What Price Airline Meals?

"Would you pay $8.21 for a dinner on American Airlines? Or $3.14 for lunch on U.S. Airways? Or 23 cents for a bag of peanuts on Southwest? That’s what those airlines spent on each passenger for meals last year. And while cost isn’t always a measure of quality, it’s a pretty good indicator of how well you’ll fare when mealtime arrives.

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that the top spender among the 14 domestic lines I examined was Midwest Express. Its per-passenger cost of $10.40 was $2 above the figure for any other line. Next highest was American, at $8.21, followed by United at $7.58. American Trans Air, Continental and Northwest averaged around Alaska, Delta, TWA, and U.S. Airways spent a bit over Frontier and America West paid about $2, and AirTran and Southwest shelled out a measly quarter for the mini-snack they serve each passenger.

As you might expect, the airlines’ food cost varied with their average trip length; the longer the average trip, the higher the food expense. When I correlated average meal cost and average trip length for the 14 airlines, I found that Midwest Express spent a full $7 more than the average of the other six airlines with about the same average trip mileage. Average trip lengths for American, American Trans Air, Continental, Northwest and United were about the same; within that group, American and United outspent the others by almost $3. Similarly, at about the same trip length, Alaska, Delta, TWA and U.S. Airways significantly outspent America West and Frontier.

Of course, the reported figures are averages. Even on the top-spending lines, average per-passenger costs include some short-haul passengers who received no meal service. (Remember the definition of a statistician as someone who drowns while wading a river that averages 3 feet deep.) If you got a meal at all, it cost the airline more than the average figure—perhaps as much as double. And if you flew across the continent, your meal probably cost more than the meal you got flying from Chicago to New York. Also, those reported averages combine costs in both Coach and First Class, and the folks in the front of the cabin received meals that easily cost more than twice as much as those served in the rear...."

-Ed Perkins

www.smarterliving.com