New B737 Beverage Carts (west fleet)

[AstroLounge]

Unless LCC is very different from AA, the caterer is not to blame here. The caterer uses the carts provided by the airline. Either the manufacturer of the carts or the airline screwed this one up. In any case, they should never have been delivered to the caterer until they had been checked to see that specifications were met. AND, certainly they should not have been stocked and delivered to an a/c!!!!

I take it common sense is in as short supply at LCC as it is at AA.

Common Sense and the Reign of Terror/Incompetence from tempe SAYS IT ALL! Spoke with several West crews who said UNTIL THEY FIX IT..........NO SERVICE!

 

[jimntx]

That is the only sensible response. The LAST thing any crewmember should do is risk injury using those carts. File a complaint with the union, the government, accidentally mis-address a photo of the cart with the stacked inserts to your local newspaper--"Oops, I meant to send the pictures to my great-Aunt Gladys to show her the equipment I use in my fun job."

BTW, I think the FAR prohibiting "loose" items in the carts is the reason it is an FAR violation to put crew/passenger luggage in a cart.

 

[EMBFA]

While on the topic of beverage carts- for East F/As, be on the lookout for a half-size Bucher cart that keeps reappearing, primarily in the forward galley of the 190. I had the number but lost it. This cart is completely bowed in on the inside to a point where you can only fit three drawers in it, stacked on top of each other rather than slotted in, like what we are hearing about these West carts. In other words, to get to the bottom dawer, I have to lift the other two drawers out and put them on the floor to access it. The outside panel is bent too so it is a two-man job to get it back into it's space. The latch you use to open and close the door is sliced in half, it's like a knife- not that it is possible to close the door, or even open it all the way (it won't fold back). There are also sharp edges inside that could easily slice a flight attendants hands. This cart appears to have been either run over by a fuel truck or inadvertantly rolled onto the Septa train track. This piece of equiptment is completely unnacceptable.

Now of course EMBFA did not go with this cart. I had the caterers swap it out and told them it is not be boarded on another airplane. Low and behold, the next day two seperate friends of mine tell me they had the same cart that day, so they didn't take it out of circulation. One refused it in Philly and it was replaced. Later in the trip, it reappears on my bird. I tell the catering lady no way, who tells me there are no more carts of this kind. Our major hub, Philly, supposedly does not have another half-size Bucher cart that we use not only on the E190, but on the A319/20/21, B757, and A330. Yeah right. I tell her to find one and she responds by getting all West Philly in my face and slamming carts around the galley. I tell her she can act as ignorant as she wants, I'll catch up on my phone calls while I wait for her to do her job and get a workable cart, and sit down in FC. She continues to throw around bags of granola bars and tell the non-English-speaking cleaners what a b*itch I am.

The captain gets on the phone and calls the tower, who says of course they have other carts, she needs to drive out and get one, it will take two minutes. By now a buddy of hers she has radio'd has shown up to yell at me too that I must be deaf because they keep telling me they don't have another cart. I show him deaf, and blind too, because I'm not participating in this silliness. Finally I get off the plane and tell the agent that either the cart goes or I go, or I'll go with the cart but not perform a service, as long as an inflight supervisor is present during boarding to explain the situation to my first class passengers.

A new cart was boarded when I returned.

Please be on the lookout for this cart or any other piece of equiptment that is unsafe, and do not work with it. There's nothing casual about safety, and low cost has no bearing on it.

 

[AstroLounge]

While on the topic of beverage carts- for East F/As, be on the lookout for a half-size Bucher cart that keeps reappearing, primarily in the forward galley of the 190. I had the number but lost it. This cart is completely bowed in on the inside to a point where you can only fit three drawers in it, stacked on top of each other rather than slotted in, like what we are hearing about these West carts. In other words, to get to the bottom dawer, I have to lift the other two drawers out and put them on the floor to access it. The outside panel is bent too so it is a two-man job to get it back into it's space. The latch you use to open and close the door is sliced in half, it's like a knife- not that it is possible to close the door, or even open it all the way (it won't fold back). There are also sharp edges inside that could easily slice a flight attendants hands. This cart appears to have been either run over by a fuel truck or inadvertantly rolled onto the Septa train track. This piece of equiptment is completely unnacceptable.

Now of course EMBFA did not go with this cart. I had the caterers swap it out and told them it is not be boarded on another airplane. Low and behold, the next day two seperate friends of mine have the same cart. One refused it in Philly and it was replaced. Later in the trip, it reappears on my bird. I tell the catering lady no way, who tells me there are no more carts of this kind. Our major hub, Philly, supposedly does not have another half-size Bucher cart that we use on the E190, A319/20/21, B757, and A330. Yeah right. I tell her to find one and she responds by getting all West Philly in my face and slamming carts around the galley. I tell her she can act as ignorant as she wants, I'll catch up on my phone calls while I wait for her to do her job and get a workable cart, and sit down in FC. She continues to throw around bags of granola bars and tell the non-English-speaking cleaners what a b*itch I am.

