VA LAX Catering Debacle November 2017

[Cult of one]

This is the type of post that we should be seeing more of on this site. Not only does it let others know of the failings and/or successes of an airline but it should come to the attention of the airline and contain the warning that people are or are not happy and that they are passing the message around, instead of just sucking it up.

My own beef. Last Monday I was on QANTAS flight QF777 seated next to an extremely obese couple, who both overflowed their seats and made it more than an uncomfortable flight. In fact it has resulted in a re-occurrence of a painful shoulder injury. Surely QANTAS staff should realise their duty of care and ave a procedure to monitor and correct such seating issues

I had to be moved because of an obese pair of travelers taking around 30% of my seat on VA once there was only one spare seat on the plane and the FA's were giggling when I came up to them as soon as the seatbelt sign went off. They said that they saw the couple getting on and thought that the person next to them would have to be moved, they were taking bets on how long the person would take to alert them.

 

[BAM1748]

And now its made the news -

Virgin Australia flights out of LA hit by listeria scare

It is understood Virgin passengers have been given food vouchers to the value of $32 before their LAX flights.

So is that's about AUD25, he last time I bought a bottle of water at LAX it was USD6 so not much food money if you are in an airport and need to buy something for now and something for later during the flight.

 

[cnosaj]

I'm one of the few people who would be happy that there was no food. I haven't eaten any food (including peanuts and pretzels) on any flight for the past 4 years. I mainly just drink some water and maybe have a few red wines. I do make sure I have a proper meal before flying. The reason I do this regime is I discovered that I feel much better arriving if I don't eat. My last longhaul was from London 3 weeks ago and a couple of weeks before that a return HKG BOS (16 hours) which I did in 60 hours total elapsed time - only had one meal in Boston for the total trip.

I certainly wouldn't make a fuss either, the smell of the food being re-heated wafting through the cabin can be very unpleasant to me sometimes. Generally I don't eat the re-heated main in Y and only pick at the re-heated main in J. I do enjoy the mid-flight toasties and pies ex-Aus to LAX in VA Y though, do they still have them?

 

[Dee#]

A tuna pot for dinner and a sweet pasty and sugar-laden juice for breakfast is probably not going to be suitable for a 15 hour flight. Communication is the key. It really should be for the diabetic or any other person to decide if they wish to fly on a plane with limited or no food... not the airline to tell you after doors have closed.

Wondering if any of the PAX refused to fly once they were told. Getting them and their bags off the plane would also delay the flight (as well as letting the crew eat).
I am diabetic and if it was me I certainly would have seriously considered it.

PS. Virgin have done this before. Flying Perth to Cocos Islands. They didn't tell us til we arrived in Cocos that they left most passengers luggage behind. They would have known they were going to do it , as they are contracted to carry Aust post express post and Government goods up there first, then I guess, luggage. Trouble was only 2 flights a week and my partner had gone to kite surf!
He was able to borrow kit, but we only had the clothes you stood up in (they weighed hand luggage too) and swimming in your undies was not good. There are not many shops there, its not Bali.There was no apology. If we had known we would NOT have got on the plane.

 

[Stevo.1702]

Seeing as this has become so visible outside of the particularly observant frequent flyer community - has there been any news of short-term fixes other than the $$ credit to spend in the terminal? I, like cult of one, have suffered from late connections resulting in running through LAX. The credit isn't a fix-all solution.

 

[dmgale1960]

I generally carry some snack foods when flying now days. The food isn't as good as it used to be and sometimes - actually quite often - the meal that arrives is not at all attractive or in some cases edible. I'm not carrying a three course meal, just some high protein muesli bars that will fill a void if needed. Worth considering people.

 

[Rule303]

I was on that flight, VA8, LAX to BNE, in Economy X. There was no hot food of any kind. For the Evening 'Meal' we got a cold, not just not warm but cold Tuna and Quinoa pot about the size of a Coffee mug. It was fairly ordinary. A Cheese and some type of seed Muffin, which was bloody awful, and a packet of Soy crisp things, again, bloody awful. Most of the booze was available but no Orange or Tomato juice, only Apple!! Bye bye Bloody Mary and Screwdrivers!
The breakfast was just as bad, plain yoghurt, some type of fruit muffin and a box of Cornflakes and a mini box of Longlife milk but no dish to eat it in. I used the empty yoghurt container for the Cornflakes, messy but I was starving by this stage of the flight. The excuse given, just after takeoff, was they had a problem with the supplier. It was a piss poor effort, without any reasonable explanation. If I'd had any idea this was going to happen, I would have had something to eat at TBIT. There's a lot of food options there. Caviar, Champagne, Oysters...The Economy X seat was great though, well worth the extra $130 or so for a 6 footer.

