• Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
en English US▼
X
sq Albanianar Arabichy Armenianzh-CN Chinese (Simplified)zh-TW Chinese (Traditional)da Danishnl Dutch en English US en English UK tl Filipinofr Frenchfy Frisiande Germanel Greekiw Hebrewhi Hindiit Italianja Japanesekk Kazakhko Koreanla Latinlv Latvianlt Lithuanianml Malayalamne Nepalifa Persianpl Polishpt Portuguesero Romanianru Russiansm Samoanes Spanishsv Swedishtr Turkishuz Uzbekzu Zulu
No Result
View All Result
  • Travel News
  • Travel Tips
  • Destinations
  • Travel Ideas
  • Entertainment
  • Finance
  • Sports
  • Weather
  • Tickets
  • More
    • Shop
    • Video
    • Food & Drink
    • Style & Culture
    • Cheap Deals
  • Travel News
  • Travel Tips
  • Destinations
  • Travel Ideas
  • Entertainment
  • Finance
  • Sports
  • Weather
  • Tickets
  • More
    • Shop
    • Video
    • Food & Drink
    • Style & Culture
    • Cheap Deals
Wingman Travels
No Result
View All Result
Ticketmaster FR
Home Food & Drink

Airplane food is back, but things are no longer the same amid pandemic

enpassant by enpassant
September 30, 2021
in Food & Drink
0 0
0
0
SHARES
3
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Banner 2


Full airline menus are back – but say goodbye to pre-meal cocktails, warm cookies and a lot of chitchat with your flight attendants.

After cutting most food service during the pandemic, airlines in the United States are once again offering premium dishes such as miso-marinated cod, Greek chicken salad and braised short ribs to entice the big spenders who buy first- and business-class seats.

But Covid-19 has forced changes in the way they serve food and drinks, as well as some usual offerings such as snacks, to reduce interaction between passengers and flight attendants.

“I miss that smell in the cabin,” Los Angeles resident Anasia Obioha said as she reminisced about the American Airlines chocolate-chip cookies that were missing from her recent flights.

Obioha, who works in corporate communications, said her meals on several first-class flights to and from Mexico reminded her of the lunches served on trays in the cafeteria in elementary school. All her dishes were pre-packaged and cold, she said.

To help return airlines to profitability, carriers are meeting the recent uptick in travel demand in the US by expanding their onboard offerings to include the kind of high-end meals and drinks that were popular with first- and business-class travellers before the pandemic. After all, the nation’s airlines lost a combined US$35bil (RM145bil) in 2020, after seven consecutive years of profitability, according to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

In-flight meals, drinks and airport lounges are not significant revenue generators but are essential to attracting first- and business-class fliers, who made up as little as 5% of all passenger traffic before the pandemic but generated about 30% of all passenger revenues, according to the International Air Transport Association, an airline trade group.

“Airlines want to attract people who go to the upper- and first-class cabins,” said Michael Taylor, practice lead for travel at J.D. Power, a data analytics and consumer information company.

These passengers are highly coveted because they often book high-price last-minute tickets and buy the most expensive seats at the front of the plane.

Safety first, always

Among the most noticeable changes in the cabin are to meal courses, previously dished out on separate plates in upper-class cabins. Now they get served all at once on large trays.

“We’re offering all courses at once to limit the handling of trays, dinnerware and glasses between our guests and flight attendants,” said Alaska Airlines spokesperson Ray Lane.

In the aisle, instead of pouring drinks into plastic cups from food carts, flight attendants are now handing passengers throughout the plane full cans or bottles of beer, soda, wine or hard seltzer to eliminate the pouring time.

During the early days of the pandemic, airlines cut most meal services on flights. — dpaDuring the early days of the pandemic, airlines cut most meal services on flights. — dpa

Many of the changes to in-flight food service have been made at the behest of the nation’s flight attendants, who have been hard hit by the pandemic. An estimated 4,000 flight attendants on US carriers have contracted the virus and 20 have died, according to the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents 50,000 flight attendants at 17 airlines.

“AFA has pressed airline management on aspects of food and beverage to ensure procedures best support fewer touch points or inconsistent masking,” said Sara Nelson, president of the association. “The Delta variant has caused cases to skyrocket again, threatening lives, continued virus mutation, and recovery from this pandemic.”

At airport lounges, covered dishes have replaced buffet-style food. Self-serve beverage dispensers are now staffed by lounge workers, or they’ve been eliminated altogether to reduce intermingling.

For some flight attendants, the changes are not enough.

Heather Poole, a flight attendant with more than 20 years of experience, said her fellow flight attendants are put at risk by serving passengers who lower their masks for too long to nurse a drink or take their time eating a snack. She would prefer that airlines return to eliminating all food and drinks on short flights.

“No one ever starved on a three-hour flight,” Poole said.

A federal mandate that requires all airline passengers to wear masks when not eating or drinking has added to the demands on flight attendants who are tasked with trying to enforce the mask policy. Most of the nearly 4,000 incidents of unruly passengers in 2021 involve disputes over the mask mandate, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

American Airlines has stopped selling alcoholic beverages in the main cabin at least until Jan 18, and Southwest Airlines has paused all alcohol sales indefinitely, partly in response to a growing number of incidents of unruly passengers that resulted in assaults on flight attendants and other passengers.

