Air Canada’s Genius Meal Service Concept

Air Canada has a great solution for ensuring business class passengers receive their first meal choice while also offering something of value in economy class: generously cater flights and then sell the extra meals behind the curtain.

A Genius Meal Service Concept For Business And Economy Class On Air Canada

I was pleasantly surprised on my Air Canada economy class flight from Los Angeles to Vancouver to be offered a hot meal for purchase from business class. This is not widely advertised and I have not seen it covered in other travel blogs. In fact, flight attendants did not mention it and it is also not listed on the bistro menu.

But on my IFE screen I saw an entry in the in-flight menu simply marked “meals.”

The way it works is that business class passengers are served their meal and any leftovers are sold in economy class. Breakfast costs C$9.00 while lunch or dinner costs C$13.50.

A flight attendant explained the process to me and asked her colleague if there were any meals left on my flight. There was chicken leftover (Air Canada usually has a meat and pasta choice in business class), which I gladly purchased.

The meal is served without a side salad, bread, or dessert (as would be true in business class), but was still hearty and quite tasty.

While the ability to pre-reserve meals is the best option, I particularly like this concept because it helps to ensure that all business class passengers receive their first choice of meal. By loading extra dishes, passengers in the last row of business class will rarely have to deal with the annoyance of one of the two choices no longer being available.

CONCLUSION

Air Canada’s meals for purchase in economy class is a great concept. These hot entrees are reasonably priced and give economy class passengers the chance to purchase a hearty meal onboard (we don’t all have time to eat before or between flights). Furthermore, this concept ensures that business class passengers (almost) always receive their first choice of meal.

I’d love to see this spread to more carriers, including in the USA.