Doug’s World

Somebody up there is listening

Like most people, I have a few things I complain about over and over. And one of the things on my list lately has been the way they drag out the meal service in business class on long flights. I complained about this to Megan recently (again) on our trip to Africa.

It’s as if they are deliberately trying to fill up the hours. They bring you a drink, some warmed nuts, then an appetizer, some bread, a salad, the main course, dessert, an after-dinner drink, coffee, and then, FINALLY, they’ll actually clear your tray so you can get some work done. Some of the airlines even add fussy little touches like custom-making your salad at your seat, grinding pepper, or other time-consuming forms of entertainment. I’ve had some flights were I had a lot of work to do, and the best alternative is to eat something before the flight and skip the free meal, if you really want to make the first couple of hours count. In business class, eating the free meal means signing up for at least an hour of screwing around.

But tonight I’m flying Continental from Delhi to Newark (a 15-hour non-stop), and I found in their little menu the Executive Meal Plan: “If you should prefer more time to work or relax, we suggest this meal option, complete with appetizer salad and hot main course, presented all at once, whenever you wish.”

Yes! That’s how I’ve been able to get some blogging done on the personal blog for a change. I’m at Newark now, waiting for my 7:00AM flight to DC, and will post a couple of things from the flight …

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 at 2:32 am. You can subscribe to comments on this post through its RSS feed.