JFK-LHR PE - wot no dinner?

On the VS 154 from JFK to LHR in PE last week, I was surprised to find no hot dinner was served...!

It's an 8:30pm departure, so not particularly late in the evening. No menus were given out. I sat and looked forward to the usual choice of 3 hot things and then the trolley rolled up with cold sandwiches and a couple of bits of cheese! Served on PE china I must say, but the clingfilm-wrapped sandwiches were certainly sad.

It seems they have flipped the usual hot dinner, cold breakfast on this service, because breakfast turned out to be the 'main' hot meal of the flight: Full English or Cheese Omelette, with yogurt and fruit.

For as long as I can remember, these red-eyes always come with a main hot meal for dinner and then breakfast varies between big/small/hot/cold depending on whether times are good or tough

Anyway, I had eaten before the flight so there was really no problem other than a little disappointment, and perhaps research has shown that people prefer the meals arranged this way, but still, I thought I would share this recent 'enhancement'

there was a thread on flyertalk in August mentioning a trial but it was not confirmed.

So looks like it is a more permanant thing and possibly flight specific.

I think the issue is if people aren't warned about it. I 'm a dinner eater and often leave breakfast so if I was in PE I'd have been annoyed by this if it was just presented to me.

Interesting thread, thanks for sharing. Perhaps the fact that there was no menu indicates that it is still a trial? I really should have asked the CC about it.

I agree, it's about expectations. I'll send my feedback to VS.

For a departure at 8.30pm local time this really is pants. Most passengers would have arrived at the airport before 7pm, giving little time for an proper dinner before departure.

What if you arrived on a DL connection an hour before the VS flight?

I would kind of understand it for a departure nearer midnight, but prior to 9pm just smacks of penny pinching.

[mitchja]

Even if this is just a trial, pax should still be informed about this before they board, at the very latest at check-in

The trial has now finished.

So back to dinner and breakfast now.

I agree this should be disclosed to passengers, not only before the flight but even during the booking process.

That said, I have a BOS-LHR 9:50pm departure in PE in a couple of weeks. I’d prefer a quick dinner service so I can get to sleep on the relatively short overnight flight. My plan is to eat dinner in the AF lounge (I have a Priority Pass, but I might get into the CH as I’m DL Gold in VS’ system) and fall asleep as quickly as possible after boarding and skip the dinner service, whatever that is. The FAs serving of cold snacks is probably quicker and less likely to wake sleepers up.