Cathay Pacific plans 'choose before you fly' meal selection
By David Flynn, August 19 2014
Cathay Pacific will let passengers choose their inflight meals before setting foot on the plane next year, while paid-for 'meal upgrades' for economy class are also on the cards.
Those are two features of a new 'Catering Planner' system being developed for Cathay Pacific and its regional arm Dragonair for debut in 2015.
CX describes Catering Planner as a 'cloud based next-generation integrated catering solution' to replace the current catering system, which is managed using Microsoft Word and Excel.
“As competition in the airline industry continues to intensify, inflight services – in particular catering – will remain key differentiators which allow us to stand out from the competition,” says Aaron Claxton, Cathay Pacific's Manager of Catering Services.
The software will also improve the accuracy of meal order numbers by delivering the latest passenger counts to caterers, which should also help ensure that more of the most popular dishes are on board.
British Airways recently revealed plans for pre-flight meal ordering, while several airlines including Qantas, MAS and Singapore Airlines already let travellers choose their meal in advance.
Cathay Pacific has also confirmed that The Pier First Class lounge at Hong Kong will re-open in June 2015, and will be themed around the concept of a "luxury apartment".
Read more: Cathay Pacific's The Pier First Class lounge gets luxe apartment look
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
19 Aug 2014
Total posts 3
They are quite late to the game!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
30 May 2013
Total posts 372
Really? Paid-for meal upgrades for economy passengers seems pretty progressive to me.
Malaysia Airlines - Enrich
12 Oct 2012
Total posts 19
Malaysian has had paid meal upgrades in Economy for quite some time, called MHGourmet.
IMO they did not even need those, since their Y meals are already much better than CX, especially on long hauls. But nice to have the extra choice.
25 Sep 2013
Total posts 1245
CX is late to the game as far as pre-flight meal ordering in the premium cabins is concerned, particularly amongst the Asian airlines.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
22 Jul 2014
Total posts 25
C'mon CX catch up!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
19 Jun 2014
Total posts 8
The girl on the left in the picture is cute!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
13 Sep 2011
Total posts 181
They're both cute, but not really the point of the article. ;)
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