The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that United Airlines will no longer offer free snacks in coach starting September 2nd. They are also dropping complimentary meals in business class except for “premium transcontinental flights from San Francisco and Los Angeles to New York.” Shockingly, this move coincides with the airlines’ expansion of their “buy-on-board” food offerings, says the Chronicle.
The adjustments are outlined in an internal United Airlines memo that was distributed to flight attendants Monday and obtained by The Chronicle. The changes are all in the name of the “cost reduction and revenue-generating opportunities” United is focused on, the memo reads.
“In the wake of high fuel prices and a challenging economic environment, we must continue to examine every aspect of our business and find new ways to improve our day-to-day operations through efficiencies that still meet our customers’ expectations,” reads the memo, titled “Catering Changes Provide Value and Options.”
“These are difficult but necessary changes,” said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski, in Chicago. “We are looking at everything we need to do to offset fuel prices, which are still skyrocketing.”
The memo also says that United plans to do away with complementary meals from Washington D.C. to Europe.
“We’ll monitor customer feedback,” said Urbanski. “The industry is changing.”
Since they’re so interested, we think you should let them know how you feel about this change. Is “buy-on-board” food a good way to offset fuel costs without raising fares?
United Airlines to drop free snacks (Thanks, Ari!)
(Photo: So Cal Metro )
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I haven’t had a ‘free’ meal on a domestic flight since 1997. I think this is far less egregious than surreptitiously adding massive ‘convenience fees’ to ticketsm, as most of these airlines are starting to do.
How come they don’t mention any of this on their cool new Olympic commercials?
Doesn’t Continental still offer free “meals” on domestic flights? I recall flying in coach from Houston to San Francisco and getting a warm sandwich.
Also, (I wish they flew more places) Midwest Airlines would give you 2 warm cookies, and had very large comfy seats!
@SkokieGuy: People like you chase me away from these websites. I’m going to go watch some FoxNews and hang out with some hedgefund managers just to get the whine out of my ears.
Here’s an idea, make flying pleasant again. Slightly increase seat / leg room (especially leg room), charge for 1 regular (60-70″) checked bag, and ONE carry-on. Charge a bit more up front. The trick, make flying pleasant on your planes. People will pay for good customer service, and the ones that don’t well they deserve what they get. Nowadays you don’t even get a real choice unless you buy first class. I’m sorry, but even first-class is a joke nowadays and business-class is really a mockery of what it once was.
@Lightmatrix: My boss flies Continental and I think they still have something to that effect. He also gets infinite free upgrades because of his decade-long loyalty to the airline.
Hint- if you don’t like an airline’s policy, don’t fly them.
I have it outlined in my business travel that I only want Midwest Express (no middle seat) or NWA (because I have a pile o miles with them).
The information in the piece is worthwhile. It’s good to know airline policy. However, I don’t know how all these commenters are victims when they can just NOT FLY UNITED.
Are they still providing drinking water for free?
The answer to that question will determine if my reaction is “Sucks, but necessary”, or “DIE UNITED!”
Why don’t they allow you to pre-order stuff? That would be great. When I buy my ticket, I check off a box saying “Yes, I want the Flight Deluxe with unlimited soda and a light meal for only $18.50 more! Or the Flight Supreme with meal, snacks and 2 alcoholic beverages for $29.99!”
They’d also be able to better judge what they need to bring on board.
@Gannoc: Fabulous idea! My guess is that the airlines would love to do this, but when you have airline sites, partners, resellers (Orbitz, Travelocity, etc.) it’s hard to quickly ramp up to this. On the other hand a 2nd baggage fee can be implemented much quicker. So many industries accept this model as S.O.P.
i.e. – Do you want the 4 cylinder or 6 cylinder?
i.e. – Would you like fries with that?
i.e. – Do you need shirts and ties for your new suit?
In other words, upselling and add on sales are a long-standing and accepted sales technique, that is less offensive that finding out about last minute charges and changes to policies and services.
The big airlines are starting to model Southwest. But even Southwest will give you peanuts.
@SkokieGuy:
You’re mixing apples and oranges.
