New PE meal service

Hi all
Just wondering if anyone else has a view on the new PE meal service, and the fact that they have gone over to paper cups for the tea/coffee service after the meal. When I asked the cabin crew why as it cheapened the meal experience, were told it was because the tea/coffee was cooling down to quick in the china ones Seems that the drinks still stay hot in UC in china
Well will report back on thursdays VS019 LHR-SFO

Not quite. It's more to do with the weight of china cups.
As more important parts of the new presentation may be heavier, a trade off had to be made, as no airline wants to add weight to an aircraft, as it means more fuel usage. It's a very precise science.

[mitchja]

What exactly is 'Premium' about serving hot drinks in paper cups??????

Sorry but the weight issue is just a smoke screen. VS have plenty of other options for reducing weight (i.e. the new lighter cargo containers or lighter cabin carts, but they choose not to use these due to the higher costs involved)

It means you get a much larger cup of tea rather than a few sips and it's gone also less likely to spill as before you didn't get a saucer with the cup like upper do.

when the plane crashes the paper burns up rather than having china fly around hitting people...cant have PE customers getting hurt..................

What's happened to the good old melamine? Surely they are the best compromise.

We came back from Miami in PE on VS006 last Saturday - we left 45 minutes late, and there was no "drinks run" at all with dinner - only wine was available.

The tea/coffee came well after the trays had been cleared, but at least they are a good size.

And I do miss the cheese option, food was a little "skimpy" at best, tiny smoked salmon starter, and the beef main had two chunks of beef in thick gravy and 2 small herb dumplings with a slice of a dry apple/rhubarb tart for afters.

Not too impressed to be honest - I would rate it barely adequate.

Paper or China, the fact remains that the coffee is just awful.

They would do better to serve hot water with an instant sachet.

I thought I read somewhere about another coffee machine on board that could churn out a decent cup, but which is frequently hushed up by the CC? Or is that only for UC pax that are in the know?

If so, I'm tempted to ask on my flight to HK on Saturday.

thought I read somewhere that some physics made it impossible to boil water at 36000 feet hence why it tasted cack ??

thought I read somewhere that some physics made it impossible to boil water at 36000 feet hence why it tasted cack ??

Correct. the boiling point of water reduces at altitude. So if a cabin is presurised to say the 10,OOO feet level it will still boil at a lower temperature than at sea level.

Am sure there is a table somwehere that relates altitude and boiling point of water

at 10000 ft water boils at about 90c.

Hot enough for a cup of coffee I reckon.

I like the new meal service - the paper cups contain more coffee... and that is the most important part for me.... flying in VS4 last week to go straight back to work, I needed all the coffee in PE just to stay awake

I too like the paper cups, much bigger although the coffee I had on the return flight was vile!! I couldn't drink it and I am not really normally fussy with coffee. Definitely stick to tea from now on