Rama, Shach, and Taz all hold that a goy can be trusted bmokom mirsus for drabanans for the status of an item. R' Moshe just took a [basically] completely muskam din and applied it to CHS. The reason to be machmir by CHS is if the gzeira of CA was made not because of a sofek that it might not be cows milk, rather a geziera "bli ta'am" if you will. IE even if you have a way around it, it's still assur
You are being disingenuous (to put it very mildly). Mirsus might help for other Issurim, but there is a higher standard of Mirsus for Cholov Yisroel. I don’t know which Shach you have been learning, but I suggest you have a look at Shach YD 115:8, where he concludes that Mirsus is NOT sufficient, and a Yid must actually be
watching. With regards to Cholov, Chazal instituted that the Mirsus must be based on the fact that a Yid is in the vicinity of the milking process, and could easily “pop up” and
see exactly what is happening. A lesser form of Mirsus is insufficient.
OTOH, when it comes to chalav stam, the OU certifies products all the time that are not chalav yisrael and therefore not going to be as concerned with that.
I'm not sure what the cholov stam issue has to do with airline meals. As LAXtraveler pointed out, the OU gives a hechsher to cholov stam and cholov stam products. The fact that the"large segment of the community" that is machmir al pi R' Moshe and others won't be able to eat the airline meals with their hechsher is no more a concern to them than the fact that those people won't be able to eat any of their cholov stam products when they're on the ground. You can argue all day whether they should or should not be giving a hechsher on such products, but I don't think that's the same as this discussion.
As I have already said, I am not objecting to OU’s policy on giving a Hechsher to Chalav Stam in general. On the ground, the consumer has a choice. However, in the air, things are different. And it is unfair for the OU to disregard a large segment of the community, which are required – by Reb Moshe himself – to be stringent. Remember, on an airplane you can’t just pick yourself up and go to the local caterer of your choice.
You might argue that it's terrible of the airlines to use a caterer that uses cholov stam because they're excluding those who are makpid on cholov yisroel, but they won't care unless there is a big enough demand. And by the way, they are the ones making the financial decision by virtue of which caterer they choose. If one caterer is cholov stam and cheaper, and the airline chooses them over the more expensive cholov yisroel caterer, that's the airline's choice. To say that the OU is putting financial considerations over halachic ones on the basis of airline meals seems a little bit of a stretch.
That was exactly my point. The caterer is in the business for the money, so it doesn’t come as any great surprise that they are doing the cheapest thing, and they will not change their policy unless they get hit in the pocket. [And I am not suggesting that we hit them in the pocket.]
However, OU is supposed to be in the business of upholding Halacha, and putting that before financial considerations. And the fact that OU (as in, the Kashrus agency) took a (controversial) stand regarding Hamotzi / Mezonos shows that they are willing to venture into areas which have nothing to do with Kashrus at all. So, why not take a stand on an issue which is more relevant to Kashrus?
if it bothers you so much then just bring your own food on the plane and all these issues go away
Why don’t you try that out on a route like JFK-SYD, with a family of seven.
Or, maybe read what OU-Kosher has to say about this issue:
http://www.oukosher.org/index.php/common/article/ou_calls_on_domestic_airlines_to_provide_kosher_meals_snacks_for_sale_on_bo/Quote: "In an interview, Rabbi Safran noted that kosher flyers must prepare or purchase food before leaving for the airport, pass it through security where it is x-rayed, and bring it on board with the rest of their carry-on belongings, while non-kosher passengers have no such requirements."
it is up to the airlines which caterer they use so obviously they will go with the cheaper one esp when it is OU which is recognized by even non-jews as being kosher
That is the point. Non-Jews don’t know the difference. Therefore “OU which is recognized by even non-jews as being kosher” have a greater responsibility to ensure that their policies represent
standard norms of Kosher. Otherwise, non-Jewish service providers (in this case, airlines,) will just regard the customer as a jerk who likes complaining for the sake of complaining (and maybe for some compensation vouchers).
And, Cholov Yisroel
is a standard norm.