The captain gets on the phone and calls the tower, who says of course they have other carts, she needs to drive out and get one, it will take two minutes. By now a buddy of hers she has radio'd has shown up to yell at me too that I must be deaf because they keep telling me they don't have another cart. I show him deaf, and blind too, because I'm not participating in this silliness. Finally I get off the plane and tell the agent that either the cart goes or I go, or I'll go with the cart but not perform a service, as long as an inflight supervisor is present during boarding to explain the situation to my first class passengers.

A new cart was boarded when I returned.

Please be on the lookout for this cart or any other piece of equiptment that is unsafe, and do not work with it. There's nothing casual about safety, and low cost has no bearing on it.

Next time call a Mechanic.........ask to borrow his hammer and smash the wheel right off its bracket. NOW it IS INOPERABLE........hopefully FOR GOOD!

 

[2clippedwings]

For the umpteenth time in 2 weeks, we went several shuttle legs without catering/ice/garbage removal etc.
Tonight was the last straw. After trying to explain to shift supervisors the importance of obtaining ice to us, tonight we said...No catering....No service. That's my new motto.
Ill fitting drawers. Inconsistant pack outs, beaten to cr@p carts.

Tonight a young man with his bare feet on the tray table.
Last week a dog removed from its kennel and placed on a tray table.
A passenger sneezes into a pillow.

Filthy filthy carpeting, galley floors and work surfaces. Disgusting seat cushions, windows, tray table, seat back pockets. When are these cleaned? Sometimes we have gloves to wear while picking up trash and sometimes not.

AFA, for gosh sake-Get OSHA to oversee the flight attendants because the FAA is completely ineffective.

Our health and safety depend on it.


EMBFA, thanks for putting your foot down and insisting on getting a safe cart onboard.
Some f/a's have rolled broken carts into the inflight office.

 

[EMBFA]

Some f/a's have rolled broken carts into the inflight office.

I love it!

You know I will do it.

 

[N903AW]

Now of course EMBFA did not go with this cart. I had the caterers swap it out and told them it is not be boarded on another airplane.

I tell the catering lady no way, who tells me there are no more carts of this kind. Our major hub, Philly, supposedly does not have another half-size Bucher cart that we use not only on the E190, but on the A319/20/21, B757, and A330. Yeah right. I tell her to find one and she responds by getting all West Philly in my face and slamming carts around the galley. I tell her she can act as ignorant as she wants, I'll catch up on my phone calls while I wait for her to do her job and get a workable cart, and sit down in FC.

Finally I get off the plane and tell the agent that either the cart goes or I go, or I'll go with the cart but not perform a service, as long as an inflight supervisor is present during boarding to explain the situation to my first class passengers.

A new cart was boarded when I returned.

Please be on the lookout for this cart or any other piece of equiptment that is unsafe, and do not work with it. There's nothing casual about safety, and low cost has no bearing on it.

BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO

 

[AstroLounge]

I love it!

You know I will do it.

Too much EFFORT. Better yet- open the galley door and push the SOB right off the aircraft. Tell them the door was OPEN.........."Who Me ? I didn't touch THAT handle!?"

 

[2clippedwings]

Too much EFFORT. Better yet- open the galley door and push the SOB right off the aircraft. Tell them the door was OPEN.........."Who Me ? I didn't touch THAT handle!?"

Even more effective when the brakes are inop.

How 'bout when you attempt to pull out an AW blue drawer and the cart almost tips over?

Did you ever try to put our coffee potl lids on the various airline (NW, DL etc) coffee pots that we have onboard?

I'm not paid enough to have to McGyver everything I encounter.....

 

[EMBFA]

Those blue AWA drawers are the culprit. The barely fit in most of the cart, and if you force it into the middle around the hinges it starts to bow the walls. I toss them onto the jetway as well.

 

[AstroLounge]

Even more effective when the brakes are inop.

How 'bout when you attempt to pull out an AW blue drawer and the cart almost tips over?

Did you ever try to put our coffee potl lids on the various airline (NW, DL etc) coffee pots that we have onboard?

I'm not paid enough to have to McGyver everything I encounter.....

And those coffee pot lids........come on now! For every lid that fits there are 20 that don't. Just watched a F/A toss SIX of them in the trash along with 50-75 creamers that were jammed into a drawer and burst open. And they think I am going to deal with spoiled, sour milk in 100 degree temps. Uhha, sure.

 

[lildutchgrl]

Those blue AWA drawers are the culprit. The barely fit in most of the cart, and if you force it into the middle around the hinges it starts to bow the walls. I toss them onto the jetway as well.

EMBFA,
lildutchgrl didn't take that cart either! It took an hour for catering to come up with a replacement. Just enough time for me to take a breather in the first class cabin and actually enjoy my dinner while it was hot. As for the EAST problems with our carts, my crew refused to serve anything but bottled water on our flight from TPA because we stuggled on the way down there with those blue AWA drawers. They kept falling off track and at one point the other f/a was pulling with both hands to get her drawer out and fell right on her bum. Passengers enjoyed the "entertainment" we brought to the flight, but decided one leg was enough of that. I wrote the drawers up and placed an orange tag on every single one of them. We changed planes, so I have no idea how catering reacted to that.