Sherri Speaks!

[AstroLounge]

So did they taste test the new "premium wines" in the plastic party cups?

And what is up with those party cups anyway - are they really that much cheaper than the cups other airlines use? Even Amtrak has better plastic cups!

The PARTY Cup as it has been dubbed is more than adequate for the Coach cabin and is BY FAR the largest cup in the airline industry. No it doesn't have the logo on it but most people would more than likely prefer to have a Bigger glass of beverage than the traditional 9oz industry standard. The cup doesn't belong in First Class under ANY Circumstance. Period.

 

[Travelpro72]

I know it's a bit trivial to talk about a "cup" but considering how this bean counting management is I'm surprised they haven't realized you could get THREE cups of soda out of a can with our old US "tiny" and I do mean "tiny" cups. You do express and even overfilling the cup with ice you only get two cups out of a can. It's silly to NOT give the can with a cup that damn big.

Hey Astro....I guess we can't say we're not "industry leading" anymore huh? This place is a trip.

 

[AstroLounge]

I know it's a bit trivial to talk about a "cup" but considering how this bean counting management is I'm surprised they haven't realized you could get THREE cups of soda out of a can with our old US "tiny" and I do mean "tiny" cups. You do express and even overfilling the cup with ice you only get two cups out of a can. It's silly to NOT give the can with a cup that damn big.

Hey Astro....I guess we can't say we're not "industry leading" anymore huh? This place is a trip.

"Industry Leading" alright! Redefining the meaning of CHEAP and slapping a Swoosh on it to make sure you remember where you saw it FIRST. There was a book written about Continental and the turnaround Gordon Bethune orchestrated at CAL "Worst to First". The Book covering Parker & Company would more aptly be titled "Took Two to the Bottom and tried to burrow a Tunnel to see how Low We Could Go". Amazing.

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

Considering they don't want corkscrews and like twist off bottles I'm surprised with all their cheapness they haven't put Franzia boxed wines on board.

Boxes of wine in first, keg stands in coach!

 

[Travelpro72]

As for coaching the f/a's on wine Piney, believe it or not we all received a wine course back in the day, then again on transatlantic and yet AGAIN most recently for the "upgraded" t/a service now dubbed by most as "salad tossing". It's hard to take it seriously though when your dumping it into a plastic cup. I don't care how ya cut it wine should not be in a plastic cup in first class. Rather than simply put a sleeve or two of the current envoy plastic stemware we use on the ground for champagne, oj and mimosa's in Envoy they'll spend countless man hours trying to find a cheaper glass and it will fail miserably. Thats the theme around here.

 

[JS]

One of the things that baffles me (not that it's a hard thing to do ) is why do airlines, the current US in particular think that when it comes to onboard amenities cheaper is better?

Let's say you have a $10.00 bottle of wine which IIRC yields 5 glasses? So the cost is $2.00 per "pour", which at current prices leaves $3.00/pour in gross profit and let's say you sell 5 bottles worth you end up with $75.00 in gross profit.

So then what happens if you sell 3 bottles of premium wine at $8.00 per glass? Well using the above model you yield $105.00 in gross profit assuming your "premium" wine costs $15/bottle.

When you take that $30.00 per flight difference times the number of flights where premium wines are stocked it adds up. Plus look at if from a Marketing angle. You raise the price of the Buy on Board and premium wines and you come up with a slogan like "Wine US, Dine US, Fly US" That is a differentiator.

Want to make it better yet and not have it cost a fortune? Teach the basics of wine to the F/A's so they can converse with the folks who might want to buy a premium wine.

So much could be done. Afterall you can still cater the cheap stuff too.

Given US' target audience, it would take several months to sell 3 bottles of premium wine systemwide. The fuel cost of carrying around adult beverages other than Colt 45 would be astronomical.

 

[WCT]

As for coaching the f/a's on wine Piney, believe it or not we all received a wine course back in the day, then again on transatlantic and yet AGAIN most recently for the "upgraded" t/a service now dubbed by most as "salad tossing". It's hard to take it seriously though when your dumping it into a plastic cup. I don't care how ya cut it wine should not be in a plastic cup in first class. Rather than simply put a sleeve or two of the current envoy plastic stemware we use on the ground for champagne, oj and mimosa's in Envoy they'll spend countless man hours trying to find a cheaper glass and it will fail miserably. Thats the theme around here.

I know this is no excuse, but aren't they working on "NEW" plastic enhancements for first class domestic flights? And please tell me glassware is not going away on TransAtlantic flights??! That would be a nightmare. :blink:

 

[vantheman63]

Let's say you have a $10.00 bottle of wine which IIRC yields 5 glasses? So the cost is $2.00 per "pour", which at current prices leaves $3.00/pour in gross profit and let's say you sell 5 bottles worth you end up with $75.00 in gross profit.

Just for the record.....standard in the beverage biz is: "If the bottle of wine costs $10.00, then charge $10.00 for the glass." Reason being, the bottle is technically not worth anything after it's open, so recover all costs upon opening the bottle.

A standard 750mL bottle of grape juice has just a smidge over 25oz. so, depending on one's vantage point, there are either 4 or 5 "servings" per bottle

Can and do "ON PREMISE" establishments sell a single serving for less then the cost of the bottle? Sure....and I would argue that in an airline environment, that is MORE then doable.

