I miss airline breakfast on plates with the little fork and knife. Yes, I miss airline food.

".....efficiencies that still meet our customers' expectations....."

Can you provide the market research that indicates that customer expectations are for reduced services at higher prices?

"We are looking at everything we need to do to offset fuel prices, which are still skyrocketing."

How about charging an appropriate amount for the ticket instead of monthly / weekly / daily changes to add-on fees for services that used to be included?

Man, this isn't even close to how US Despairways screwed over their flyers. If I had flown to Rome on there after they took out the entertainment systems and drinks, I would have gone insane, all in my spacious way too tiny seat.

This is getting ridiculous. What are they going to do next? Charge for seat belts? Oh, you want a cushion in your seat? That'll be $20. Armrests? $35. Seriously....

I'm flying to Europe this Spring. I wonder how much food I'll have to bring on board.

I can't get my .03 cent pack of minipretzels anymore? And Bigfoot wasn't real either? I'm having a very tough week.

@hank18: $20 to leave by the jetway, otherwise you have to climb down a rope dangling from the rear of the plane.

Taking away business class perks? Now that's just downright dispicable...

I'm going to have to start packing for flights like I pack for camping trips. Bring my own food and probably my own water filter. Just think about how much money airlines could save by switching to non-potable water. And then charging you for it!

@Con Seannery: Argh don't say things like that. I flew NY to London on Virgin; there's only so much iPod music, repeated shows, and staring at the colorful seats I could take, can't imagine US Dareways

Saturn won a decent market share with fixed pricing. It appealed to the millions of car owners who dread the car buying experience.

Saturn wasn't the cheapest car, and people paid more over cost than a decent negotiator would with a competing brand, but lots of people did it willingly to avoid the negotations hassle, and to know that the guy that pass on the street in the same car paid the same amount.

Some airline is going to offer one-price tickets. Everyone pays the same price, all ammenities included, everything spelled out upfront. You know that the guy in the seat next to you didn't get it for $200.00 less, and you know that you won't be suprised at check in with new charges you didn't budget for (Miss, you're wearing plaid, we have a Tartan Surchage, will that be cash or credit).

I will fly the airline that does this when / if it happens.

The major airlines have no incentive to perform to customer expectations, since they consider themselves beyond the reach of simple bankruptcy. They always know that their influence peddling on Capitol Hill will have bought them the security of the bailout. So why bother trying? Squeeze as much profit as you can, customers be damned!

If they were a legitimate business, we would allow all of them to fail as they should since their business models are unsustainable as currently implemented.

They should either raise prices for tickets, or close up shop.

Still skyrocketing fuel prices? Haven't those started to head down for the last couple of weeks at least?

1 - This is new? When I flew UA to Florida a few years ago...I recall buying a snack box on my return flight home...I don't recall free snacks...nor would I be very upset if they decided to stop.

2 - They still served "meals"? Wow...I would rather lick the seat than eat that shit.

Now, if they take away my free bloody mary mixer and/or coffee...well, I'll just drive myself everywhere. :-)

I wouldn't mind so much if their buy on board stuff actually had veg options. AA def doesn't have that option, mebe United will? It sux, because they don't have to be equitible. Yea traveling.

I actually want the airlines to add the "crying baby" surcharge. This will solve two problems: revenue and less noise.

@Sevarious: Dude, Flying is basically the equivalent to camping, except that you can't leave, so you better prepare well. You're stuck in the middle of nowhere, and you have no easy access to food or water.

Last time I flew, I brought trail mix, beef jerkey, fruit leather bars, and half a dozen protein bars. Past security, I picked up a liter of water as well. On top of that, I filled up on burgers at the terminal before taking off. I think that's just part of being a prepared traveler.

@IphtashuFitz That's hilarious! They'll demand $50 per passenger to start the engines, or everyone has to get out and push.

I always thought food service on airlines was kind of dumb. It seemed to be just something to kill time and give you something to do. I'd rather catch up on work or sleep and pay less for the ticket than be bothered with all the ruckus it causes to distribute meals in-flight.

I've made many short business flights where the drink service is comical because of the short flight time. Dallas/Austin/San Antonio/Houston routes are mostly under an hour. It's just not necessary but they all run around like crazy making people finish up their drinks they just got a few minutes before so they can prep for landing.

If you're on a flight that's 6 hours or more it is appropriate, but other than that if you're so delicate you can't go a few extra hours without food you probably shouldn't be on a plane anyway.

@SkokieGuy:

Delta tried it, or something very much like it. Called it Simplifare, if I remember correctly - they dropped to I believe four fares total, with very clear rules on each. It was a disaster (revenue took a dive), and they gave up in less than a year.

