A prominent flight attendant wants food and drink eliminated (again) on shorter flights, which has left me scratching my head. That’s not a viable solution.
Flight Attendant Wants Food And Drinks Eliminated, But Should Focus On Masks Instead
Flight attendant Heather Poole told the LA Times, “No one ever starved on a three-hour flight,” and wants food and drinks eliminated on shorter flights.
Poole is a reader of Live and Let’s Fly and we have exchanged thoughts on Twitter over the years. She’s not lazy or looking for a way to sit on her jumpseat and read magazines – this is not what this is about. Indeed, I give her the benefit of the doubt that this is rooted in genuine concern about her safety and the safety of her flying partners.
But the facts simply do not add up. Nor does the logic.
Certainly we could marginally increase safety by forcing everyone to remain in their seats during the flight. We could marginally increase safety by refusing to provide food and drinks and prohibiting passengers from bringing their own food and drink onboard.
But that strikes me as the same overreaction as using a sledgehammer to hunt a housefly.
If we are already wearing a seatbelt, have airbags, and driving carefully, should we just not drive at all…out of an abundance of caution?
If airline safety studies are to believed, the filtration systems onboard dramatically reduce the chance of virus transmission.
Asking if we will starve is the wrong question. Rather, it is about securing the greatest outcome for the greatest number. What we’ve seen in part by the dramatic cutback of food and drink onboard is increased incidents of air rage. That’s what happens when you don’t sell passengers portion-controlled bottles of alcohol and they instead sneak on their own.
And what do you notice happens when that disruption occurs? No masks. The masks come off even when the disturbance is not about masks. And when voices are raised and fighting breaks out, flight attendants are put in more immediate physical danger than the small risk of contracting COVID-19, especially if vaccinated.
The solution is not to eliminate food and drink onboard. To the extent that a solution is available, it should be requiring surgical-type masks or even N-95s and not the ineffective cloth masks that fail to protect from the expulsion or inhalation of vapors.
It’s so strange to me, and frankly undermines the idea of masks in the first place, when flight attendants whine about passengers masking up, but seem to care little (based upon what many wear themselves) what kind of masks are actually worn.
CONCLUSION
I take Poole at face value that she is concerned. And indeed, COVID-19 is a killer and the vaccine will not fully stop it. But banning food and drink, despite the marginal safety benefits, seemed to be treating the virus with the wrong approach. Instead, wearing proper masks and taking steps (like food and drink) to cut down on in-flight disturbances seem like the better policy.
BA, and other EU airlines, can serve a very nice quick meal in Biz on a short flight between CDG and LHR. Why is it so difficult for US airlines on a 2 hr flight?
I assume your question was rhetorical. Pure laziness, indeed.
Lazy employees and airline bean counters trying to save money. Then they both say “not enough time”. Swiss managed to serve a plated light meal and drinks with refill and chocolates on a 34 minute flight. US carriers used to serve sandwiches on such flights in first class. Then they whine about how ticket prices haven’t gone up… Well once you add in all the fees they charge separately for everything that used to be included this is no longer true. But the American public voted for all this with their wallets. It’s our own fault
“Flight attendant Heather Poole” – you could have end this at that point!
We might also be able to make driving more safe by installing a knife in the middle of every vehicle steering column (“Tullock spike” http://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/tullock_spike I once drove Gordon Tullock home from DCA after a United ORD-DCA flight).
As far as dying from hunger on a three hour flight, talk about missing the point. The standard of product the airlines are trying to deliver in order to generate a revenue premium isn’t just “passenger did not die.” And it’s frequently not just a three hour flight, but two connecting three hour flights without time for grabbing a meal in between in the crowded connecting terminal plus a tarmac delay. Even American Airlines ordered pizza to Afghan refugees sitting on the tarmac at Dulles…
Gary, if the media published a list of all the daily car wrecks that happen in any good size town (especially when it rains) then people would be afraid to drive.
On a rainy day in Austin we have over 1,000 fender benders. No need for a knife…..
As a paying passenger I expect to have a meal or snack service on a flight , even if the option is buy on board . An example a three hour flight would also include 2 hour being at airport and travel time to airport .
Ultimately she is an employee of the airline that employs her and it’s the passengers choice of airline they choose to fly with .
If she is not happy, she can always work for a no service airline! I am of the old school and I am also expecting some comfort and pleasure to fly, with or without a covid pandemic! I have made a decent quantity of flights in a year and do respect realistic safety measures vs the virus, but I keep living not just existing !!!
