Cons and Meals- REVISITED

[Kip Powick]

Guys/Gals….it would seem that a few of you feel that I indicated that the I/C stopped the movie, and got on the PA to chastise the “con” who took a meal when he should not have. Nowhere did I indicate that the episode became a spectacle.

My daughter told me what happened and, upon review with her, she indicated that the I/C came back to the “con” across the aisle from her and leaned in and gave him a deserved lecture. Did all the pax hear it…...no. Did all the individuals right around him hear it…who knows and there were plenty of empty seats in that particular section.

I will agree that perhaps she should have hoisted said con by the neck and dragged him to the aft lav and had at, but she did not, that was her judgment call. I am sure you are all aware that employees of AC are under a lot of stress at the present time and perhaps this was just an incident that put her over the top. It looks like the “con” screwed up, in my opinion, he was told..no meals, but then again none of us were there to hear what went on between him and the serving F/A so who really knows……..but I don’t think it is fair to start throwing stones at the I/C just because, among other things, she MIGHT have been the one who had to tell a full rev pax…”no soup for you”.

PS...I think I am beating a dead horse on this one...sorry.

[Mitch Cronin]

neighhhh.... plthhh.... winnie.... C'mon y'old nag quick ! ...'afore he gits another lick in! ...Nope, not quite dead yet.

[Guest M. McRae]

Of course there is always the possibility that the con did not know about the new "no meals" policy. Innocent until proven guilty

When travelling, even though meals were to be boarded for pass travellers, I have always made a point of asking the FA when presented with a meal selection "is there enough choices for all or would it be better if I waited to make mine?". This is normally enough to alert the FA to the fact that I am on a pass and allow them to handle it from there.

[Guest propwash]

On my a/c all passengers are given ‘first class’ treatment and all my fellow employees are treated with respect. At least by me.

You hit the ‘hot button’ on this one, Kip. Air Canada, not the i/c, has made it known that there are no meals for cons. Later in the flight a F/A offers some meals. It would only be reasonable to surmise that these are extras and being kindly offered to the ‘lower than low’. In 30 years of ‘conning’ that’s what I would assume and try to keep a low profile.

If the i/c took offence it sounds to me like she was planning to ‘wolf it down’.

[Guest mareli]

This meal policy is causing so many problems for cabin crew. As an I/C, I understand it, and even support it but it really puts us in a difficult position.

It sounds to me that the cons took the meal on the first go-around with the meal trolley and didn't wait. If it's the first go-around and a con is offered a meal, they should (as discreetly as possible) mention that they were told they would only get a meal if there were some left. We do get a PIL with passenger info however, it's easy to change seats and difficult (especially on a wide body) to have every F/A on board aware of who the cons are. Also, the PIL is not always the final list. Sometimes agents print out the PIL and do so before the last few PAX are boarded (usually cons) to save time etc so the list we get is not always accurate.

A situation happened yesterday between YYZ and YVR where there were over 20 cons on board and several had moved seats and didn't tell the crew when offered a meal. I think that made them short meals for rev pax. Cons need to understand how horrible it is for us to have to tell a revenue pax that there is no meal for them. We're trying our very best to keep the passengers we have as happy as possible with the limited resources that we have right now. I know that the meal policy sucks for a con but as a courtesy to the F/A's, who get little respect as it is, please at least let them know in case they don't realize that you're a con.

Generally if you're getting a meal, it won't be when all of the other meals are handed out, unless they've had tonnes of refusals.

[Guest Mtc.]

Mareli, you had me until "who get little respect as it is"....Let's face it, you will get little or no respect from regular pax, and you work for AC, so you will definetly get no respect from management.....Just the way it seems to be, sad isn't it...

[Guest mareli]

Actually, it doesn't really bother me. I have gotten used to the lack of respect from passengers although some are fantastic. Individually the managers are pretty good too. But I have a harder time when colleagues in other departments show little or no respect. That's exactly what it is if they grab a meal without gently reminding the F/A that they're a con!