Editing Court Line (section)

===="Seat-back" catering====
Court Line invented "seat-back" catering, a new concept that permitted a reduction in the amount of [[galley (kitchen)|galley]] space inside its aircraft's cabins. The extra space obtained was equivalent to three seats on the One-Eleven 400. This enabled it to increase [[airline seat|seating densities]] and reduce individual seat rates to allow tour operators to hold on to their market shares in a price-sensitive environment.<ref name="CourtLine_Profile2"/><ref>''High Risk: The Politics of the Air'', Thomson, A., Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1990, pp. 248/9</ref><ref name="Aircraft_37_8">''Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... COURT LINE)'', Vol 43, No 7, pp. 37/8, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, July 2010</ref>

The concept itself consisted of pre-packed meals or snacks – usually, [[Spam (food)|Spam]] salads out and sandwiches back<ref>''It was nice to fly with friends! The story of Air Europe.'', Simons, G.A., GMS Enterprises, Peterborough, 1999, pp. 21/2</ref> — loaded into a small, two-shelf compartment in the seat back in front of each passenger. The meal/snack for the outbound journey could be found in the top compartment, the one for the return trip in the lower section. The latter contained a pellet of dry ice placed under the plastic food container, thus preventing the food from spoiling. For the airline's [[flight attendant|cabin staff]], it eliminated handling trays while airborne and resulted in a reduction of their workload. To prevent outbound passengers from consuming meals intended for return passengers, locks needed to be installed on the lower compartment that could only be opened by cabin staff during the aircraft's turnaround at the destination airport (although these were not always effective at deterring determined passengers).<ref name="CourtLine_Profile3"/><ref name="Aircraft_37_8"/><ref>''High Risk: The Politics of the Air'', Thomson, A., Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1990, pp. 247/8</ref><ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/travel-pioneering-airlines-set-standards-that-todays-carriers--could-only-exceed-1090730.html Travel: Pioneering airlines set standards that today's carriers could only exceed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925014455/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/travel-pioneering-airlines-set-standards-that-todays-carriers--could-only-exceed-1090730.html |date=25 September 2015 }} The Independent, published 1995-05-01, accessed 2011-03-06</ref>

In addition to Court Line/Clarksons, [[GUS (retailer)|Great Universal Stores]] (GUS) subsidiary Global was a major proponent of "seat-back" catering among the UK's leading contemporary tour operators. It demanded that package holiday costs be driven down to the bare minimum by replacing the traditional meal service on holiday charter flights with something much cheaper that would simply give passengers "a slice of pie". Industry insiders referred to Global's new inflight catering concept as ''Global Pie''. The cost advantage industry leaders such as Court Line/Clarksons and Global gained over their rivals as a result of their onboard catering innovation eventually forced every other major UK charter airline to adopt "seat-back" catering on most flights serving short- and medium-haul IT destinations.<ref>''High Risk: The Politics of the Air'', Thomson, A., Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1990, p. 247</ref>