I’ve been long of the view that the first sign of an airline being strained shows up on their catering. For many years, Jet Airways has had the luxury of flip-flopping on meals. One of my oldest posts tracking this was in 2011, where Jet Airways discretely started to knock off some items on their flights.

Over a period, Jet Airways has moved to ‘snack boxes’ on shorter routes less than 90 minutes which had a sweet and a savoury dry item such as a puff and a pastry. Such was the ruthlessness on these routes, that even high yield routes such as Bangalore – Mumbai, which is less than 90 minutes is getting the same kind of snack box as Mumbai – Goa.

Your in-flight meal now comes in an all-new eco-friendly box! pic.twitter.com/dIGcIhDcZu

— Jet Airways (@jetairways) January 18, 2018

However, on metro routes, where Jet Airways is directly in competition with Vistara, Jet Airways has been dishing out a very competitive meal.

Recently, Jet Airways took the step of killing meals for the cheap tickets and offering them a meal to buy on the plane.

But the liquidity crisis has now sent the airline back into its fixing mode. Which means systems are not being followed it seems, and the airline would put something on your tray table, even if it is not the brand standard what they should be putting out there.

For instance, last weekend, right after Diwali, I was flying back between Delhi & Mumbai on a dinner flight. Now, ordinarily, this would look like a delicious full meal, but spot the difference between the menu and actual.

Spot the difference: from last nights @jetairways #premiere catering Delhi to Mumbai. #PaxEx #inflightmeal pic.twitter.com/mOx7RwM0d6

— Ajay Awtaney (@LiveFromALounge) November 12, 2018

The crew serving my flight told me this had been the way this meal has been served for a few days now,  without a specified missing item I’d invite you to find.

I did not think much of it, but over the weekend, a reader tweeted to me a picture of a snack flight on the same route where the hot meal snack was now replaced with a box. Anyone who flies Jet Airways sort of hates that box most of the times because the contents are soggy and lukewarm most of the times.

So @jetairways is now serving those awful box meals on DEL-BOM sector too. This on a flight leaving at 5:30 9W362 in the evening. So glad I could hop in to the @AmexIndia DEL T3 lounge before the flight! #paxex pic.twitter.com/qOVzJx8AMA

— Mayur Khandelwal (@Mayur_Kh) November 17, 2018

At least Mayur should empathise that he got the meal on a platter (tray) and came with a hot beverage service along, rather than just being shoved into his hand.

See, I sympathise with the Jet Airways management and crew who are trying to do there best in the current situation of tight liquidity. Perhaps not making a statement and getting ahead of the situation is not the best thing to do in present times if they’d want their customers to be as motivated to support them as ever. I don’t have any travel booked on 9W through the end of the year, but I’d swing it to them if I would be making any more trips through the rest of the year.

We understand things are not so great but do not question our brains or mistake them for our loyalties.  We can empathise with you as long as you raise your hand and say, hey, this is temporary while we fix things. It is much the same as they did when the lounge access at Mumbai is gone, and there is still no word on when would it be fixed. Customers get a message one hour before the flight that the lounge is gone.

Have you noticed any cutbacks on the meals on board Jet Airways or is it just me being over-critical?