A few years ago I was travelling on Malaysian Airlines from KL to Australia. The flight was full as there had been a major sporting event on in KL that finished earlier that day.
I was seated in the last row by the window. Dinner service started and a few rows ahead I could hear the attendants apologising that they had run out of the second meal choice and could only offer chicken.
Upon reaching my row they gave my travelling companion a meal and walked off. Having already had my tray table down in anticipation of the meal I assumed they would soon be back.
Twenty minutes later most passengers had finished eating and I was still waiting. I pushed the call button and when the attendant came I asked if I could please have my meal. The attendant walked off to investigate and came back a few minutes later to say that they had run out of meals completely so I couldn’t have one.
This was on a nine hour flight! My travelling companion intervened and after another wait a meal was dumped on my table with a comment about how I’d better be grateful as that was a crew meal.
I can understand that they may have run out of food, but did they honestly think that they could walk off and not say anything to me as the only passenger on board without dinner?
Tagged as:
flight attendant,
food & beverage,
malaysian airlines
My wife and I were flying American Airlines from Oahu, Hawaii to Chicago, Illinois after our honeymoon. Prior to our flight we took the time to buy some food at an airport kiosk so as to have something to eat on the way back. We were told that the flight would provide the opportunity to purchase food. Generally airplane food does not offer the best food to chose from, so purchasing food prior to the flight seemed like a good idea.
The flight was approximately nine hours long. Like always my wife and I were seated at the back of the plane. Approximately 3-4 hours into the trip we could see the chuck wagon approaching us down the aisle. It seemed like forever to reach our end of the plane. As luck would have it, they stopped 4 aisles short of ours. Apparently there was no more food to purchase. I looked at my wife and I couldn’t believe it. There were at least 20 passengers at the back of the plane that would go hungry for the remaining 5 hours. The stewardess’s excuse was that generally the plane does not stock food for every passenger. There also is no limit to how much food a passenger can buy at one time.
My wife and I were lucky to have purchased food prior to our departure, but one man was quite upset. After the stewardess explained the situation to us, he asked to see the next steward in charge. She came out and quietly explained to him the situation. He was not satisfied with her answer and asked for the next stewardess. She finally offered him a free cocktail on his empty stomach. That kept him quiet for the remainder of the flight.
I was quite surprised none of us were offered vouchers for our inconvenience. For such a long flight, it seems apparent that keeping passengers as comfortable as possible would be a priority. It would also seem apparent that they would limit the quantity they would sell to one individual until everyone had a chance to purchase some food.
Tagged as:
american airlines,
flight attendant,
food & beverage
I was on a Virgin Atlantic flight from Orlando to London. There was bad turbulence due to weather, so they announced that the food and drink service would be delayed. After about an hour and a half, they announced that the drink service in economy would be cancelled because the drinks were falling off the cart. However, we could physically see the drinks being delivered in premium economy and above. Did they have special carts?
Tagged as:
food & beverage,
virgin atlantic,
weather
Four years ago, I was returning back from Beijing to San Francisco with my mother. She had joined me on a business trip as she had never been to China and my father was not a big traveler. So this trip had been a big treat for her and it had gone very well. To celebrate this, we had upgraded our business class seats to first class. You know about first class, right? This is the section of the plane where for a princely sum you get luxurious seats, premium food and wine, and impeccable service. Un-huh.
When we sat down, both of our ‘premium’ seats were broken and outdated. That’s OK, we said – we’ll still enjoy everything else about this special flight. Dumb, dumb, dumb. As we were tucking into our pre-entree salad of leafy greens, my mother grabbed my arm with a death grip and with a whisper said “look at my plate.” I did, and to my horror, saw a very large (and no doubt premium) maggot meandering its way across her plate! Now, to my mom’s credit, she didn’t scream. She didn’t flip out. But we were totally nauseated by the experience and refused to eat their food the rest of the 11 hour ride home (wouldn’t you?).
The United ‘first class’ attendants removed our salad, but to our amazement told NO ONE about what their expensive salads might contain! We did to those around us, but I shudder to think what happened across that packed 777 plane. There never was any sort of apology from the flight crew or the airline until I wrote to them demanding one. And they made it clear they had no intention of providing any refund for our expensive experience in insect reproductive cycles and broken seating. You stay classy, United.
Tagged as:
flight attendant,
food & beverage,
insects,
seats,
united airlines
