Reject the Muffin and cookie breakfast petition!

I flew with First Coice in June departing around 10am and they turned out a reasonable cooked breakfast including sausage bacon scramberlers mushrooms and a hash brown wasnt bad in fact probably the best breakfast i have at 32000ft[8D]

Hello...there seems to be lots of confusion about what is offered for breakfast onboard. So since im an FSM I'm in a good position to tell you the facts:

Inbound LAS,LAX,SFO,MIA,MCO in Economy and Premium:
Hot Egg and Cheese Bagel OR
Hot Ham, egg and cheese muffin
Also a cereal bar with above, with your choice of OJ/Tea/Coffee
Premium also have choice of fresh fruit bowl

Inbound All Caribbean Flights in Economy and Premium:
Hot Bacon Roll OR
Hot Egg and cheese Roll
Also a cereal bar/muffin with above, with your choice of OJ/Tea/Coffee
Premium also have choice of fresh fruit bowl

Inbound JNB,CPT,HKG in Economy and Premium:
Hot english breakfast OR
Hot Vegi breakfast
Served on a tray usually with yoghurt,OJ and a pastry item
Premium also have choice of fresh fruit bowl

Inbound JFK,EWR,IAD,ORD in Economy and Premium:
Cold breakfast items: W receive choice of 2 items, Y receive 1.
Normally cereal bar,muffin,biscuits etc. All served with OJ/tea/coffee.
Premium also have choice of fresh fruit bowl and a hot baked cookie.

Hope this helps to clear up any confusion!

Excellent news vscss. Certainly my return from UVF in PE in July was sans anything hot. Looks like VS have responded with a new menu!

If its any consolation for PAX in Y please remember that the breakfast up front really isnt that good either[:$] so take comfort from that, and remember we may have paid £3-4000 for it[:w].

Albeit the CH & revivals does make rather a tasty cooked breakfast with fresh vanilla coffee[}:)].

[HighFlyer]

Thanks for the official scoop, vscss. I have not always been offered the items you have listed though, is this new? As per McMaddog, when we flew to UVF is was still the cerreal bar and cookie, and the fruit bowl does not always come round. [:(]

Thanks,
Sarah

Got to agree with McMaddog and Highflyer, everytime i have flown back from the Caribbean there has never been anything hot offered!!!

Is this a new breakfast menu or is it a case of this is what should be offered but VS can use the excuse of not being able to source the food locally if it doesnt appear?

If it is new then at bloody last, VS might just be listening.

Have to agree also - I flew back from BGI in PE at the end of June and was only offered cold items. It was literally cereal bar or muffin. There wasn't even any fruit left as this had been raided for UC.

[Neil]

Certainly the 'supposed' offerings don't sound bad at all. Only the East Coast flights should get the snack type breakfast, which considering how short a flight it usually is and the time of landing, I think it is about right.

I just hope that VS do serve what they should and it doesn't become (or stay) another one of VS's 'luck of the draw' type inconsistent services.

Neil

[Scrooge]

So it looks like we are either dealing with a new menu or VS inconsistency....again...

Just to confirm this is a NEW change to onboard menus as of Sept'08.
You WILL be offered the above on all listed flights.
Yes Virgin have took note of both pax and crew feedback on the breakfast service.

Also from 23rd Sept this service will have a more polished look:
A fictitious sky line design based on iconic buildings from many of our destinations will be applied to cups, napkins and sugar sachets.

If the fruit bowl does not come round in premium for some reason, please ask for it. Or speak to the FSM, im always interested in pax feedback!!

Originally posted by vscss
Just to confirm this is a NEW change to onboard menus as of Sept'08.
You WILL be offered the above on all listed flights.
Yes Virgin have took note of both pax and crew feedback on the breakfast service.

Also from 23rd Sept this service will have a more polished look:
A fictitious sky line design based on iconic buildings from many of our destinations will be applied to cups, napkins and sugar sachets.

If the fruit bowl does not come round in premium for some reason, please ask for it. Or speak to the FSM, im always interested in pax feedback!!

So, on returns from JFK a cupocoffee and a warm bap with something gooey rather than a miserable rabbit-fare / not worth a W-ticket muesli bar with be offered? This is fantastic news vscss - I am absolutely heartened by this change and that VS has listened. All credit to the people in Crawley for not sticking their heads up their b**s [y].