Why don’t we just have her eliminated and fire her lazy ass instead!! Be much easier!
I think a flight attendant knows more about safety than an airline blogger or traveler. Consulting an airline blogger about safety is tantamount to consulting a lawyer about how to treat cancer. I’ll defer to the flight attendant’s expertise all day long when it comes to safety. As for precedent, slavery was once legal in this country. Does that mean it should have never been abolished? I must also ask who appointed airline bloggers as the judges or juries about what constitutes “good” or “bad” airline service? Isn’t an airline’s main function to provide safe and reliable transportation?
In answer to your last question, no. That is a given.
I was hoping for a quick, germane pivot to slavery to enhance the dialog.
“Consulting an airline blogger about safety is tantamount to consulting a lawyer about how to treat cancer. I’ll defer to the flight attendant’s expertise all day long when it comes to safety.”
There’s a fundamental difference between a lawyer and an FA: A lawyer is educated for years not only in how to apply the law, but also even to argue and write it. Two lawyers will enter a courtroom and argue before a judge, another lawyer, on how to apply the exact same written law. In theory, there should be no argument. All three should easily know what it is and it would sure be cheaper for all of us if the law worked that way. 🙂
(It’s my contention that modern legal theory is taught so badly that this is why it takes such an inefficient industry to practice it. 🙂
On the other hand, an FA only ENFORCES FAA and their airline directives. They are not necessarily educated as to why these directives exist nor are they the primary advisors on them unlike this video:
https://youtu.be/JYAq-7sOzXQ
Heck, FA’s aren’t even security professionals otherwise why would there be sky marshals?
FA’s are not entirely unskilled of course, in that they are given some degree of training on basic safety, security, and first aid but not to the level of expertise to work as an EMT or security guard. Most of their daily duties are service and customer oriented.
Certainly, there’s stress in an FA’s duties in that they are asked to not only work as moderated trained security and safety regulation enforcers but also to provide customer service so it’s understandable that they want to make their jobs less stressful but this also means that they are justifying cutting these services out altogether rather than finding a way to safely provide them.
It would be like a lawyer, say, arguing that a manufacturer step ladder with no liability issues would be one that is not rated to be used as a ladder at all. If an FA is basically doing the CEO’s job for him by calling to cut services while maintaining the same price, then it’s hard to feel sympathy for the FA’s if he happens to say the FA’s duties are reduced considerably so why not cut their salaries/benefits and staffing?
Congrats, FA’s, you just talked your way out of a job.
Which is the opposite of what a lawyer does…
FAs in general are lazy and don’t do anything. They just want to gossip and stay in their phones. Eliminate the bad apples and keep the good ones.
“She’s not lazy or looking for a way to sit on her jumpseat and read magazines”
—thats EXACTLY what she’s looking for. Since air travel is so risky, how about just grounding all flights until Lord Fauci is convinced that this is over (which is never). Let’s make it actually illegal to fly and have harsh prison sentences for anyone who even THINKS about flying.
This “flight attendant” is the perfect example of what’s wrong with the industry not only today but for about the last 20 years. At this point, know who I’d support? A union-busting president with balls. Work or get out.
OH wow. “No one died from no food in 3 hours”. How rude, uncaring and thoughtless. Many times people are stuck at a gate 1-2 hours before a flight, then the flight and walking deboarding time. Many people can get llow blood sugar if not eating every 4 or so hours. How many times has your plane been late, delayed and you choose to not leave the gate area to go get horrifically expensive junk food just to stave off hunger? people need even tempered people as customers/passengers on the flights with them. People have medical needs ot eat regularly. This flight attendant is likely over-worked or tired or completely ignorant of peoples’ needs or uncaring.
BTW I worked on 727-Stretches which served drinks and small sandwiches on flights from Spokane & Seattle– it was a fast not so elegant service- required, appreciated and we did it with no blah blah complaints. Many people appreciated the little sandwiches * cookie w/ pop which we served.
Grumpy much, trumpet?
Stop giving them the benefit of the doubt. Before Covid U.S. flight attendants were rated worst in the world. They don’t care about safety. That’s just an excuse. Enforcement of Mask mandates has become excessive and ridiculous. Flight attendants are having flights diverted because they complain to the pilot that someone didn’t wear a mask between sips of water. Flight attendants often make a problem where there isn’t one. The U.S. would be a better place with no flight attendants. North Korean flight attendants have more class.