You said you'd fly that airline with all one fare. Really? Even if that fare was well above what a competitor was offering? You'd really pay $600 to fly LA-NYC when a competitor had the ticket at $400, just to know that there wasn't anyone else on the plane who was paying $300? No offense, but I very much doubt there are many of you.

So utterly sick of this constant nickel and diming game. Why doesn't some airline really go for it on the customer service front and even start providing the creature comforts for 'free' again. I'm happy to pay a reasonable cost for my tickets, I'm not a bargain basement flyer... I just want to enjoy traveling again. Virgin Atlantic did it in the 90's, that was the best coach service I've ever had and I'd use them all the time if it were an option.

I'm amazed that they're considering doing this in _business_. Those are pricey seats, occupied by valuable customers who actually give a darn about service.

One thing I'd like to mention - after Skybus, the
ultra-discount airline (I don't know how cheap their fares were - never got a chance to fly them) that charged extra for EVERYTHING - checked baggage, drinks, food, etc., shut down, most of the "full service/legacy" airlines either got ideas from their business model, or just decided that since there's no more Skybus to be compared to, we can start acting like them. Continental is among the few remaining legacy airlines that still gives out snacks (well, tiny bags of peanuts) and soft drinks at no charge and allows one free checked bag (I think). The "discount" airlines - Southwest, JetBlue & Airtran all come to mind - now provide MORE than American, US Airways & United (and maybe some of the other "full service/legacy" airlines I can't think of). "Discount" is now better than "full service" in the airline industry. Go figure.

Someone needs to do a study of two near-identical flights, one with free soft drinks and snacks, one without. In the week following, how many travelers went to the doctor's office feeling light-headed? A lot of air travelers are tight with a buck -- students, government / military / business travelers (many of us in coach) who don't want to spend money if they won't get a receipt needed for reimbursement.

The condition of those who are dehydrated or have low blood sugar as a result of not buying the food and drink is essentially an economic externality of United's business, just like pollution.

@JustThatGuy3: Yes I would pay $600.00 for a flight that the competing airline has listed at $400.00**

Competing airline, $400.00
**Taxes, airport fees, security fees $85.00
**1st bag $25.00
**2nd bag $50.00
**Water $4.00
**Snacks $4.00 /ea.
**No movie, no headphones, no blankets, no pillows, no seating upgrade.

Oh and if we don't sell enough high-revenue seats, or the flight isn't sold out, we might just cancel the flight to save money, but you won't know that till the very last minute and we'll blame it on 'weather' and not compensate you.

Passengers who insist on the lowest possible fare kinda lose the right to bitch about service, yes?

Do you expect the same level of service at a Kia dealership as you receive at Lexus?

Do you send back your burger at McDonalds if it is not properly 'medium rare'.

There is a percentage of disgusted flyers who are willing to pay more than the cheapest possible fare for a guarantee of a reasonble level of service.

And the comment of PDX909, right after mine means there are at least two of us right in this thread.

Isn't that what people are doing when they upgrade to business class or first class, paying more for a higher level of service?

So what happens if you bought a ticket before the 2nd? Especially business class, and you expect a meal? Are they going to go down the row "I need to check your ticket to see if you get food".

I remember flying business class Lufthansa, all you could drink booze (on a flight headed to a Muslim country, I was the only taker), a great meal with a menu, real silverware, a flight pack with eye shades, comfy socks, wet naps...this was as recent as 2 years ago

I flew on United from DC to London and back last week. I can assure you that this is not a new change. They haven't been serving anything I would call food for quite some time now. Fortunately, I planned ahead and stocked up on beef jerky and candy bars to sustain me through the trip.

I looked into chartering a jet for a family trip. It's costs about $3000 round trip and the jet seats up to 12. So that's $300 per person for a private plane with no baggage fees and decent meals for all.

@chiieddy: You won't have to bring any. You still get free food in coach on TATL flights ex-ORD or SFO/LAX.

@ceejeemcbeegee: Correction: it's about $3000 each way. But still, $600 isn't bad for a private plane.

@goodywitch: The Right Bite snack box on UA is the Veg option.

@ludwigk: You are a genius. I'm going to be flying a lot in a few months for job interviews and I've been dreading it. But with the power of trail mix and beef jerky it will be all the better. It will also make surviving being stuck in the plane for an extra 45 minutes before takeoff or landing that much easier.

@DemolitionMan: UA will still be offering free meals in business class except on Domestic 3 class airplanes (i.e. ORD-DEN, DEN-IAD, IAD-SFO/LAX where these aircraft often operate).

Meg your statement is a bit off above. In addition, the passenger in C class will get a free BoB option as well as free drinks. They just will no longer get a free hot meal.

Huh I flew United this pass weekend (3.5 hour flight) and didn't get any snacks. Thank goodness we packed our own.

