Original title: air meal is exposed to shrink? Expert: safety and cost considerations
What's the matter with the shrinking of airline meals on multiple flights
Recently, frequent passengers reported that the meal size and quality of some airlines have decreased. Experts said that the 'shrinkage' of meals may be due to the safety and cost considerations of the airline company, which should be an accidental event 'don't exaggerate'.
Recently, a number of passengers who often travel by plane reported to upstream journalists that since August, when they take domestic flights, they have obviously felt that the food quality and service content provided by airlines have been seriously reduced, whether in economy class or business class, 'on the plane at 7:30 in the morning, they will Send a few packets of snacks to deal with', 'what they eat in business class now, It's not even enough to plug your teeth '.
Relevant insiders confirmed in an interview with upstream news reporters that at present, several large domestic airlines have changed the on-board catering service content and reduced the service content as a whole. It is believed that the reasons for these changes are related to the higher requirements put forward by regulators for flight safety.
Staple food dinner 'shrunk' into fruit snacks
Mr. Chen is an employee of a performing arts and culture company in Shanghai. Because of his work, he often goes to Beijing by air. " My original favorite choice was China Eastern Airlines or Air China, but since August, the food of these two companies has become worse. I flew seven or eight times in August and hardly had dinner on the plane. "
Mr. Chen recalled to the upstream news reporters that in the past, when traveling between Beijing and Shanghai near the meal point, most airlines would provide dinner with staple food, "sometimes they can survive for a while when they are hungry." However, for several flights in August, the previous dinner was gone. Airlines provided snack meals containing a small amount of snacks and fruits at most, and more directly provided small snacks.
Mr. Chen told the upstream news reporters that the passenger flow of the Beijing Shanghai line has always been large, and even the discounted fares are relatively high. The new practice of full-service airlines (different from low-cost airlines, the fares usually include free checked baggage, free meals and broader conditions for returning and changing tickets) makes him unacceptable. "The tickets bought on the same day are basically full price tickets, and the fares rise year by year, Now it's almost 1500 yuan in economy class. I don't even give out a boxed lunch. "
A plane meal of five pieces of fruit and two snacks
The investigation of upstream journalists found that the situation of 'food shrinkage' is not a case. On the domestic frequent flyer Forum 'flying guest teahouse', many netizens reported that they only got snacks or snacks during dinner when taking China Eastern Airlines and Air China flights.
Some netizens reported that they took Air China flight ca1502 from Shanghai Hongqiao to the capital of Beijing at 11:55. Although it was a business class with a full price of 5810 yuan, the meal provided was only a sandwich.
Another netizen wrote that when he took the 3-hour and 5-minute flight from Shanghai to Kunming by China Eastern Airlines at 12:35 noon, although it was business class, he only got five pieces of fruit and two snacks. The upstream news reporter found on the official website of China Eastern Airlines that the full price of the business class of the flight from Shanghai to Kunming was 7630 yuan.
Relevant passengers told upstream news reporters that it was unclear why airlines would significantly 'shrink' in aviation meals. However, under the condition that the ticket price remains unchanged, they can not accept the substantial reduction of service content and quality.
Passenger Zhao Jian said, "the ticket prices of domestic airlines are becoming more and more expensive, but the service content and quality are getting closer and closer to low-cost airlines."
The airline responded by saying to ensure safety
Upstream news reporters noted that Air China responded on its official website to the shrinkage of on-board services reflected by netizens and passengers.
In an announcement issued on August 19, Air China said that 'affected by the characteristics of flight routes and thunderstorm seasons, in order to ensure safety to the greatest extent', Air China has adjusted the cabin service contents and service procedures of some routes. In addition to the adjustment of on-board service procedures, the adjustment of Air China also includes' only small bottles of bottled drinks on flights with an actual flight time of less than 70 minutes (inclusive) 'and' on flights with an actual flight time of more than 70 minutes and less than 120 minutes (inclusive), and it is confirmed after evaluation that it is impossible to complete the distribution and recovery of meals 40 minutes before landing, The type of meals will be reduced to one or use the presentation method of meals that do not need to be recycled ',' first class and business class meals will be adjusted to be provided all at one time ', etc
The upstream news reporter noted that the announcement of Air China did not disclose the details such as the implementation time of the "new catering deal".
