For airline caterers better in-flight service is just the ticket

These are tough times for airline caterers.

As airlines have reduced the number of flights on which meals will be served, caterers have struggled to find other ways to generate revenue. For example, Sky Chefs -- arguably the largest in-flight caterer in the world -- recently negotiated a contract with Morrison's Health Care Inc. to prepare patient meals in flight kitchens and ship them to Morrison accounts.

Michael Kay, chief executive of Sky Chefs, is convinced that airlines are hurting themselves when they eliminate meal flights. Kay has offered $1 million in food and labor to any airline willing to study what role foodservice plays -- and should play -- in passengers' decisions on which airlines to frequent.

Airlines apparently are willing to take Kay up on his offer. Six companies -- American, Delta, United, USAir, Northwest and America West -- submitted written proposals to Sky Chefs.

United, Delta and Northwest were selected to come to Arlington, Texas, to make their pitch to Sky Chefs. A decision on which carrier will be chosen could come from Sky Chefs this week.

"It probably will be into the fall before we really get started," said Sky Chefs' spokesman, Marty Heires. "We haven't set a timetable on the length of the test."

What Kay wants to prove is that food can sell seats. He will require the participating airline to choose heavily traveled routes, of two hours or less, that would generate media interest. The selected airline also must agree not to dilute the study by offering other promotions on the selected routes and be willing to share the study's results with the rest of the industry.

Even though there is evidence that some airlines may be reinstituting meal service on some short-haul flights, airlines generally are taking the attitude that schedules, on-time performance and frequent-flyer miles are the three driving forces behind most passengers' choices of airlines and flights.

I would agree with that supposition, adding that in many cases the choice of airline is made for a passenger. For example, when I fly out of Newark International Airport -- a Continental Airlines hub -- 80 percent of the time I find myself scheduled on a Continental flight. If you fly out of Pittsburgh, 86 percent of the time you will be on a USAir flight.

So I'm not convinced that offering a meal on a flight from New York to Chicago is going to make me choose one airline over another. Customer satisfaction, however, is another issue. Just because an airline can hold frequent-flyers hostage by virtue of their respective places of residence doesn't mean that it shouldn't show a little compassion to its passengers.

What I would like to see airlines and in-flight caterers work on is improved flexibility in foodservice. Airlines can reduce passenger grumbling by making each individual flight a separate case and being able to adjust foodservice accordingly.

If I am taking off from Newark at 2 p.m. on a Continental flight to Chicago, I don't need a meal. I most likely have just eaten lunch, and if I haven't, I still can survive until I land in Chicago less than two hours later.

However, if that same flight is delayed until 5 p.m. I think an in-flight dinner would be a welcome compensation.

In-flight caterers have the ability, through cookchill technology, to prepare and hold meals far in advance of service. Why don't the caterers work with their contracted carriers on contingency plans for meals?

Similarly, I'd like to see airlines have the ability to match appropriate meals to flight times. Recently, I flew on a United Airlines flight that was scheduled to leave at 8 a.m. from San Diego to New York. Unfortunately, the flight was delayed more than two and a half hours, and many waiting passengers took the time to go and eat breakfast in one or another of the airport restaurants.

By the time the meal was served on our flight, it was nearly noon. However, our meal choices were a cheese omelet or cold cereal because that was what had been loaded onto the aircraft.

That was not a flight that had been loaded and then held up by weather. We all knew when we arrived that the flight was being delayed. So why couldn't United work with its caterer to change the meal from breakfast to lunch?

There's a question for you to consider, Mr. Kay, when you embark on your customer survey. Passengers don't need food on every single flight they take. What they would appreciate is the right kind of food served at the right time.

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