S. Huang

SQ being SQ, it's a loss of face for them if their meals look like something one can get from any roadside or convenience shop. As such, no matter how low quality their food actually is, they'd do everything to package it and market it so that it looks a bit more 'high class'. I understand that a about two years ago, they decided that it was too difficult for their crew to do a full snack service for 200 over pax on their 777s from SIN-PEN (of course it was also part of their cost cutting exercise). They engaged their subsidiary, Country Foods, to produce quick snacks such as meat pies, pittas, and even pre-packed chicken rice to be served on these short sectors. Country Foods came up with a beautiful looking package for these food in place of the standard tray service. Not sure whether this eventually took off. Anyone been on SQ's SIN-PEN flights lately to confirm this? As for cost cutting, I must say that SQ has a way of doing this quite subtly. Back in 2002...during and after SARS... SQ went on a major cost cutting exercise. They removed cheese and crackers from all meals, including main service such as Lunch and Dinner. They also removed the creamer from all trays, but passengers could ask for them if they needed it. This apparently saved them $$ substantially and prevented wastage. Passengers of course started complaining. As such, they were immediately reinstated once the airline started reaping reasonable profits again around 2004. That said, I must admit that MH's snekboks do look quite appealing in design... I can't say the same for its contents. But seriously, I would not use Sandwic... and use the standard English spelling instead. For the uninitiated, it really does look like a spelling error... which in turn leads one to assume a lack of professionalism as proper spellchecks were not done. Same goes with Air instead of water. For people who do not speak/understand Bahasa, they'd really be wondering why MH calls H2O air!? Even if MH is proud of their Malay heritage, they could perhaps make it more interesting for passengers by having little footnotes on their packaging to create greater awareness of the Malay language, then passengers could enjoy thirst quenching water and learn Bahasa at the same time!