Posts Tagged ‘ Airlines ’

In Flight Dining Menu: Chicken Cordon Bleu with Fecal Matter?

June 30th, 2010. By LucyC

An interesting item on the wire this week—airline food—sorry—airline meals—(yes, there is a difference, as one (meals) may not necessarily involve the other (food)) are a possible health threat. Well! You could have bowled me over with a feather! Seriously? How can that be when the airlines aren’t serving food anymore? 

Oh wait—that’s in coach. Meals—and I use the term loosely—are still served in first class on most major airlines. And if you’re flying Trans-Atlantic—or international long haul—no matter where you’re sitting. Great. Then you can possibly enjoy food poisoning and jet lag together. That’s always fun. You spend the first three days of your trip realizing that water really does go down the drain in the opposite direction in the Southern hemisphere… 

Apparently, reports obtained by USA Today via the Freedom of Information Act, state that some of the kitchens used to prepare the meals are not clean, employ food handlers that practice poor personal hygiene (I don’t even want to go there), and the food may not be stored at correct temperatures. 

And, of course, it gets worse. Some kitchens ‘were littered with dead cockroaches, flies, and rodent feces’ CBS News reported, which presumably are included in the Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Airline Food, Airlines, American, Continental, Delta, Flying Food Group, Gourmet, LSG Sky Chefs, United, US Airways
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Airline Passengers Get a Bill of Rights–Better Late than Never!

December 21st, 2009. By LucyC

When I read the headline this morning I thought they were describing a United Nations or World Health Organization intervention. “Airlines must supply food, water after 2 hours, maintain operable lavatories” (msnbc.com). But no—the Obama administration has developed some regulations to protect domestic air travelers. 

In fact, the Transportation Department has ordered US passenger airlines operating domestic flights to let passengers deplane if they’ve been stuck in a plane on the tarmac for three hours. Three hours is still a long time, mind you, especially if you’re flying at the back of the bus, but it’s better than the current time limit—which is FOREVER. 

According to the report on msnbc—some 613 planes were delayed on US tarmacs in the first six months of 2009—January to June. Not surprisingly, there are horror stories aplenty from passengers stranded in hot, crowded planes for hours—even overnight—while the problem that caused the aborted take-off is fixed—best case scenario. 

Of course there’s always the chance that the problem can’t be fixed in your lifetime, so after Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Air Travel, Airlines
Posted in Airlines | 1 Comment »