Thumbs Down

Manila Bay above and Laguna de Bay below



One of the nice things about traveling is the amenities one gets on board an airline. Especially when you’re in business class and first class, the amenities are an absolute delight ~ excellent wine and cuisine, marvelous service (so much pampering!), the multiple entertainment system, atbp. Because competition in the air travel industry is so fierce, the airlines try to out do one another with more and new amenities. They try to lure business class and first class passengers with their executive lounges at the airports, offering more luxurious facilities, superb cuisine, electronic devices geared for traveling business men, atbp. All of which are designed to make traveling as one would say ~ worth trip.
I’m so disappointed to another airline which I had the misfortune to taking recently on a trip to Australia. The airline used to be my favorite since I especially like their in-flight service and food… that is until, I took it to Australia in economy class.

Our flight was the very first in the morning, virtually at dawn, out of NAIA. Of course, I was expecting to get breakfast in flight. Dear, dear, talk about expectations! Evidently, there is a world of difference between business class and economy class on the airline.

What we got was a tuna sandwich in a bun, a macaroni salad and a choice of beverage –juice, soda, coffee or tea. The tuna in the sandwich evidently had been prepared the night before. It was dry, tasteless and had no mayonnaise or anything to ease our pain.
We had coffee which was okay except that…refills? Forget it. The attendants were nowhere in sight until it was time to collect the trays.
Our flight home was at the dinner hour. Dinner was…guess what?... a sandwich bun (same as breakfast) which stewardess said was “tuna” but tasteless suspiciously of canned sardines which I didn’t eat because I don’t like it. And yes, I didn’t bother to look for refills of my sprite.
Airlines have been cutting corners to reduce operation costs – and I don’t blame them. But I think economy class passengers also have right to a decent hot meal. Those fares aren’t exactly cheap, you know!