Apparently, reducing payroll and bennies for upper management isn't the way to go to "offset the cost of fuel".

I wish their PR people would say it like it was: "..to offset fuel prices AND keep the CEO making millions."

I would consider any add-ons during the flight - meals, drinks, headphones - as part of the fare. So, in my view, if they're now charging for snacks they've already raised the fares.

I've gone on the assumption so far that the removal of complimentary food was on the shorter domestic flights. That I could begrudgingly understand. But I think its outrageous to pull those services from long haul flights. Even if they wanted to pull the meal service they at least need to provide some source of complimentary food or drink.

Those flights are simply too long to pull that crap: you're guaranteeing that everyone on board will at some stage during that long haul flight be required to pay up for food - So why not keep it right in the ticket?

This is America, "CEO making millions" is understood to be the last thing to go when a company goes bad. Anything else would be unAmerican.

I'm flying United next month, but it's an international flight to Japan. They usually serve food, and it's actually not so bad.

I wonder if it'll be pay for, since my ticket does say that 2 meals will be provided going and coming back.

Charging me just guarantees that I won't partake in it. It WILL save them money, since they can buy less pretzels.

I don't think for a second they're truly entertaining high hopes of people actually BUYING this 'value-added' food, certainly not in quantities enough to matter. But if they're buying less because misers like me won't shell out, then that's a cost-savings too.

It sucks that they are taking away a service that people have come to expect. However, a lot of people are acting like they are going to wither away if they do not get a full meal on their flight. How many hours is a cross country flight? 3? 4? The average person really can't go 4 hours without a full meal? Diabetics and others who have medical conditions are one thing, but most of us will be just fine if we don't get a full meal on the flight. If I'm going on a long trip, I usually pack a couple of snacks anyway, even if I think the airline might be serving a meal. What has happened in the past when people didn't like the options that the airline was serving? Did we have people dying of starvation on 3 out of 5 flights?

So they're not giving me a tiny pack of mini pretzels?! Whatever will I do! Those things MADE the flight for me and I just can't imagine flying without them.

Sarcasm aside, I met a recently ex United flight attendant and she had nothing good to say about the company. Disorganized and mismanaged from the bottom to the top, including almost no communication between departments that NEED to communicate. As an example, she was once flown from her home airport to another location to work a flight, but once she got there she found out that the flight had enough attendants (and had always had enough), so they had to fly her back same day, one the occasions they didn't fly her back same day, they had to pay for her hotel room. So because of non-communication they lost revenue for a seat on two flights (because paying customers are always bumped in lieu of attendants/pilots that need to be somewhere) AND paid for a hotel for the night. According to her this happened pretty frequently. She also said that your friendly flight attendants are making about $17k a year. No wonder they're so grumpy.

Maybe they wouldn't need to cut back on in flight amenities if they stopped hemorrhaging money from the inside out.

@SkokieGuy: Sounds good!

I wonder how long until the ban customers from bring their own food? i used to always travel with two small bottles of water, but the (*&^*^ TSA screwed that up for me, so now I buy over-priced airport water for the plane (hey, when I want water I don't want to wait an hour for the dang cart to come back around). If they ban my apples and cookies, I'm screwed. My buy on board snack purchasing experiences have been pretty disappointing--the same small portioned junk they used to give away for free, now with a $5 convenience fee. I'd rather have an apple.

@ceejeemcbeegee: I gotta be honest . . . unless you're flying from NYC to Jersey City, I'm having a difficult time believing that.

@SkokieGuy: Yeah, I'd pay the extra to make sure I didn't get hit with a bunch of extra and unknown fees at check in. A local Toyota dealer does the same thing as Saturn and we bought a new Corolla there and it was very easy and unstressful.

@ceejeemcbeegee: That's brilliant, can I steal that from you??

@ideagirl: You can still travel with thoes water bottles and fill them up AFTER security.

@ideagirl: Bringing your own food seems logical, but has problems.

You can't bring a beverage (bring empty bottle to fill or pay airport prices).

You have to bring non-perishble food (no yogurt, no cheese, no meat) since you have to get to the airport early, and your flight may be delayed

You can't bring too much food, since checked luggage is being charged for, your carryon will likely be more filled with 'stuff' you used to check.

When you travel, you will need to shop for your return flight food. To me, looking for a grocery store in Cancun to obtain non-perishable food to carry with me on my return flight is not my idea of a vacation. What do you do if you're on a cruise? Steal crackers from the buffet?

And for most people, it's not the loss of a bag of pretzels, its the relentless elimination of token amenities, and initiation of new fees instead of the appropriate raising of fares and upper level cost cutting (upper management, CEO salaries, etc.).