First question: standardized pricing. You said that you would fly an airline that had standardized pricing (i.e. everybody pays the same) vs. one where there was different pricing. I said there are very few people who would pay more _just to know that nobody else paid less._
To compare apples to apples, the service level has to be the same (and given that standard pricing cuts revenue and hence puts more pressure on costs, the standard pricing airline would likely have even _less_ service).
Second question: paying more for better service. I agree, there may be a market for a “premium economy” product, as there is for some international routes. Get another 5 inches of legroom, better/free food and wine, and pay 20-30% more than coach, but 1/2 as much as business. United has a little bit of this with their Economy Plus offering, which at least gets more legroom, and is included for full-fare coach passengers and status freq fliers, and is sometimes sold on the day of flight to regular passengers, if there’s space.
As
The way airline travel is getting, they might as well just scoop us up like that front loader from Soylent Green, dump us into the airplane, and seal us up. Those amenities they call “seats” and “seatbelts” are obviously just there to please FAA safety regulations. Fortunately since corporate America is slowly buying out US government we ought to see those safety regulations going out the door soon and then we get get on with being hauled out onto the tarmac with a front loader. At least if we’re sealed up like that I’ll probably be able to sneak some shampoo and mouthwash on board, finally.
@ceejeemcbeegee:
$3k round trip? That’s an incredibly low price, unless you’re only going 50 miles.
Netjets rates start at about $5k/hour+tax, and that’s for a 7 passenger jet. New York to Chicago round trip, for 7 passengers, would be about $23-25k. Even if you’re completely filling the plane, that’s still about $3500/person, which is well above the $1000-1500 a round trip first class ticket costs.
I just want to know how much they’ll be charging. Somehow I see them charging ridiculous prices, then creating a situation where passengers are forced to buy their food. Just wait for it…
@JustThatGuy3: Standardized pricing is just as much to insure that when a (person, business, family) budgets X dollars for an airline ticket and purchases the ticket, they are done. They have no need to monitor airline websites to keep abreast of constant changes.
Saturn proved that people will pay more than lowest possible price to obtain a car at a fair price (and avoid the price haggling game).
The airlines obviously don’t have to offer identical ammenities, but if know that airline A & B offer a fixed economy price with no add on fees (or a published menu of options as proposed above), I can compare their rates, the included ammenities and make an intelligent decision.
Currently, comparing fares is semi-meaningless without the drudgery of determining all the add-on costs, then monitoring any changes that may be implemented after purchase.
Leaving screen – pls. feel free to rip my ideas a new one.
@Canino: I always thought food service on airlines was kind of dumb.
If you’re flying <45 minute routes, then that makes sense, but consider that the vast majority of people are stuck on the airplane for at least two hours per hop – then look at the shrinking connection times, the dreadful food options at the airports, and the fact that flying used to be seomthing that people looked forward to, and it starts to make sense that the flying public is ticked off about losing more and more of what used to be included with the price simply because the airlines don’t have the balls to raise prices in the face of rising fuel costs.
I remember those times, and I’m in my mid-thirties. Have so many people gotten inured to the poor service and lack of options that it’s considered normal to suffer? No wonder the middle class is vanishing.
Flew to the US a year or so back from Manchester, England. Before this, I’d only ever been on package holidays (don’t get me started on Airtours or Going Places). I was flying BMI to Chicago O’Hare, then a US airline to Texas. Can’t remember which airline that was.
Tickets included two meals – was a 9 hour flight if I remember correctly. Not only did I get two bloody lovely meals, I got a shedload of complimentary booze (three small bottles of vodka and a half bottle of wine with each meal). The flight also had LOTS of movies, random TV shows (ended up watching the new series of Dr Who that I had already watched on BBC but liked hehe), games etc with a screen on the back of my seat. Oh, and snacks. Lots of snacks. The cabin crew were brilliant and it was a great flight going AND coming back three weeks later.
The internal flight was extremely different, but I don’t remember much of it – going to Texas I was sleeping off the drink, coming back I had stomach flu my friend’s son had picked up in daycare so I was dosed up on anti-nausea meds.
I do remember being delayed coming out of Chicago due to something going wrong at Manchester (Fog I was lead to believe heh), so I spent a few extra woozy hours there. But the flight back on BMI was just as great as the one going. If you’re going to the UK and can get tickets on BMI (British Midland International) DO IT. There were a LOT of happy return customers on that flight.
