I tell people that INITIALLY the swine-fly is why we got rid of them, but that the company has elected to NOT reinstate them. Something I've noticed is:

When we had pillows/blankets we were supposed to leave the bin open during boarding so pax would just take them because they were there... not necessarily because they needed them or wanted them and as a result they ended up not even being used and on the floor anyway.

My last 3-day pairing I noticed that out of the 12 or so FULL flights I worked, only about 4 passengers asked for blankets overall. So, if only 4 people are asking to me, that says the other 17 people who took them only did so "because they were there"...which is fine.. but it's still an interesting point.

We spend a bit more time on the phone with the pilots trying to perfect the cabin temp but it's not bad. I ALWAYS like having to offer people comfort items, however I am not a fan of unnecessary things that are wasted... and this seems it could have been one of them. Cleaning the planes is sooo much quicker now, and we have to check less luggage since previously we were trying to keep ONLY pillows and blankets in their own placarded bin for cleanliness reasons (which almost seems oxymoronic, but I sort of understood it).

At any rate....I'm sad to no longer have them for children and the elderly, but I'm glad to see they're no longer being wasted and resulting in excessive time spent cleaning/folding/etc. I would prefer that we sell CLEAN ones that pax can keep... or for a very reasonable fare we could hand CLEAN ones out on request... and then reclaim and have them laundered.