Originally Posted by
pbarnette
I take it you didn't look at a clock?
Take the ATL flight, for example:
On the ATL-HNL leg, it leaves at 10:50 and takes under 10 hours. Assume you bring on a sandwich. As everyone that has ever brought lunch to school knows, you aren't going to die because your sandwich sits unrefrigerated for for the maybe 2 hours until lunch time. You will land at the equivalent of 8pm ATL time. Accordingly, I don't think it true that a) you "need" two meals plus snacks or b) that you are limited to non-perishables for the one meal that is probably needed.
Your post leaves out a lot and doesn't take other points into consideration:
- Many people connect to the ATL-HNL flight from elsewhere around the country, perhaps leaving their original destination as early as 6-7 AM. Factor in getting to the airport and this adds to the time any food is left out unrefrigerated if it needs to be and their layover may not be long enough (either due to the short connection or due to delays on their inbound) to permit getting food, even from one of the grab-n-go machines.
- Even for people who originate in ATL, two hours is on the low end of time. Most people probably arrive 1.5-2 hours early and yet still have to get to the airport as well. Of course they can also plan to get there early enough to grab something to eat, but they can also encounter delays en route to or at the airport (check-in, security, etc.).
- You also forgot to factor in time spent AFTER arriving in HNL but before being able to get food. While the flight may land in HNL at 8-9 pm ATL time, most people don't go straight to a restaurant from walking out through the aircraft door. Factor in waiting for bags and then catching a cab to Waikiki, you're looking at another 1 hour minimum - perhaps 2 if you're picking up a rental car - before you're at your hotel where you can then grab something of actual substance to eat. And similar to arriving in ATL for the ATL-HNL flight, this assumes you're not connecting on a short connection to an HA island hopper flight.
Originally Posted by
pbarnette
The HNL-ATL leg leaves at 16:02, so again, you have only maybe 3 hours until a normal dinner time, and can bring a sandwich or salad. You will land at the equivalent of roughly 01:00 HNL time. So, unless you can't make it through the night without hitting the fridge, you again have no need for MREs.
Again, you assume everyone is originating in HNL, and you also assume that people who are vacation have easy access to this stuff. And what you bring must be capable of passing agricultural inspection in HNL on the return, so a salad might be a little tougher to get through.
And of course, all of this factors into carry-on space and such as well. Perhaps you consider a PBJ sandwich, which admittedly would have no issues with perishability, enough to last you 10+ hours, but many others don't. The amount of food one needs to really consider a proper meal takes up a decent amount of room in a carry-on bag.