Here’s two breakfasts served on Transatlantic flights in economy class. The flights were roughly the same distance, and took about 6 hours 45 or so to get from A to B.
Both of these breakfasts were served within three weeks of each other.
Your job is to identify the carriers in question. Who served what?
This should be easy for my Twitter followers (as they’ve had a preview of this), but these are two transatlantic breakfasts – the one on the left is American Airlines pre-pack box of stuff verses British Airways and their basket of Muffins or Cereal Bar.
And lord help you if you want a muffin and a Cereal Bar on BA.
But this marks the latest downward trend in economy class catering for the arrivals service… and a topic worthy of discussion here.
I’ve long moaned about the ongoing pairing down of the arrivals service since… well forever it seems on this blog.
But why is it important?
It’s all about the passenger experience… or the onboard service.
At the end of the day, airlines continue to treat food on-board planes either as 1) a cost centre or 2) a profit centre rather that treating as a customer service item.
And depending where you go, who you fly and how long you fly depends on the breakfast service.
In the past, I used to rate Continental Airlines transatlantic breakfast as one of the best in the air – as it had fresh fruit in it…
United-Continental Airlines breakfast circa 2011.
But the move over the past few years have been towards boxed long-life products.
Why? Simply put – boxes are easier to fling out to customers, and have a reasonably long shelf life. If you want to add something resembling fresh, add a yoghurt too and it’s reasonable to offer customers.
Longer flights maintain some nice breakfasts, but it seems breakfasts on Transatlantic legs are turning to boxed breakfasts… or a select something from the basket to reduce costs.
So, if you travel with an appetite on a transatlantic flight – plan ahead. And don’t rely on the airline to deliver a satisfying second service…
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Mmmmm…lots of carbs & sugar. Just what I’ve always wanted !
A lot of people just sleep through that breakfast. Transatlantic flights are 6-7 hours long and overnight. Most people are only getting 4-5 hours of sleep so they try to maximize it, especially since theres always a meal service after takeoff.