Start of another round of cost-cutting?

[ycp81]

Just flew on SQ economy, and apparently the beverage menu for economy has been "dumbed-down" starting from this month. Gone are the extensive list of cocktails (only stated as Singapore Sling and others) and other beverages. Is this the start of another round of cost-cutting in economy by gradually removing some of the beverage choices?

[pokfur]

Wow they really removed all the details of the alcoholic beverages! It used to at least tell you the grape variety of the wines, and I believe the brand of the liquors. I presume this was on a long-haul flight?

[zilchster]

Maybe they are trying to cut down the pages they use for their menus.

Perhaps they should just do away with the menus and load the meal options via IFE. Or as one of the forum members here highlighted on a Vietnam trip, show passengers laminated cards of the dish they are to get.

[SQ228]

The lengths they go to... One of those teas better be peppermint or something herbal or I will get cross

[Unionruler]

Maybe it is to increase differentiation with respect to the flailing PEY product

[ycp81]

In contrast, this was the beverage menu a couple of months back.

[itami]

The current PEY beverage menu is also similar to the condensed version of the Y beverage menu, except that there is an additional "Champagne" in the Alcoholic list.

[jul247]

Be like Malaysia Airlines: their crew will stick a paper in front of food cart, with big words, two languages, displaying meal choices. Drinks, see for yourself on the cart.

[GCHaviation]

Meanwhile in longhaul CX, each menu card are printed both side in Chinese and English without a drinks menu.

[wdranne]

It would appear that the bread rolls are now history and replaced by SFI-produced pre-packaged kaya buns on the Y class meals as part of the cost cutting too. Would be great if someone can confirm this!

[Short Final]

It would appear that the bread rolls are now history and replaced by SFI-produced pre-packaged kaya buns on the Y class meals as part of the cost cutting too. Would be great if someone can confirm this!

I am a bit confused. The bread rolls in Y before were also pre-packaged no? Also, if you are referring to kaya-filled buns, then those would cost *more*, not less, than regular rolls. Clarify, please?

[MAN Flyer]

They had no more ear plugs in JCL on SQ51 from MAN last week, despite there being empty seats in the cabin. That is poor.

[wdranne]

I am a bit confused. The bread rolls in Y before were also pre-packaged no? Also, if you are referring to kaya-filled buns, then those would cost *more*, not less, than regular rolls. Clarify, please?

Hi Short Final, I'm sorry I don't know the specifics such as the unit cost for the usual bread roll or the packaged kaya bun.

The typical bread roll used to come in a bag and is not individually wrapped. On most flights, it is catered to almost exact with only a few to spare. Which is why crew have to be really careful as to not drop a bread roll during service.

I can only hazard a guess that the typical bread roll is exclusively produced for SIA in the catering centres whereas the kaya bun is packaged and sealed (if anyone has seen the SAF night snack buns during your time in service, that's the exact same one) and can be produced in SFI's central kitchens/have a longer shelf life etc. Also, perhaps a response to the dropping of bread rolls part since its sealed.

Nevertheless, all in all, I don't think management would move towards providing a more expensive kind of bun at such a time. There should be some obvious cost savings behind every decision. A bun would perhaps be the least of priorities to be enhanced.

[pokfur]

Are you sure the Kaya bun isn't a SQ70 special just like the teh tarikh ice cream?

[SQ228]

Are you sure the Kaya bun isn't a SQ70 special just like the teh tarikh ice cream?

Yeah, that sounds more likely to me. I'm more of a specialist with European culture and food, but when I think kaya, I think Singapore. Apologies if I'm way off and naive, but I only know of it as a Singapore specialty.

The bread rolls flying from other ports are often quite different. It would have to be cheaper to load on regular bread rolls from a local catering division in Europe than fly over a supply of rolls to then integrate into the catering supplies for the return flight, surely?