The way flight attendants prepare food on the plane, it turns out there is a difference

On a flight, passengers may wonder how the cabin crew or flight attendants prepare food and drinks.

The reason is, the food and drinks served on the plane are varied and still warm.

For those who are curious about how flight attendants prepare food and drinks during flights, here is the information.

Food on the plane before the flight

The food that will be served to passengers during the flight, has previously been cooked and prepared by the catering team, quoted from Simple Flying , Saturday (18/6/2022).

Once ready, the food is refrigerated or frozen first. Then, the food is transported to the plane using atlas boxes or metal containers that fit in the plane's galley.

When the flight attendants are on the plane and the entire series of safety checks is complete, they will check to see if the numbers from the passenger and catering lists match. 

If the flight is a short distance, for example under 90 minutes, the cabin crew will heat food from the caterer to serve to passengers.

During the flight, it is generally the senior cabin crew who will prepare everything in the kitchen to save time. 

Please note that the kitchen on the plane is small. There are only two to four ovens available.

Then, there are also drink makers, food carts, and a simple bar with an atlas box stored on top. 

Because of the small size, the cabin crew working in the aircraft kitchen had enough difficulty moving back and forth.

In-flight food service

Usually when food service starts, cabin crew will provide special meals to people with diabetes, vegan passengers, and Asian passengers who eat halal food.

Then, new to passengers in general. They will enter the aisles at predetermined positions, depending on the contents of the food in the cart.

Meanwhile, at the back of the food cart is bar service. Passengers can drink while eating or after. 

For tea and coffee services, usually the flight attendants will use an empty cart or only carry a tray.

The empty cart can be used to load empty food from the passengers on the plane.

Service for long-haul flights that take up to five hours remains the same. Just plus the amount of service for the water or juice and the food. All adjusted to the length of the flight time.

Different menus and serving styles by class

In a flight, there are a number of classes, namely economy, premium economy, business, to first class. The existence of class differences also affects the way food is served to airplane passengers.

For example, in premium economy class, there are porcelain and glass tray arrangements with champagne (overseas flights).

For business class, there are a number of appetizers that will be served before the main meal.

First class service on planes is more luxurious because it is tailored to the wishes of the passengers. There is one crew working in the kitchen to prepare five star standard meals.

Food for passengers in first class is not heated, but is made according to passenger requests. Then, one more crew will be placed in the cabin to provide services to first class passengers.

Additional information is that for small aircraft types, such as the A320/B737, it turns out that there are two kitchens and four cabin crew.

The existing crew will serve about 180 meals during the flight to passengers.

For larger aircraft, there are four galleys with a crew of eight to ten. The food served reaches 350 to 400, so their task is quite heavy and tiring. 

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