 

[Must...Fly!]

PS. Virgin have done this before. Flying Perth to Cocos Islands. They didn't tell us til we arrived in Cocos that they left most passengers luggage behind. They would have known they were going to do it , as they are contracted to carry Aust post express post and Government goods up there first, then I guess, luggage. Trouble was only 2 flights a week and my partner had gone to kite surf!
He was able to borrow kit, but we only had the clothes you stood up in (they weighed hand luggage too) and swimming in your undies was not good. There are not many shops there, its not Bali.There was no apology. If we had known we would NOT have got on the plane.

Luggage is actually priority, but back in the E-jet days it was hard. From memory catering for return flight, then rush bags (i.e. ones that missed flight day(s) before), then critical medical supplies, then luggage. I can't remember if perishable freight (i.e. food) was before or after luggage. After that comes freight, priority for perishable. It is really confusing because people check in lots of fresh produce due to cost considerations, and you've got to try get that on before general luggage. A really difficult flight, I hated it.

It was not uncommon for there to be a big backlog of freight. Such was the nature of the route. I imagine the A320 doing regular runs has helped that since the E90s went bye bye. This is the classic example of "better to keep quiet" when it comes to bags not making flight. You can imagine how often you'd have a family of four or whatever, and three bags would make it but one not. You then have a fully loaded E90 or B737 belly to sift through and find three bags to offload, while everyone else waits. Then re-do the paperwork and fill up the tanks again, because that whole time you've been burning fuel in the APU that you just can't afford to lose on such a flight.

Sorry, veered off topic!

 

[Milboo]

So is that's about AUD25, he last time I bought a bottle of water at LAX it was USD6 so not much food money if you are in an airport and need to buy something for now and something for later during the flight.

Heaven forbid you spend $5 extra or so of your own money!

 

[serfty]

Heaven forbid you spend $5 extra or so of your own money!

Sure, after paying 95,500 velocity+++ or several thousand for your J seat, i'm sure $5 more is not that much- especially if offered 50,000 Velocity compensation.

 

[BAM1748]

Heaven forbid you spend $5 extra or so of your own money!

You've already paid for your food on board and now the voucher doesn't cover the replacement.

I'm pleased it's alright for you but for say a family who scraped together just enough for a trip to Disneyland and they have a couple of growing teenagers who probably already chosen Virgin because of the price, so you spend an extra USD50 or USD60 so AUD100

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You've already paid for your food on board and now the voucher doesn't cover the replacement.

I'm pleased it's alright for you but for say a family who scraped together just enough for a trip to Disneyland and they have a couple of growing teenagers who probably already chosen Virgin because of the price, so you spend an extra USD50 or USD60 so AUD100

I agree. Some passengers will be flying only *because* fares are in the $800 range to LAX. Add another $100 for a family and it might be an expense that isn't accounted for.

 

[flybynight]

I certainly wouldn't make a fuss either, the smell of the food being re-heated wafting through the cabin can be very unpleasant to me sometimes. Generally I don't eat the re-heated main in Y and only pick at the re-heated main in J. I do enjoy the mid-flight toasties and pies ex-Aus to LAX in VA Y though, do they still have them?

Wouldnt know as I have never flown VA internationally. I have fond memories of lining up in the Qantas lounges for an Aussie meat pie before they swapped to "healthy" food. I used to quip that it was the only reason I flew because I wasnt allowed to eat pies at home!

 

[CPMaverick]

I flew the outbound on this route on Nov 7, MEL-LAX.

J meal was limited. Very few choices. No menu. No dessert options (had to ask and was told sorry, nothing) . No PJs. PE amenity kits. It was a far cry to what I have experienced before. And the flight was only about 30% full.

The reason given when I asked is that there was no catering at LAX on the return, so they had to load all the meals and food for the return. This left little space for the outbound catering and they had to cut back.

Sounds like they didn't do enough. In any case, they knew it was going to happen, it wasn't a last second thing.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I flew the outbound on this route on Nov 7, MEL-LAX.

J meal was limited. Very few choices. No menu. No dessert options (had to ask and was told sorry, nothing) . No PJs. PE amenity kits. It was a far cry to what I have experienced before. And the flight was only about 30% full.

The reason given when I asked is that there was no catering at LAX on the return, so they had to load all the meals and food for the return. This left little space for the outbound catering and they had to cut back.

Sounds like they didn't do enough. In any case, they knew it was going to happen, it wasn't a last second thing.