Here’s what you get by airline, in my experience.
-U.S. Airways: Older airplanes that are refurbished with paint rollers instead of actually cleaning the bulkheads and plastics. No food. Pay for drinks. Something of a roll of the dice when it comes to flying, but at least Phoenix has free WiFi.
-United: Aging international fleet and older domestic fleet. Has screwed over their workers several times since 9/11. Was bailed out by taxpayers at least once in the past ten years. Hubs are located in foggy, snowy and stormy places, so delays are common, but the airline does not seem to put customers first by holding unboarded flights.
-Southwest: Oddly, very little has changed on Southwest in the past twelve years. Still fun, still almost no frills, but now second behind Continental on features.
-Continental: Still serves hot meals in coach. New domestic fleet, new international fleet, hasn’t screwed its unions over, so the employees tend to be amuch happier than USA, United, and AA. Hubs are a mixed bag; Newark is delayed all the time, but GHWB Int’l isn’t bad. My airline of choice.
American Airlines: Seems determined to go down the same road United is, only faster.
@Inglix_the_Mad: Amen. This policy = suicide. There’s problems on both ends– American consumers want 1960′s service and 1990′s fares in 2008′s economy. It’s time for all of us to get real about how much things cost. It’s expensive to run an airline, especially with fuel prices skyrocketing. Those additional expenses have to be absorbed by the consumer. It’s not like the airlines are nickle and diming us as they roll around in piles of money– for the most part, they’re losing money every quarter. Lots of money.
But, on the other side of the same coin, airlines need to quit playing games with pricing. When the cost of operating a buisiness goes up, the prices should refelct that. Who do they think they’re kidding with all of the hidden fees and $300 fuel surcharges?! We’re not dumb. It all ends up being the same price in the end, so why not just offer the services and increase the base price? It would be refreshing to see an airline with that business model.
It’s infuriating for a customer to see a base fare of $300 advertised, and then to get a final price of $750 after the taxes and fuel surcharges have been tacked on. And then they know that when they get to the airport, they’re going to have to shell our money for a blanket, a pillow, a bottle of water, a checked bag, a window seat, a set of headphones, a meal… Why not just advertise a price of $900 and get it over with?!
I’ve traveled with nothing but carryons for years, and I see I now have to invest in a superlight travel blanket and pack some PB&J ahead of time. Got a travel pillow. Don’t care about their headphones. I will give them as little revenue as possible, b/c God knows I pay enough for the dang tickets.
@Fly Girl: Exactly what I was just about to say. If they made their pricing transparent, i.e., explained the fare based on the going rate of fuel, etc., then I don’t think anyone would complain. We’re not idiots. We know it costs a lot more to fill up a tank these days, and the tank in a 747 is slightly bigger than the tank in a Buick.
And for god’s sake, no more of this knee-jerk “Amtrak is 10x better!!!!” business. Even at hugely inflated prices, there are significant advantages of air travel over train travel. I priced out two Amtrak tickets from L.A. to Portland this year, and the fare was about the same as Delta. Except, of course, the trip takes 35 hours by train vs. 3 hours by plane.
@Fly Girl: Why not just advertise a price of $900 and get it over with?!
My guess… no one wants to be first. When you use Hotwire/Expedia/Kayak/et al. how often do you look beyond the first page or two of flights? If “your” airline is offering the same flight “correctly” priced and no other airline is, you’ll sell less tickets.
I haven’t flown since March and I don’t know that I can bear to, seeing as how that flight was on Quantas (LAX to Melbourne). I was in the very last row of the coach section of the plane, but the seats were huge, we had first-run movies plus tons of TV shows available onscreen in the seat in front of us, food was available throughout the flight, we got little eye masks and socks, and the flight attendants could not have been nicer or more attentive.
I guess I’ll see if Continental has a PHL to San Antonio flight this November for my next conference…Sigh.
