Beverage Service On Short Flights?

[AtlanticBeach]

Over on Flyertalk, a passenger stated that an announcement on a recent flight was that there is no longer any beverage service in Y on USAirways flights under 90 minutes. Would someone please confirm on deny whether this is current policy?

 

[USAirBoyA330]

Someone on FlyerTalk said? That should answer your question but, to set the record straight, no that is not correct. Flights under 30-35 min are NO-SERVICE (i.e., CLT-RDU or CLT-MYR) Sometimes the block time for the flight is extremely padded and the Captain will say the flight time is 33 minutes but the flight on paper is blocked for 1 hour. The flight attendants then assess the passenger load and flight time to see if any kind of service can be safely conducted. Flights 45 min to 1 hour are express beverage. In my opinion an express beverage is 10 times more drama and trouble than the cart service because most of the time people always ask for what you don't have and only 12 drink fit on those trays. A full 757 or even 737 is a nightmare to me when I see the express code. We would much rather do a full beverage on those flights but the time restraint doesn't allow it.
In any event, I would find it beyond unbelievable that any crew would be lazy enough not to serve on a 90 minute flight. At least one F/A would speak up and make sure it was done. Now, I have been on a flight from MCO-PHL before when we literally could not stand it was so violent all the way up the coast. I have also seen the beverage cart go into the ceiling and through the floor with myself and all my crew taken away on stretchers. No drink is worth being paralyzed. That's the long answer to that question I suppose.

 

[AtlanticBeach]

Thank you.

 

[N628AU]

I have flown WN many times from LAS to LAX, and the airborne time is about 40 minutes. I have never not gotten a beverage service, with only 3 FA's and a full 737. If the flight is over 35 minutes (saving 15 minutes for arrival and departure, where no drinks can be served due to aircraft manuevering), I think the only reason drinks should not be served is due to weather. IF WN can do it, so can US.

 

[Twicebaked]

Usairboy is correct, but here is a bit more clarity.

ANY flight that is less than 190 miles (regardless of the block time) is a "request only" flight. We are no longer to call it a 'no serve".

Any flight UNDER an hour is a "limited" beverage service: Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and Water. Yes, Diet Coke is STILL part of that service contrary to belief. Orange Juice ,Coffee, and water before 10 a.m.

Any flight OVER an hour is a "standard" beverage service: cart/beverage snack after 10 a.m. Before 10 a.m. is NO beverage snack.

Many flight attendants get confused on when services are "limited" or "request only" flights. The company needs to put the service codes BACK on the pairing sheets. I know they have Service Guide Line sheets floating around, but they need to be where the are seen regularly (on the ps) and there will be NO confusion.

As for WN, I know for a fact (I flew them) that are "standard service" is by far better than WN. I would rather see NO service if it can't be done rather than throw drinks and pretzles at you like an animal.

 

[delldude]

I have flown WN many times from LAS to LAX, and the airborne time is about 40 minutes. I have never not gotten a beverage service, with only 3 FA's and a full 737. If the flight is over 35 minutes (saving 15 minutes for arrival and departure, where no drinks can be served due to aircraft manuevering), I think the only reason drinks should not be served is due to weather. IF WN can do it, so can US.

funny,i've flown the same leg and had beverege service.... on wn...

 

[tadjr]

funny,i've flown the same leg and had beverege service.... on wn...

Double negative on the previous post.

Never not = always has......

 

[PhillyFlyGuy]

Well, I must agree that there is alot of confusion out there reguarding the inflight service procedures. I personally think some of it is laziness and some of it is misunderstood by F/A's. The company should place the service codes back on the trip pairings to avoid all this confusion so we can deliver a consistant product again to our customers. But for now we just have the Service Guideline sheets.

 

[Twicebaked]

I was trying not to go there, but you are correct about the laziness. Many times more than not it IS laziness. Pit/Phl for example...sometimes it is standard some times limited and other times none. It is a very short flight but it IS a standard bev service (cart and snack). It IS blocked over an hour. That does constitute a full standart carrt service. Many don't feel like running around.

 

[PITbull]

I have never seen PIT-PHL not have a bev service done.


Come on guys, get real. Lets not make assumptions as if they are facts.

 

[USAirBoyA330]

WN has 3 F/A's all for a 1 class cabin. One of our F/A is dedicated to 1st class so that leaves 2 for main cabin. The comparison is not valid. When we used to get the Shuttle aircraft thrown in at random we all commented to how fast we got the FULL service done.

 

[TheWatcher]

Challenge me on the truthfulness and I swear to god I'll get a small digital camera and e-mail you the pics and flight numbers that it occured on. This reading in the galley has become rampant since meal service stopped. I don't really mind I just don't like seeing it denied here.

Who the hell cares? Just get me to my destination safely with some service and i wouldnt care if they read the entire dictionary front to back.

 

[PhillyFlyGuy]

We don't know what the circumstances were on this particulair flight segment. Bottom line is safety issues are first and foremost with our customers that's why we are primarly onboard however comfort and service also play strong part. Only the working flight crew knows why they didn't offer a service.

We may have a strifle between management and our work force but we sure don't need to be taking it out on our customer base. It is not the customers issue to work through. We will only be sending them to the competition and eventually are careers will be gone. Remember without them we have no career or paycheck.

 

[MarkMyWords]

If I may just add something to this discussion. Somethign needs to be done with coordinating express service levels too. Why is it in some markets there are 3 different express carriers and you can expect 3 different services on the same flight segment? All 50 seat RJ's, but Mesa will serve, transtates won't and chautaugua is hit or miss. There needs to be a CONSISTENT level of service on all flights and routes. If we serve a beverage from PIT-SDF, then all the carriers do the same service, everytime - safety permitting.

 

[Twicebaked]

If I may just add something to this discussion. Somethign needs to be done with coordinating express service levels too. Why is it in some markets there are 3 different express carriers and you can expect 3 different services on the same flight segment? All 50 seat RJ's, but Mesa will serve, transtates won't and chautaugua is hit or miss. There needs to be a CONSISTENT level of service on all flights and routes. If we serve a beverage from PIT-SDF, then all the carriers do the same service, everytime - safety permitting.

I was under the impression that US mainline trained people (at least some) from express carriers to "mirror" mainline for seamless service.
This is something that should be looked into.

It is time to clean up our act a bit.