I get it, the catering company were delivering double stock so couldn't load PJs and J class amenity kits.

But what was to stop someone from VA management getting up from behind their desk, taking a car and picking them up themselves? There's oodles of room in the overhead lockers where they could have been stored... you could even store two per seat (one inbound one outbound) and still have plenty of room for cabin bags.

Sure this is a 'five star travel' problem. But isn't going the extra mile what their later stages advertisement is all about? Do it fit and it translates into $$ VA sorely needs.

 

[CPMaverick]

I get it, the catering company were delivering double stock so couldn't load PJs and J class amenity kits.

But what was to stop someone from VA management getting up from behind their desk, taking a car and picking them up themselves? There's oodles of room in the overhead lockers where they could have been stored... you could even store two per seat (one inbound one outbound) and still have plenty of room for cabin bags..

To be honest there were 15 empty J seats and lots of overhead space. Not sure if you can store things in the seats, but seems like they could have been creative. I agree, it didn't seem like they really tried here. Especially with PJs and amenity kits, I mean they could put those in the seats before takeoff.

 

[Dee#]

Luggage is actually priority, but back in the E-jet days it was hard. From memory catering for return flight, then rush bags (i.e. ones that missed flight day(s) before), then critical medical supplies, then luggage. I can't remember if perishable freight (i.e. food) was before or after luggage. After that comes freight, priority for perishable. It is really confusing because people check in lots of fresh produce due to cost considerations, and you've got to try get that on before general luggage. A really difficult flight, I hated it.

It was not uncommon for there to be a big backlog of freight. Such was the nature of the route. I imagine the A320 doing regular runs has helped that since the E90s went bye bye. This is the classic example of "better to keep quiet" when it comes to bags not making flight. You can imagine how often you'd have a family of four or whatever, and three bags would make it but one not. You then have a fully loaded E90 or B737 belly to sift through and find three bags to offload, while everyone else waits. Then re-do the paperwork and fill up the tanks again, because that whole time you've been burning fuel in the APU that you just can't afford to lose on such a flight.

Sorry, veered off topic!

Yes that is exactly what we thought, you obviously have experience withe the Cocos route. But virtually all the passengers bags did not go! Virgin Keep Quiet and they have got you up there, dumped you off, and it is no longer a big problem for Virgin but it is for the passengers, especially as Cocos is a lovely place but, has very limited facilities for non-islanders and communication with Virgin staff was difficult. For locals it wouldn't have been nearly as bad, just wait for your stuff. With lettuces at up to $10each there and scotch the same price (no gst or duty) they were going to get the perishable food on. We know they would have to sort through luggage if we refused to fly, but too bad.

 

[Dee#]

I had to be moved because of an obese pair of travelers taking around 30% of my seat on VA once there was only one spare seat on the plane and the FA's were giggling when I came up to them as soon as the seatbelt sign went off. They said that they saw the couple getting on and thought that the person next to them would have to be moved, they were taking bets on how long the person would take to alert them.

Has happened to me domestically-Virgin. But I don't wait for the doors to shut. Barge-cough was in the middle seat. Guy by window was crushed I was in aisle but only had 2/3 of a seat. Asked to be moved and luckily there was one more seat in the middle on the whole packed plane. Of course then barge-cough got more space.
However as a platinum Virgin, if it happens again and no space elsewhere I will get off, and also take a photo of the situation. Then its their problem to get my luggage off. I will argue the point about refunds later, with the threat of bad publicity. But It is totally unacceptable for any flight. Big ones need to book 2 seats or fly business.Maybe then they will loose it.

 

[JohnK]

They were provided food so my comment is somewhat throwaway here. I am well aware of diabetes type 2. It is an epidemic and rather diet and lack of exercise inflicted which is ironic for this discussion. Type 1 is rather different.

You know little about me so some of the questions I’ll not bother with.

But at the end of the day my first point in this post stands. They were given food.

Diabetes is an epidemic but how someone ends up with it is not really relevant.

I have type 2 diabetes and do take some small snacks with me when I travel including a golf outing for the day. A piece of bread, some nuts, boiled egg. I still expect an airline to feed me or at least warn me if there won't be adequate food on board.

A cold tuna hot pot rings alarm bells in my ears.

Off topic to this thread but some golf courses in Thailand have signs no outside food and drink. Very silly and not too well thought out. There are 3-4 kiosks on the course. Not always open and food runs out as the day goes on and also choice is not adequate even at start of day. I bring my own water and snacks.

 

[ross11]

Unfortunately VA's standards these days are a far cry from the ethos of Sir Richard Branson...