Also, I think that the government needs to step in and do something. They could help out in a few areas:
-Mandate fair and honest pricing. Base fares are basically lies. “Taxes” (airport taxes, 9-11 security fees, etc…) on a domestic ticket are only about $30-$75 on a round trip ticket, depending on where you’re flying. “Taxes” (including immigration taxes) on an international ticket can be anywhere from $75-$300, depending on where you’re flying. So, if you see a base fare of $190 from San Francisco to Chicago advertised, common sense would dictate that the total for the ticket would be about $225, give or take some change. How did that ticket end up costing $350? Freakin’ fuel surcharges. I just don’t understand how that is legal. “FUEL” is something that should be taken into consideration when pricing tickets. Something that should be included in the BASE fare, not tacked on at the end.
-Luggage. I don’t think that passenggers are entitled two two bags at 50 pounds each. But I DO think that there should be a free bag alottment, especially when no liquids are allowed through the security checkpoints. Something reasonable, like one free bag at up to 30 pounds, should be mandated by the government.
-Food and Beverage. Should coach passengers be served steaks on China? No. But a standard should be established. Something like… ALL FLIGHTS: Free drinking water. FLIGHTS 2-4 HOURS IN LENGTH: Free drinking water and a free small snack. (Peanuts/pretzels/granola bar, etc…) FLIGHTS 4 HOURS PLUS: Free drinking water and one free hot meal for each five hours of flight time.
@blainer:
@ideagirl:
@blainer:
I’m just reiterating the quote I got a few days ago.
@ceejeemcbeegee: …and the distance you were flying for said family trip?
I think this is a great idea. Look, there’s no denying that fuel has gotten crazy expensive in the last year, and yeah, airlines use a ton of fuel to fly our fat asses around, so they’re obviously going to have to come up with ways to make up the difference. I far prefer the inconvenience of having to (gasp!) bring my own snack on board to being forced to pay a huge fee for my bag to be able to go on the flight with me. The former is two minutes extra that I have to manage to squeeze in at any of a thousand or so fast food stands, 7-11s, grocery stores, taco shops, etc. between my house and the airport, and that’s assuming I can’t possibly make the flight without eating along the way. The latter is a matter in which I usually wouldn’t have a choice.
Give and take, people. Get your own damn peanuts.
@DemolitionMan: Forget two years ago.
I flew to paris through aeromexico (to) and air paris (from) a couple months ago, and both ways, I got two hot meals (dinner/breakfast and lunch/dinner), a pillow, socks, earphones, free booze, eyecovers, and snacks.
The trip costed me about the same as what Continental and AA were charging. (5% more in one instance and negligible on another)
@SkokieGuy: I absolutely agree with you. I routinely choose to pay more (and I fly a lot) for better service, better options, better food, and all-around a pleasant experience.
This goes double for longer trips.
.
You simply cannot combine United’s nickel & dime approach with their legendary surly service.
It looks like it’s time to redeem all those miles and switch credit cards to some other loyalty program.
@DemolitionMan: Pretty much the same last month.
As far as I’m concerned, the less time the flight attendants spend blocking the aisle with that little cart, the better. I can’t remember the last time I had a meal on a domestic flight anyway, but I think it was 1996. At least now you have the OPTION of getting a meal on the airplane.
On my way from SEA to LAX a few days ago, I got a sandwich at the airport for which I paid about $9. On the plane they were selling them for $5. It’s not like Alaska airlines was giving out free sandwiches and then stopped. They simply added them to purchase.
Also, I don’t get all the complaining about charging for the second checked bag. Who on earth needs 2 bags for a domestic flight? Unless you’re moving somewhere, you don’t need that much stuff. I’m a girl and I take one little rolly bag with me on every single trip.
Here are my rules for traveling and so far I have yet to hit all the snags everyone here complains about:
- One small rolling bag to check plus one backpack carry-on. No purse.
- own headphones, neck pillow, two books, ipod, cash for in flight boozing
- comfy clothes and NEVER any belts, clasps, or jewelry (get your beeping ass out of my way!)
- chill at airport bar if there’s extra time.
- get on plane last. I knock off about 20 minutes of sitting on plane time by doing this.
This policy is going to kill paid business class.
What is the point in having a business class if the service is going to be the same as in Economy? Or is it that nobody is paying business class prices anymore and everyone is getting upgrades?
United have not had working laptop power in their business class seats for years either.
So all you get for paying twice as much (at least) is a bigger seat – which is not that much of an advantage over Economy Plus.