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by slinky09

Originally posted by vscss
Just to confirm this is a NEW change to onboard menus as of Sept'08.
You WILL be offered the above on all listed flights.
Yes Virgin have took note of both pax and crew feedback on the breakfast service.

Also from 23rd Sept this service will have a more polished look:
A fictitious sky line design based on iconic buildings from many of our destinations will be applied to cups, napkins and sugar sachets.

If the fruit bowl does not come round in premium for some reason, please ask for it. Or speak to the FSM, im always interested in pax feedback!!

So, on returns from JFK a cupocoffee and a warm bap with something gooey rather than a miserable rabbit-fare / not worth a W-ticket muesli bar with be offered? This is fantastic news vscss - I am absolutely heartened by this change and that VS has listened. All credit to the people in Crawley for not sticking their heads up their b**s [y].

Yes it is good news, however I would say it was a credit to the people in Crawley for REMOVING said head from said bums as offering a granola bar in the first place is a clear sign that said head WERE stuck up said b**s in the first place.

VSCSS thanks for clarifying that, I must say that is very welcome to see VS responding to feedback, just a shame it has taken so damn long. To be fair the standards of food on flights should never have dropped so low in the first place.

I hope whoever pushed the original ideas to reduce food standards now receives a nice big size 11 up their backside!!![}:)]

Originally posted by slinky09


So, on returns from JFK a cupocoffee and a warm bap with something gooey rather than a miserable rabbit-fare / not worth a W-ticket muesli bar with be offered? This is fantastic news vscss - I am absolutely heartened by this change and that VS has listened. All credit to the people in Crawley for not sticking their heads up their b**s .

Please read my previous post on here with the revised menu's to stop any further confusion...EWR,JFK,IAD,ORD will not get any new hot breakfast items. I just wanted to clear that up b4 u have a go at the crew on these flights!!

Originally posted by vscss

Originally posted by slinky09


So, on returns from JFK a cupocoffee and a warm bap with something gooey rather than a miserable rabbit-fare / not worth a W-ticket muesli bar with be offered? This is fantastic news vscss - I am absolutely heartened by this change and that VS has listened. All credit to the people in Crawley for not sticking their heads up their b**s .

Please read my previous post on here with the revised menu's to stop any further confusion...EWR,JFK,IAD,ORD will not get any new hot breakfast items. I just wanted to clear that up b4 u have a go at the crew on these flights!!

Thanks for the clarification - I am sorry then to take back my comments, VS keep your heads up your b**s on this one. What riles me, is that I often travel PE at W fares, so up to £2k and then am offered cheap crap for a breakfast snack when I often have to head into town straightaway for work. It's an item of the PE service that is so way out of whack with the rest of it.

An edit to add, it's even as if the damned lights aren't turned on so early as to allow time for an improved service!

Something more sustainable is very much desired when paying through the nose [n].

BTW I do not know where this refrain about having a go at the crew comes from, I don't and I certainly don't associate these decisions with crew members. It's the bean counter idiots in Crawley that need spanking [:w].

What does suprise me is that east coast routes are actually mostly business routes and just like the two tiered services that LHR and LGW bring up again and again, i would have thought these routes would have got the above morning menu, especially in PE. Odd decision that me thinks, little things like that would make me shop around im affraid, if reguarly travelling on business.

cheers
alex[:D]

I equally cannot see any logic behind this other than corner-cutting. But NYC - London has got to be one, if not THE most competitive routes on the planet, and VS are not going to win punters over at the end of a long red-eye flight with a cereal bar and the smell of bacon wafting down from UC.

To put it into perspective: I flew last year on an overnight flight from Tenerife to Stanstead on Thomson (I'm not proud, I needed a break) and THEY managed to serve up a hot breakfast, and a hot supper to boot.

VSCSS - do I gather from your comments that you get flak from the pax over this? If so, my sympathies - you shouldn't be getting put in that situation by the creepies at Crawley.

[HighFlyer]

Have to agree with both previous posters. While the east coast flights are not long in duration, they will have a large number of business travellers onboard who are heading straight into the city or into meetings and not all of them will be in Upper Class. The option of a decent breakfast really should be there. I for one cant stomach a sweet cereal bar or cookie for breakfast, favouring something savoury.

