Sometimes I hear travel stories that are about going above and beyond, and sometimes I also hear about the rotten apples that bring bad reputation to a brand. Here is one of the latter.
Jet Airways’ is all set to go back to being a full-service carrier. For them, one important part of this as per their plan is the on-board meal experience, which is something they are not performing well on, according to me.
Vishal Mehra, an aviation hobbyist, recently took a trip from Delhi to Jammu and return on JetKonnect, and he was hoping the free meals were back earlier than expected. However, the on board buy-on-board concept was still active at the date of his travel. No deal breaker if they were not serving free meals, but I am aghast at the fact that a member of the cabin crew on that flight actually charged him INR 300 to provide him with a business class hot meal. Here is a screenshot from his blog:
He states that the attendant offered to bring him a hot meal on the flight for a charge of INR 300, which he paid. Later, the same flight crew member came back and refunded the amount to him, I guess, when the cabin supervisor found out about this.
This was not even a part of the SkyCafe buy-on-board menu, which offers hot meals on a limited number of flights, but only a Biryani. However, the pricing was the same. Of course, someone wanted to make a quick buck.
Business Class meals are always loaded in spare, and I’ve personally spotted business class meals being served to economy class passengers, sometimes friends of the captain or so on, although Jet Airways refuted those charges. Of course, these are not big issues in life, but at the end of the day, cabin crew are largely responsible for the customer experience and they got to do the right thing to be able to uphold the image of the airline they represent.
Anybody else receive such a favour while being seated back of the bus?
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Several years ago I was on a trans-con flight and didn’t like whatever they were serving up front. The flight attendant hustled right to the back of the plane and brought me a listing of what they had for sale and brought me something delicious. He put it all out on a first class tray with linen. Everybody got a big laugh.
$5 for a hot meal on real porcelain and with metal cutlery (which, incidentally, is about what it costs the airline)?
Why aren’t more airlines offering this, especially in the US? A crappy cold sandwich laden with preservatives and fat a “meal” does not make!
@Good Service you do miss the point. That meal was a business class meal for complimentary service to a business class passenger. not for sale to an economy passenger and making a quick buck.
In my first trip to Asia, in the early 80s, I was sitting in the first row of economy class, and a charming little Singapore Airlines flight attendant came back and started asking the men beside me if they’d like a business class meal, since they had spares. They enthusiastically said yes and she noted their seat numbers. She totally ignored me in the aisle seat and was about to go to the row behind and ask the next man, I presume, the same question, but I was too indignant at this behavior to let it pass, so I smiled brightly and thanked her and said I wanted one too. She was not pleased and showed it, and went back into Business Class stiffly, but came back shortly with the extra meals and a smile back on her face – it seems there were only three spare meals – so all three of us in that row enjoyed them. I don’t think the guy behind me was too pleased because I remember he glowered at me when I later walked down the aisle.
First, the caption above the photo refers to 300 bucks, which is laughable. Based on current exchange rate, the meal price is $4.85. Now whatever is in the casserole dish, sort of looks like the recent photo of what one student claim was served at his school.
The free MAC flights for active duty military between St.Louis and Germany with a stop over in Newfoundland, don’t offer food or any beverage.
@Manish, yeah, there is nothing wrong – if one is a corrupt dick like Mike!
LH served me a J KSML in Y a few years ago. Claimed it was a *S perk. Never happened again, probably a catering mistake. Quite embarrassing to get 2 full trays when the pax next to me got a regular Y with 1 small tray.
@mike Business class meals are not available for purchase on Jet flights. In all probability the crew was trying to make a quick buck. Nothing wrong with that?
Whats the point of this post? The passanger agreed to the purchase. Whats the big deal. Nobody tricked him into buying it. Stupid post. More stupid than ever.
Yes this is common on Jet Konnect. Crew was trying to make his last few bucks before they turn full service.
Never received a J meal in Y but was offered first choice during meal service on OZ. Had OZ statu with my family for quite sometime and this was always the case…