I don’t mind bringing my own food on board. But I do mind the fact that the concessions at Logan are not open in time to buy something before the 6am flights take off. Guess this means no more 6am flights.
I miss Greyhound. A better class of people.
Don’t be mistaken, there is food on board. You can get it from the walking vending machine (stewardess). I hope you like $20 peanuts and $5 dixie cup of recycled water from the storage tank.
When will airlines understand that if they want to charge luxury prices that they need to offer luxury? Next time I am taking a train, seriously.
No food…not even in business class!!!??? Thats like half the reason why I ever fly business class…cause you actually get to have half-decent food served to you.
That’s why when I book my flight to Berlin next year, I’m going to get every leg possible on Lufthansa. Looks like I might have to deal with United just for a short, hour long leg between STL and ORD.
@SkokieGuy:
You damn right.
Remember folks it’s not “nickle and diming” it’s “revenue generating”, isn’t it great how companies can make it sound like charging MORE money is a good thing.
I want one airline to just come out and give us 1960′s service and charge whatever the fark it costs.
I’m tired of being nickle and dimed…
The problem isn’t with the aircraft, it’s with the runways. While the number of planes in service has increased over the years, the number of runways has not kept up. Planes are forced to fly around, unable to land, burning fuel, waiting for a runway to be available.
@fuzzycuffs: Yeah, that’s pretty much the only reason I have to ever use United again. I’m planning a trip myself and United and ANA are the only planes that fly direct out of Dulles, and I don’t want to have to get off on the way back in, say, Denver, to go through Customs and get back on a plane. And I don’t want to pay twice as much for ANA, so I’m kinda stuck.
@jimmydeweasel: And far more head room.
Thank you, I’m here all week. Tip your waitress!
Just flew Delta from LAX-Tampa..
Going was a red-eye.. only 1 service for drinks and they have a small selection of free snacks.. cookies, crackers, peanuts.. then they have the upsell stuff like a cheese & fruit plate.. sandwiches etc..
on the return flight.. 7am.. they had some “brunch” items for sale.. which I did try a $4 crepe… that was a mistake
But as much crap that people give Delta.. they still have some freebies.
Also.. on the long flights like this they have the newly refurbished 737s with the new seats and entertainment.. so I got to watch the Olympics on my return flight ..
@Fly Girl: Why is it that only US airlines have a problem providing this? I say open up the American domestic market to foreign airlines; they seem to not have a problem providing decent service for a reasonable price.
I think that is completely ridiculous. The last time I flew was 3 yrs ago and all free smacks were pretzels and a soda. Both were really small. So if that is what they are trying to save money on by charging for those then they are in more trouble than they realize. Per person for those 2 items, plus 1 napkin, cup with 2 ice cubes would be about $1. 25 cents for the pretzels, 50 cents for the soda then 25 cents for the cost of the other items. When tickets are $450 you should get a full freaking meal for that price. If its the fuel cost theyre so worried about then they should tell the f-ing republicans to stop inflating the price because we all know if it wasn’t for Bush we’d all be driving around for about $2 a gal.
@SkokieGuy:
You can’t bring carrion because that’s also perishable.
Wait… oh, you meant “carry on”. Never mind then. Carry on!
@jamar0303:
Amen to this.
I had no problems with skybus doing this, because I was paying $10 for each leg of my flight.
For market rates, I expect a tiny free bag of peanuts or pretzels and 1/4 of a can of cola.
My problem with this is how many people mentioned bringing a bag of peanuts on board. One of my kids is a ‘peanut kid’, severely allergic. We didn’t have to worry too much when the airline itself provided (usually nut-free) snacks; there was little to no incentive for fliers to bring their own huge can of Planters on board. Now, they will.
I would like to state for the record that this policy is going to seriously fuck with people with bad food allergies.
@savvy999: Oooh, that sounds serious. Have you talked to your doctor about how dangerous it is for your kid to be out in public where people might be (gasp) eating food? How dare they have a peanut butter sandwich in public where an allergic person might be around.
I’m allergic to ninnies who think I need to circumscribe my life to allow for the vanishingly rare possibility that something perfectly normal that I do might have harmful consequences to people without the common sense to protect themselves.