I'll be curious to see what US pays for wine. They've clearly picked Beringer-Blass as their supplier....getting decent to good whites inside of $10 a bottle should be easy...tougher with reds, but doable based on buying power.

I've never sold "Coach Class" wine before...but I've sold a fair amount of wine for international business and first class to carriers...Be interesting to see how it plays out. I kinda doubt the target audience in the back of the airplane thinks much about fine wine though, to be honest.

 

[playboyflyer]

No glassware in F/C is fine with me. It's dangerous anyway..who do you think 'washes' the shite..illegal aliens.. East or West.... and as a multimillion mile frequent flier in F/C of every major airline before I retired and went with the airline biz.. it never made a rat's ass of difference to me. What IS very interesting to see the bankrupt, broke, low-rent legacy Easties complaining about the West on something that makes no never mind using this as an excuse......BTW PSA was a good airline but GET OVER IT! This is 2008!!!! Living in the right CENTURY may be a lot to ask but PLEASE JESUS (my gardener), SHOW YOU THE WAY ;-)

 

[BoeingBoy]

who do you think 'washes' the shite..

The same people that will be washing the china and stainless....

Jim

 

[USstew23]

No glassware in F/C is fine with me. It's dangerous anyway..who do you think 'washes' the shite..illegal aliens.. East or West.... and as a multimillion mile frequent flier in F/C of every major airline before I retired and went with the airline biz.. it never made a rat's ass of difference to me. What IS very interesting to see the bankrupt, broke, low-rent legacy Easties complaining about the West on something that makes no never mind using this as an excuse......BTW PSA was a good airline but GET OVER IT! This is 2008!!!! Living in the right CENTURY may be a lot to ask but PLEASE JESUS (my gardener), SHOW YOU THE WAY ;-)

Low rent now that is priceles!!! You seem very mature playboyflyer and I'm very impressed that you were a "mulitmillion mile frequent flyer in F/C of every major airline" before you "retired and went with the airline biz" you really seem grown up like a multimillion mile frequent flyer in F/C and you've clearly shown the maturity so that everyone on here believes you are credible. I'm suspecting another new-hire that was rejected by DL, NW, CO, and UA.

****MODS THIS POSTER NEEDS TO BE KICKED OFF*************

 

[US1YFARE]

you've clearly shown the maturity so that everyone on here believes you are credible. I'm suspecting another new-hire that was rejected by DL, NW, CO, and UA.

****MODS THIS POSTER NEEDS TO BE KICKED OFF*************

Thank you for saying what many true VFF's think about that nonsense.

 

[700UW]

And those are the same people that prepare your food.

And I know ICE has raided aiports as you have to have a SIDA badge in order to work at the catering facilities as you get ramp access.

 

[CorpEXrejex]

No glassware in F/C is fine with me. It's dangerous anyway..who do you think 'washes' the shite..illegal aliens.. East or West.... and as a multimillion mile frequent flier in F/C of every major airline before I retired and went with the airline biz.. it never made a rat's ass of difference to me. What IS very interesting to see the bankrupt, broke, low-rent legacy Easties complaining about the West on something that makes no never mind using this as an excuse......BTW PSA was a good airline but GET OVER IT! This is 2008!!!! Living in the right CENTURY may be a lot to ask but PLEASE JESUS (my gardener), SHOW YOU THE WAY ;-)

A few items in your post bother me.

After "flying first class on all these majors", you make it sound like you picked to work for HP. Why on earth would you do that? - unless you live in PHX. In the mid 90's thru 2005, everyone I knew that worked in the West were treated aweful, had horrible schedules, and were the lowest paid in the industry. Many times on the airport shuttles to hotels, I'd see a few HP FA's and they were always complaining about management, their aweful pay scale, and "how can these new hires survive on that pay.." Granted, this was back when Franke or Ed Beauvis were running the show, almost everyone in the industry knew that HP was a place to go if you wanted your foot in the door to build experience, then move on.

Now I've flown frequently in First Class on many airlines as well, and even on Northwest, which was known to cheapen the their product before anyone else, still serves everything in glass in F. American & United's First Class product is LIGHT YEARS ahead of USAirways, and that is part of the issue, which is why I don't understand your perception. When every airline charges the SAME for First Class, including USAirways, that is where the employees and even folks buying tickets are NOT SEEING THE VALUE when they board a cheapened USAir product... while it may not be "cheapened" for America West, it most definitely is for UsAirways.... I recently flew from FLL to PHL in an Airbus A321, and my god, this plane has been butchered, and lets not talk about the inflight service... I felt like I was just served from a 7-11, yet not even *3* years earlier I had a full breakfast, on china, that was quite tasty (was some kind of apple pancake with eggs, 2 sausage links, and a potato-thing).

The arguments here are NOT about bashing the America West Employees, just its horrid management which seem to be stuck in 1994 still... except this time its Parker at the helm, not Beauvis... and the company is running a massive east coast operation now.

case in point: Midwest Airlines.

used to serve champagne on every flight, meals the size of something you'd expect from Ruths Chris.

Now: no more champagne, decent alcohol selection, pay to upgrade to signature, and Buy on Board that's not only above-and-beyond what everyone else is serving, but they're also charging a fair price with happy customers.