry after hearing about Vinny's "Book the Cook" experiences on Singapore (SQ).

News Items:

Flyertalk article "United Has a New Burger, and People Are Raving About It"
liveandletsfly article "My Odd Experience Pre-Selecting A Meal On Delta Air Lines"

If you have a meal story, a question or other experience that you would like to share, please email us at stories(at)seat1a.org or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Patreon. Show notes are available online at http://podcast.seat1a.org/