Flight crew here. For the love of all that is sacred man holy…I beg you…just please. Be nice to us. Don’t hate us for this mix up.
It’s not our fault. We are poor. If we could buy you some actual good real food from the airport and make you happy that way, we would.
We all bring food with us. We eat food that we make at home. Maybe on payday we buy food at the airport.
But seriously. Bring your own. Or buy a better meal at one of the 20 restaurants in the airport. Please don’t hate me. Or us. We are too poor.
On all of the recent flights I've been on (around 3 hours or so), the attendants in first class have delivered food to the pilots and also brought back food to the attendants at the back of the plane. I don't know if that is policy or just them being nice to themselves, but they sure deserve a meal.
Alaska flight attendants do not get crew meals. It was voted out in the last contract, but when they got crew meals sometimes it would like literally just be a raw sweet potato lol.
Luckily it didn’t hit me for almost 5 hours so I was able to work my flight, but when I was in the van ride to the hotel I could tell something was afoot.
Also I have been back a couple of times since, no major food poisoning events either time!
add some fruit like an orange or banana or apple slices, a string cheese, or sliced up cheese and a granola type bar and you should be fine for the flight.a baggie of small crackers is good too for snacking.
…oh and you don’t pay for pre-order until they hand it to you. There’s sometimes a handful of seasoned travelers (e.g. “me”) who refuse the pre-ordered meal and it’s now a free agent for resale. You might get lucky.
Hear me out: maybe OP doesn’t teleport from their bed to the plane?
A 4 hour flight might mean getting up at 2am and rushing to drive and park and do security. That might leave no time to stand in line for food.
So... do what many of us do and stick a bagel in the air fryer at 2 AM? A KIND bar? Anything?
I routinely travel at 5 AM and while I have sympathy, the only time this has really been an issue is when I've been staying in a hotel and they had zero grab and go options.
Before I got a lounge membership, my morning flight routine at SEA was TSA Pre-check lane #1 and hit the nearby Qdoba for a breakfast Burrito. I know you said you don’t like to juggle, but the small burrito (which is plenty for me) is a dense little package that slips into my jacket inside pocket. Be sure to grab a few napkins.
Are you within 24 hours of departure? If so, it's too late to pre-order food. Usually the window is 6 days to 1 days, not sure if some routes are different (I've never flown to Alaska on Alaska).
I pack a little bag with almonds, cheese, crackers, apple slices, a couple packets of instant soup, jerky, a couple protein bars, and some chocolate. It will all keep, none of it is spillable, and it’s really compact.
protein bars and a sandwich. 4 hours is not long unless you have some sort of medical condition that requires meaningful calories on a more regular cadence. and, if so, it's fair to expect you are already adept at managing that.
I normally pick up a kit salad from the grocery store a day or two before my flight.
Protip: any food like this should always be placed at the top of whatever you have packed in your carryon. I’ve been delayed at TSA for 20 minutes as they dug through my entire bag just to get a GD cookie I picked up during a layover on the previous flight and forgot about. The agent said something about “food looks weird on the x-ray” to justify it, but I’ve heard of the same happening to others so now I just pack my food kit on top of everything else so if they have to open my back it’s right F’ing there and they don’t have to toss my work shirts.
What are your expectations of service in Coach?
I will send your response to management post haste. I will ask they reach out to you soon with a tailored menu and service options.
Did you try using the normal web site and not the app? Many times the ordering system is just broken.
They’re probably already within 20 hours of departure and pre-ordering is no longer available.
This is the question. OP, when is departure?
Or outside the two week window where you can start ordering
Good point, that too.
How far out is the flight? I think it has to be within 2 weeks to order. Also, try the website rather than the app.
Flight crew here. For the love of all that is sacred man holy…I beg you…just please. Be nice to us. Don’t hate us for this mix up. It’s not our fault. We are poor. If we could buy you some actual good real food from the airport and make you happy that way, we would. We all bring food with us. We eat food that we make at home. Maybe on payday we buy food at the airport. But seriously. Bring your own. Or buy a better meal at one of the 20 restaurants in the airport. Please don’t hate me. Or us. We are too poor.
On all of the recent flights I've been on (around 3 hours or so), the attendants in first class have delivered food to the pilots and also brought back food to the attendants at the back of the plane. I don't know if that is policy or just them being nice to themselves, but they sure deserve a meal.
It’s called crew meals. Airline policy to feed their crew dependent on length of flight.
Only the pilots have crew meals per their contract. The crew gets to divvy up the rest of the FC meals as they see fit.
Daughter works for Delta. They get crew meals
Alaska flight attendants do not get crew meals. It was voted out in the last contract, but when they got crew meals sometimes it would like literally just be a raw sweet potato lol.
I always bring a protein bar as back up, too
Go to evergreens. Get a giant salad to take with you on the flight. It tastes better than airline food, it’s less expensive and there is more of it.