Delta has stopped offering premium passengers cocktails before a meal. Now beverages are served with the meals to reduce the contact between passengers and flight attendants.

Most airlines began cutting back or eliminating food and beverages sales on planes and closing airport lounges in March 2020 to help slow the spread of the virus. Some airlines limited the onboard service to boxed meals for long-haul and international flights. Other airlines encouraged passengers to bring their own snacks.

Within a few months, airlines began to offer passengers packaged snacks and drinks, with full meals reserved for long-haul and international flights.

New additions

As air travel demand began to increase, airlines expanded their food and beverage offerings. The recent surge in cases tied to the Delta variant has not altered the airline industry’s food and drink expansion plans.

Alaska’s chief financial officer, Shane Tackett told analysts in an earnings conference call June 30 that the airline was about to return to “our full catering complement”.

“So more people getting more food and beverages similar to where we were pre-Covid-19,” he said. “They’re coming back with demand, and they’re all coming back in the third quarter pretty strong.”

As part of the newly enhanced meals, United Airlines recently announced the addition of scrambled eggs with plant-based chorizo and grilled chicken breast with orzo and lemon basil pesto. The Chicago carrier also teamed up with Chicago’s Eli’s Cheesecake to develop a chocolate pie flavour called Pie in the Sky.

On Alaska Airlines, premium fliers can indulge in a chile-lime salad and miso-marinated cod with sesame garlic farro, sautéed bok choy, bell peppers and shiitake mushrooms.

On Delta, first- and Delta-One-class passengers flying on select routes are offered lemon ricotta pancakes with blueberry thyme syrup, smoked salmon and beef short ribs with whipped potatoes.

But the soft drinks given to fliers in the main cabin and “comfort plus” seats are not in the traditional 350ml – they get the “mini” 220ml cans.

Eric Rose, a partner in a lobbying and crisis communications firm in LA, described the lunch on a recent Delta flight from LA to New Orleans as “very sterile”. The pre-packaged sandwich served in the business-class section was cold and his request for a Scotch on the rocks was answered with a small bottle of Scotch and a cup of ice.

“This is the new reality until Covid-19 is under control,” Rose said. – Los Angeles Times/dpa





Source link

Previous Post

China’s Golden Week Travel Not Expected to Return to Pre-COVID Levels This Year | World News

Next Post

12 Essential MEXICO TRAVEL tips | WATCH BEFORE YOU VISIT OR MOVE!

Next Post
12 Essential MEXICO TRAVEL tips | WATCH BEFORE YOU VISIT OR MOVE!

12 Essential MEXICO TRAVEL tips | WATCH BEFORE YOU VISIT OR MOVE!

Please login to join discussion
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Tornado tore through 200 miles of Kentucky. Here’s its path

Tornado tore through 200 miles of Kentucky. Here’s its path

December 11, 2021
Can I travel to the USA? The rules for travelling from the UK

Can I travel to the USA? The rules for travelling from the UK

June 2, 2021
SpaceX Launch Tracker: Follow Live Updates

SpaceX Launch Tracker: Follow Live Updates

September 16, 2021
Woman with life-threatening injuries after single vehicle crash on Tampa Road in Oldsmar

Woman with life-threatening injuries after single vehicle crash on Tampa Road in Oldsmar

November 7, 2021
Questions to ask before your first family RV trip | Lifestyle

Questions to ask before your first family RV trip | Lifestyle

0
Candace Cameron Bure: Does she still talk to Lori Loughlin?

Candace Cameron Bure: Does she still talk to Lori Loughlin?

0
Cherryville Sports Hall of Fame announces 2021 induction class

Cherryville Sports Hall of Fame announces 2021 induction class

0
Jenn Drummond, Park City mom, on top of the world

Jenn Drummond, Park City mom, on top of the world

0
Must-have tips for planning a stress-free road trip – WISH-TV | Indianapolis News | Indiana Weather

Must-have tips for planning a stress-free road trip – WISH-TV | Indianapolis News | Indiana Weather

May 17, 2022
Severe storms bring heavy downpours, thunder and gusty winds across New York area

Severe storms bring heavy downpours, thunder and gusty winds across New York area

May 17, 2022
How Detroit Tigers plan to keep Orioles sweep momentum going

How Detroit Tigers plan to keep Orioles sweep momentum going

May 17, 2022
I discovered pizza and my love for travel during summer holidays in Vizag: Sundeep Kishan | Telugu Movie News

I discovered pizza and my love for travel during summer holidays in Vizag: Sundeep Kishan | Telugu Movie News

May 17, 2022

Links

Wingman Travels
Wingman Travel Agency
Car Rentals
Tours
Virtual Experiences
Tickets

Categories

  • Destinations
  • Entertainment
  • Finance
  • Food & Drink
  • Sports
  • Style & Culture
  • Travel Ideas
  • Travel News
  • Travel Tips
  • Video
  • Weather

Newsletter

To stay on top of the ever-changing world, subscribe now to our newsletters.

Loading

*We hate spam as you do.

 

  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

© 2022 Wingman Travels LLC All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Travel News
  • Travel Tips
  • Destinations
  • Travel Ideas
  • Entertainment
  • Finance
  • Sports
  • Weather
  • Tickets
  • More
    • Shop
    • Video
    • Food & Drink
    • Style & Culture
    • Cheap Deals

© 2022 Wingman Travels LLC All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In