How to Build a Passenger Profile for Inflight Catering

A passenger profile is the institutional memory of your catering operation. It captures what your regulars want, what they can't eat, what they love, and what has gone wrong before — so that you don't have to rediscover it every time they fly. Experienced flight coordinators and flight attendants maintain these profiles religiously. Here's how to build one that's actually useful.

What a Passenger Profile Contains

A complete passenger profile has four categories of information:

1. Hard Requirements (Non-Negotiable)

• Confirmed allergens — with severity level (intolerance vs. anaphylactic)
• Religious dietary requirements (kosher, halal, Hindu vegetarian)
• Medical dietary requirements (diabetic diet, cardiac diet, renal diet)
• Foods they absolutely will not eat for any reason (not preference — categorical refusal)

These items are flagged as MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS in the profile. They are communicated to the caterer every single order, regardless of how many times they've been communicated before.

2. Strong Preferences

• Cuisine preferences (Japanese, Italian, French, etc.)
• Protein preferences (fish over meat, poultry preferred)
• Specific items they reliably love
• Specific items they consistently don't enjoy
• Meal time preferences (eat immediately on departure vs. delay service 30 minutes)

3. Beverage Profile

• Preferred water brand
• Coffee preferences (black, with milk, espresso, particular brand)
• Alcoholic preferences (wine varieties, spirit preferences, non-drinker)
• Non-alcoholic preferences (specific juices, sparkling water brands)

4. Service Style Preferences

• Formal plated service vs. casual board-style service
• Timing preferences relative to departure
• Privacy preferences during service
• Interaction level with flight attendant (conversational vs. minimal)

How to Collect Profile Information

The best time to collect profile information is before the first flight with a new principal or frequent passenger. A simple email or phone conversation framed as "I want to make sure your flights are exactly what you want" is almost always welcomed. Most passengers appreciate that their coordinator is being proactive — it demonstrates professionalism.

For passengers who are reluctant to fill out a form, collect the information experientially: observe what they eat and don't eat, ask the flight attendant for observations, and update the profile after each flight.

Maintaining the Profile

Profiles should be living documents. After each flight:

• Note any new preferences or rejections
• Update favorite items based on explicit positive feedback
• Flag any service elements that went wrong
• Confirm allergen list hasn't changed

An outdated profile is nearly as dangerous as no profile — a passenger who developed a new allergy since their profile was last updated won't be protected by stale profile data.

DFK and Passenger Profiles

DFK maintains passenger profiles for clients who establish account relationships with our team. When you order for a profile-registered passenger, our kitchen team has access to their history, preferences, and requirements — which speeds ordering and improves execution. Contact us to set up your account and register your regular passengers.