Frequent injuries caused by bumps on the aircraft promote supervision and overweight
Relevant insiders told upstream journalists that many airlines reduced on-board services on the grounds of on-board safety in order to implement the relevant safety regulations of the Civil Aviation Administration. The Civil Aviation Administration has issued relevant regulations on "flight attendants shall not engage in work unrelated to safety 30 minutes after take-off and 30 minutes before landing". Since this summer, there have been incidents in which flight attendants and passengers have been injured due to bumps on board, which has prompted the Civil Aviation Administration to seriously implement this regulation again.
Senior captain Meng Bin said in an interview with upstream news reporters that during the take-off and landing of the aircraft, the aircraft changes the altitude, and the aircraft is at a low altitude, the air flow is chaotic, which is easy to cause turbulence. Therefore, the flight attendants need to start the service 30 minutes after take-off or complete the service process 30 minutes before landing.
For airlines' practice of reducing service content, Meng Bin said that the harsh safety brings the safety of passengers flying. " China's civil aviation is about to usher in the full record of no death in 108 months. The flight safety level of China's civil aviation ranks first in the world. This is the result of the harsh safety of civil aviation. "
Guangming commentator: is the 'shrinkage' of aircraft catering an 'accidental event'
Yesterday (August 26), some media reported that some passengers who often travel by plane reported that when they recently took domestic flights, whether in economy class or business class, the food quality and service content provided by airlines were seriously reduced, 'for the flight at 7:30 in the morning, they sent out a few packets of snacks to deal with', 'what they eat in business class is not enough to even plug their teeth'. Today, some media quoted a 'senior captain' as saying in response that the so-called 'shrinkage' of aircraft catering is an 'accidental event', which is an airline's consideration of safety and cost, so it 'should not be exaggerated'.
However, from the personal experience of more 'passengers who often travel by plane' around, the phenomenon of 'shrinkage' of on-board catering is not 'accidental' in the airlines referred to in the above report, but more in all flights not limited to the above airlines. Even, some flights don't even have 'several packets of snacks', only one packet of one inch square snacks. If 'shrinkage' is a new phenomenon, there seems to be something unconvincing for the reason of safety factors: obviously, before 'shrinkage', did all airlines not put safety in its due place? Is it true that once the airline company takes into account safety, the result can only be that the on-board catering must be 'shrunk'? Therefore, the 'shrinkage' of on-board catering is caused by the airline company out of cost considerations, which should be a positive solution.
Of course, it is not improper to consider the cost, let alone immoral and illegal. In fact, every airline should consider the cost and survive on the basis of cost control. However, how to control costs is not without principles, and the 'shrinkage' caused by controlling costs is not without direction. Here, first of all, it should be clear that the airline's on-board catering is certainly not free, but included in the ticket. Therefore, on-board catering is not the charity of airlines to on-board passengers, but the performance of the standard contract set by airlines. Without any explanation and without any compensation, the 'shrinkage' of on-board catering is undoubtedly equivalent to a disguised increase in the price of air tickets.
In other words, an airline can certainly not provide on-board catering out of the consideration of cost control, just like the airlines of other countries with air as the main mode of transportation. However, like these foreign airlines, the premise for doing so is that the market is fully competitive, the ticket price has reached the market equilibrium price, and it is also stated in advance that meals are not provided on the aircraft, so as to remind passengers who need meals or eat in advance at the airport, or prepare meals before boarding to eat on time during flight time. In fact, most of the airlines that do this tell the passengers whether to provide catering on board when they buy tickets. Some airlines ask the passengers whether they have the intention to reserve the catering provided by the airline company, and give the meal list options. They pay together with the ticket to change the on-board catering service into a paid service, Therefore, the cost of on-board catering is clearly marked and separated from the price of air tickets. However, it is also in this market that many airlines still carry out differentiated competition and provide passengers with high-quality catering as usual.
In the final analysis, the on-board catering service, which is not explicitly stated in advance, is provided as usual today and may 'occasionally' shrink 'tomorrow, lacks legitimacy for whatever reason - as mentioned above, unless there are very few cases, the reason for' safety 'cannot become an excuse for large-scale' shrinkage '- without compensation. And cost control can not be based on the premise that the airline violates the standard contract set by itself.
Providing on-board catering is of far more significance in China than foreign airlines. In some places where the airport is far from the urban area, people arrive at the airport 2 or 3 hours in advance according to the requirements of the airline, and must leave more time in advance. The high prices of catering services at Chinese airports make most passengers hungry. Those airlines that have been providing on-board catering services before the 'accident' have no safety accidents, and after the on-board catering 'shrinks', safety has become a problem, so that it is difficult to provide catering normally, so it is necessary to give passengers an explanation.