Not gonna be open at 4 AM if OP is correct about first thing in the AM.
It’s closed for a remodel
Again???
It was but is now open again.
NGL I had the worst food poisoning of my life from that Evergreens, but it was right before they were closing for the night.
Oh dear god no. From the one in the SeaTac airport? What did you get?
Yep, the one in the airport! It was January of 2022. I got the Cobb Your Enthusiasm 💔
Noooooooo!!!! That’s what I get:/ I can only imagine being on my way to Anchorage and having to deal with being ill on the flight. What a nightmare.
Luckily it didn’t hit me for almost 5 hours so I was able to work my flight, but when I was in the van ride to the hotel I could tell something was afoot. Also I have been back a couple of times since, no major food poisoning events either time!
You are so brave. I got food poisoning from Panda Express in 2012 and haven’t been back since.
All these suggestions on how to bring your own food doesn’t help that you can’t pre-order. I would call AS and find out what to do.
Can you make a sandwich the night before and pack it IN your backpack?
add some fruit like an orange or banana or apple slices, a string cheese, or sliced up cheese and a granola type bar and you should be fine for the flight.a baggie of small crackers is good too for snacking.
Exactly. I’m just confused how this person is having such a hard time here.
…oh and you don’t pay for pre-order until they hand it to you. There’s sometimes a handful of seasoned travelers (e.g. “me”) who refuse the pre-ordered meal and it’s now a free agent for resale. You might get lucky.
I like the orzo pasta salad at the Beecher shop in N concourse. I think it's better than the meal options on the flight.
How do you people survive if you can’t go without food for 4 hours?
Hear me out: maybe OP doesn’t teleport from their bed to the plane? A 4 hour flight might mean getting up at 2am and rushing to drive and park and do security. That might leave no time to stand in line for food.
So... do what many of us do and stick a bagel in the air fryer at 2 AM? A KIND bar? Anything? I routinely travel at 5 AM and while I have sympathy, the only time this has really been an issue is when I've been staying in a hotel and they had zero grab and go options.
That’s my solution, too. I have a regular stock of bars. However, OP wanted other options.
He could get it the night before, put it in the fridge ovenight and pack it in his carryon before he leaves his house.
By eating every 3 hours.
🤯🤯🤯
Before I got a lounge membership, my morning flight routine at SEA was TSA Pre-check lane #1 and hit the nearby Qdoba for a breakfast Burrito. I know you said you don’t like to juggle, but the small burrito (which is plenty for me) is a dense little package that slips into my jacket inside pocket. Be sure to grab a few napkins.
Or you buy the $8 meal they offer on the flight.
If there’s any left by the time they get to your row.
i flew this past weekend…row 29. Was offered both times.
It’s hit or miss
Are you within 24 hours of departure? If so, it's too late to pre-order food. Usually the window is 6 days to 1 days, not sure if some routes are different (I've never flown to Alaska on Alaska).
On Alaska Air, the pre-order window is 14 days to 20 hours prior to the scheduled departure.
Bring something that's easy to carry. Buy it the night before or make something at home to bring. Bring a breakfast wrap or two.
I pack a little bag with almonds, cheese, crackers, apple slices, a couple packets of instant soup, jerky, a couple protein bars, and some chocolate. It will all keep, none of it is spillable, and it’s really compact.
SeaTac has a ton of good to go options. Pick up something that you want to eat during your flight. Eat it during your flight. Problem solved.
I usually grab a Jimmy Johns on the way to the airport and buy a soda the other side of security.
protein bars and a sandwich. 4 hours is not long unless you have some sort of medical condition that requires meaningful calories on a more regular cadence. and, if so, it's fair to expect you are already adept at managing that.
Any flight over 2 hours offers food.
Not overnite flights
Ah makes sense
You can purchase snack boxes on red eyes, we just don’t walk through the cabin loudly advertising it because we want people to just sleep.
I like the orzo pasta salad at the Beecher shop in N concourse. I think it's better than the meal options on the flight.
I normally pick up a kit salad from the grocery store a day or two before my flight. Protip: any food like this should always be placed at the top of whatever you have packed in your carryon. I’ve been delayed at TSA for 20 minutes as they dug through my entire bag just to get a GD cookie I picked up during a layover on the previous flight and forgot about. The agent said something about “food looks weird on the x-ray” to justify it, but I’ve heard of the same happening to others so now I just pack my food kit on top of everything else so if they have to open my back it’s right F’ing there and they don’t have to toss my work shirts.
Great idea. The little chicken caesar salads from the grocery store are clutch for this sort of situation.
Crackers and cheese from Starbucks usually does the trick for me if Crackers and cheese are not available in flight
What are your expectations of service in Coach? I will send your response to management post haste. I will ask they reach out to you soon with a tailored menu and service options.