I'd also agree that most of us V-Flyers would not blame the crew for the breakfast choices, but many will express our dissatisfaction in the hope that you can feed back on our behalf.

Thanks,
Sarah

Originally posted by Badhorsey
I equally cannot see any logic behind this other than corner-cutting. But NYC - London has got to be one, if not THE most competitive routes on the planet, and VS are not going to win punters over at the end of a long red-eye flight

5 and half hours on a good night, 6 on a bad, is hardly a long red-eye flight [:0]. Especially when you had supper about 4 hours earlier. Given the plethora of breakfast outlets at Canary Wharf (Birley's, Starbucks, Pret, Costa, EAT, PAUL etc) and in the City I would much prefer something from there rather than a lame offering from VS.

To be fair I was disgusted by the 'hot' offering on my way back from MCO in the summer. It is clear the product is heated in the wrapper which causes it to have that disgusting sweaty feeling to it. Then you open it up and are presented with something akin to a McDonalds breakfast gone wrong.

Surely the Corn Flakes/milk combo that I have seen on other carriers and in Esso would work much better and would not require the use of the ovens.

Personally I would prefer that over some unrecognisable cooked offering with cheap Bacon and very, very runny scrambled egg.

I wonder if, on the late evening flights ex-JFK/EWR/IAD/BOS, the better thing to do would be to serve drinks and a light cold supper (e.g. sandwiches or salads) after departure, and instead make the breakfast service the main hot meal on the flight?

The way I look at it is that most people will have checked in a couple of hours before the flight, and they will have eaten dinner in the airport (or at least had the option to).

I believe that this is how AC cater the YHZ-LHR flight, because it leaves so late in the evening, and has a very short sector time.

The thing to educate people on there is that they don't expect a full meal after departure, just supper. Right now, most people are in the mindset of getting on a long haul flight and being fed a main meal straight away. Breaking people out of that would be the challenge.

I also echo willd's comments about 'sweaty' breakfast rolls.

I know it probably feels to some as though some of us don't think VS can get anything right, but that's not the case. They can. It maybe needs a little more thought, that's all.

Mike

Originally posted by mike-smashing
I wonder if, on the late evening flights ex-JFK/EWR/IAD/BOS, the better thing to do would be to serve drinks and a light cold supper (e.g. sandwiches or salads) after departure, and instead make the breakfast service the main hot meal on the flight?

Mike

Thats a great idea[y] most people have at least had the chance to eat in the terminal, so giving a decent brekky would seem much appreciated to those going onward straight into the city, or anywhere actually!
Having no breakfast like this, i would imagine would be a real turn off for non VS PAX thinking who to send employees or indeed themselves with in the following year, as having no brekky is proven to affect performance.[:?]

cheers
alex[:D]

Originally posted by mike-smashing
The thing to educate people on there is that they don't expect a full meal after departure, just supper. Right now, most people are in the mindset of getting on a long haul flight and being fed a main meal straight away. Breaking people out of that would be the challenge.

This would be smart - like you say, they'd have to know. Isn't this sort of what happens on some daytime eastbound flights? Quick bfst when you leave, then lunch later in the flight?

How about in PE offering coffee, OJ and a bacon roll in a serviette thingy, easy to dole out, easy on the cost, easy on the prep since it happens anyway in UC?

we flew PE earlier this month and had a choice of bacon roll or cheese/egg roll.
I was impressed as when I smelled the bacon I assumed it was for the UC pax as we usually get that delicious muffin when flying PE!!

Originally posted by willd5 and half hours on a good night, 6 on a bad, is hardly a long red-eye flight [:0]. Especially when you had supper about 4 hours earlier. Given the plethora of breakfast outlets at Canary Wharf (Birley's, Starbucks, Pret, Costa, EAT, PAUL etc) and in the City I would much prefer something from there rather than a lame offering from VS.

True, but what about the economy pax who make up the majority of the flight? Many of these will be not be business travellers and a fair few are returning from a special holiday, and this just cheapens the experience.

Whilst I agree that a six hour flight isn't long for a hardened road warrior, it's a fair old jaunt for someone who's not that used to long haul!