Eliminating traditional drink and food service does make sense for economic, efficiency, and sanitary reasons. U.S. flight attendants are so bad that they shouldn’t be trusted to pour beverages. A simple solution is for flight attendants to offer bottles of water, bottles of coke, bottles of juice, bottles of etc. so they don’t have to be standing at an aisle pouring into cups or pouring in the galley. Bottles also can be capped instead of cups which can spill during turbulence. The same thing with food. No preparations and standard meals need to be served on short flights. Let them go the Jetblue route with bags of chips/cookies and already prepared sandwiches that are wrapped up. Let people drink coffee and tea before boarding.
Perfect!! Could not agree more with you. Problem is that the snowflake generation will scream that too many plastic bottles will kill the planet. Just give bottles of water. No other beverage options. Seriously, how many people drink tomato juice at home or at work? Why do they need to drink on a 2 hour flight? Limit it to water bottles and if you are thirsty you ask for more. Bottles will all be plastic so they go to the same trash bag to he recycled. Offer healthy bagged food like better chips, bars, etc… And that is about it. Nobody is will starve and you can have a proper meal before or after the flight. I never eat anything when flying coach. I bring my own healthy snack and that is enough.
I’m a FA. I and the vast majority of my coworkers are thrilled that we are now able to offer increased food and beverage service on our flights. In fact, I just had a conversation yesterday with a coworker about how pleased we were that pre-departure beverages are soon to return. We did not like the restrictions that were in place this past year and a half. We like offering our customers something to eat and drink. I am not familiar with Heather Poole, but she doesn’t seem very well educated about covid or very customer service oriented.
Thank you. “nobody ever starved” is missing the point. Customers appreciate a pleasant experience and customer service during their flight. We do appreciate employees that take pride in offering a quality product where customer experience matters. It sounds like you are that kind of person. I always notice and appreciate that.
This is nonsense. The quicker we learn to cope with this virus, the better for everyone and everything.
The reason people misbehave on flights is they are maladjusted miscreants and the bast majority haven’t been raised correctly !!!
Thanks for challenging the assumptions and it’s not just Heather. The frequently in the media AFA head Sara Nelson said in the article
“”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”
How would they know what elements of service contribute to transmission or that ‘touch points’ impact it. Running air transportation requires a level of service including food and beverage. These are not optional things.
European carriers like Lufthansa and Swiss are plenty careful about transmission and run their full standard meal service nowadays.
More union excuses…meanwhile the teachers unions are doing their dragging feet best
I have to believe that the reason for the increased tensions on flights is to do with the massive customer service issues that are already in place. Cutting back on the meal and beverage service is not helping! Couple that with how hard it is to get any sort of help if your flight is even slightly delayed and you are going to misconnect and passengers are simply getting more and more frustrated. I know that part of it is that they either laid off too many customer service reps and can’t re-staff the phone lines fast enough or that they won’t spend the money to do it right because overall numbers are still down. If you want travelers to come back, spend a little more money up front and help us out. Make the flight experience a bit more pleasant and let us have a bit of sustenance on any flight over an hour. It cracks me up that AA only serves almonds in first class, but there is still a snack basket selection on American Eagle flights. However, once that first pass is made, you don’t see the F/A again until it is time to ensure that everyone has thrown away their trash and buckled their seatbelts for landing.
F/a´s are LAZY! Most of the time they’re just killing time on their jumpseat, and the forget they are on board to provide SERVICE! If they’re being paid by the hour, and refuse to provide service, the shout be scrubbing carpets, cleaning toilets, and doing something that actually helps flying safer.
No, she’s just using this as an excuse to be lazy. And she doesn’t understand what matters to the frequent fliers who make up the bulk of her employer’s revenue. There’s a reason FAs don’t get to the C Suite.
So she’s using the “starvation” excuse as a reason to not serve food? Well, she might as well apply that excuse to ALL flights, not just shorter sub 3 hour flights. Since humans can survive for several weeks without food, subsisting on only water, and the longest flight is only 18-19ish hours in duration.
Hopefully I will never be on one of her flights!
This is why people prefer to fly the Middle Eastern or Asian airlines.
On my last airline flight, United MCO-IAD return, in First all we were served was a drink and a dreary little snack bag with a bottle of water and pretzels. Pitiful.
“this would be a great place to work but for the passengers”