=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/chronicle/archive/2002/04= /28/TR102001.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday, April 28, 2002 (SF Chronicle) Airline meals a fading memory Elliott Hester Remember the days when you could pull into a gas station and watch an attendant pump your gas, clean your windows, check your oil and smile as you drove away? This kind of service has all but disappeared. Blame it on downsizing - the quest for survival or a better bottom line. Whatever the reason, gasoline "service" stations have become an oxymoron. The same holds true aboard airplanes. When I was hired as a flight attendant in 1985, we served abundant (if often tasteless) meals on all but the shortest flights. Trays overflowed with salads and crackers and wobbling desserts. Entrees simmered in ceramic containers. Passengers ate with stainless steel forks. Today, many flights have no scheduled meal service. On some flights, hungry passengers are required to snatch a grab-and-go bag containing bottled water, chips and half a sandwich. It's the airline version of a self-service gasoline pump. On flights with catered meals, entrees are served in plastic throw-away containers. Salads are rare. Stainless steel cutlery is a distant memory - even in first class. Although first-class passengers receive meals far more often than their coach-class brethren, they, too, are forced to eat with plastic cutlery. Premium passengers can pay as much as $9,000 for a round-trip ticket from New York to Paris, yet they dine on caviar and Chateaubriand with the aid of something that resembles a child's toy. The absence of stainless steel cutlery has sparked a fierce debate. Passengers want metal utensils. Though many flight attendants agree, we're forced to tow the company line. "Butter knives and forks can be used as weaponry," we say. But just about anything can be used as a weapon. First-class galleys are often catered with wine bottles and glass carafes. When smashed against the edge of a galley counter, these items can become effective weapons. Indeed, in the hands of the wrong person even an ink pen means trouble. Are we to confiscate Bics during the boarding process? Shall we stop pouring Perrier- Jouet? While working the first-class cabin not long ago, I was startled by the sound of angry voices. I poked my head into the aisle and saw two first-class passengers (a husband and wife) wagging plastic forks and yelling at my colleague. "I agree with you," the flight attendant said, shrugging her shoulders. "But what can I do?" Man and wife stared at one another incredulously, then dropped their forks and sighed. The airline industry was hit hard by the September terrorist attacks. Ne= ws of employee furloughs and discontinued routes sent CEOs crawling to the government for financial help. But the situation is getting better every week. Many furloughed employees are returning to work. Canceled routes have been re- established. But will in-flight meal service ever come back? Only time will tell. Years ago, my airline enacted a program that rewarded employees who came up with cost-cutting ideas. It was a brilliant program. Flight attendants thought hard and long about ways for the airline to save money. Thousands of innovative suggestions poured in. Many were implemented. The airline saved millions. Now, after an unprecedented cost-cutting spree triggered by the terroris= ts attacks, airlines are saving more than ever. Once passengers become accustomed to the current state of service, however, who knows what cutbacks will be next? Even though passengers are becoming resigned to frustratingly long lines at the ticket counter and even longer lines at security checkpoints, they still hop on a plane expecting service. Despite advertising campaigns that suggest a level of service you might expect aboard the Queen Elizabeth II, air travel, in its purest main-cabin form, is little more than public transportation. Greyhound at 30,000 feet. Amtrak with wings. In fact, millions of Americans ride commuter trains and buses to and from work each day. They pay a fee, climb aboard, sit in a cramped seat next to a stranger, and either sleep or read the paper until arrival. If memory serves me correctly, there's no food service on the New Jersey Path Train. Ditto for the Illinois Central and dozens of commuter lines passengers ride each morning and again each night. Yet the same person who endures a daily two-hour commute is incensed that there's no food on a 1=C7-hour flight from New York to Chicago. With the possible exception of other hungry airline passengers, only one group feels worse about the absence of in-flight meals. The flight attendants. We not only feel your pain, we see it - day in and day out, as we pass out pretzels or trail mix or a bag of almonds and are greeted by your expressions of disdain. (Having steeled themselves for this reception, a few of my less reputable colleagues choose to wear the same face.) But one airline seems to have a handle on all this. When most were slashing routes and furloughing employees in an attempt to stay alive, Southwest Airlines never skipped a beat. If my memory serves me correctly, the company never furloughed a single employee, though it froze new hires for a few weeks. And in February, Southwest announced it would hire 4,000 new employees this year and add new airplanes to its fleet. Why? Because it offers basic transportation. No seat selections. No food. No first-class thrones. No hot towels or free drinks or special considerations. It's public transportation, period, and it -doesn't pretend to be anythi= ng else. And most of their passengers -don't mind. Perhaps one day we'll all feel the same. Elliott Hester flies for a major U.S. airline. His first book, "Plane Insanity: A Flight Attendant's Tales of Sex, Rage, and Queasiness at 30,000 Feet," was published recently St. Martin's Press.=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 SF Chronicle