I've heard of and have seen Domestic Airlines charging for alcohol. I used to be outraged, and have come to accept it. I recently flew Northwest from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Baltimore. The flight was about three hours. I did not expect, nor desire any food. I found out though, that first class was getting food, no big deal in any way. However, meals were available to those in coach, FOR 10 DOLLARS!!

I don't fly anywhere near as much as the lot of you, but charging 10 dollars CASH in flight for a meal? This is ridiculous. Any opinions?

I find this to be an absolutely normal practice. I would rather pay extra and get an actually nice meal in coach (luckily I have not been in coach for a while now, but from the commentaries of friend flying coach and purchasing the food the food is quite good) then having no meal at all.

Most airlines have done away with service free meals in coach, and if thats what they have to do to survive, let it be it. Continental and Midwest Express are the only ones left outthere that would still serve some kind of snack to coach pax on the longer routes (not to count something mysterious in those AA BAAgs and Delta's SkyDeli), and after I saw the free "cheeseburger" CO offered I wished they would just offer something else for sale.

Overall i find the sale of meals in coach to be absolutely appropriate on flights under 4 hours.

PS By the way, Northwest IS my favourite US airline, and I consistantly find them to be more customer friendly when compared to competition.

[This message has been edited by asnovici (edited 08-04-2003).]

[This message has been edited by asnovici (edited 08-04-2003).]

I haven't seen this yet, but I'm looking forward to it. IMHO the payed meals HAVE to be better than what has come to be known as food on NW or any other US airline I have flown. International is another story.

Northwest, like several competitors, is experimenting with sales of meals in coach on certain flights. If you did not expect or desire a meal, then why get outraged at Northwest's sale of meals for $10? Don't like it? Don't pay! Would you rather have a $10 meal charge built into your ticket (e.g. a more expensive ticket by $10) for a lousy sandwich or the equivalent or be given the freedom to eat at the aiport, bring your own meal on the plane, or pay on board if the selection sounds appetizing? I'd chose the latter any day of the week.

[This message has been edited by cAAl (edited 08-04-2003).]

If you don't want the meal, just don't buy it. Most other airlines don't offer anything at all on this 2 hour flight, so having an option to buy something is better then not having any choice at all.

Hey, Spinzels are still free :-).

Sounds good to me. I'd love to buy real food as opposed to free airline "food" that is complete garbage.

I was on such a NW flight ex-MSP last week. The $10 dinner salad looked better than the FC meal I got.

As a young kid, I still find it a tacky practice. I mean stewards and stewardesses walking around taking cash for food. I guess i fly too much long haul. It just seems cheap and innapropriate. As for the meal, it was the same that first class got, except you had to pay for it. It's like charging to use a pair of headsets like USAir did when i used them alot in 1996!

I don't know maybe i am reading too much into it and looking into symbolism or something. But I think it is a sad sad trend.

Jamoldo,

I dont really see what symbolism you are seeing in this, but as you may know, absolutely all major airlines with IFE are charging for headsets now (anywhere from $2 to $5 depending on the airline).

I certainly dont mind paying for GOOD food in coach, rather then having a choice of:
A) nothing
B) saggy fat greenish burger or a mystery meat in a wrap

Longhaul services still have food, just as you mentioned, so its alright as far as I am concerned. I dont see anything tacky in FAs going around the cabin taking money for food, its a service that airlines elected to provide for a fee, and you have a choice to take it or leave it.

Happy Travels!

[This message has been edited by asnovici (edited 08-05-2003).]

Jamoldo,

I'm with you on this. I expect my ticket price to include any meals, so being asked to pay extra is taking liberties. It strikes me that the US carriers are increasingly acting like LCC's (paying for alcohol, IFE), but at not the low price. Do they want to drive people onto the LCC's?

But just as a note - not all major airlines charge for IFE - it's virtually unknown outside the US (well, except on charter flights).

Sure it would be great if they still served a hot meal on every flight but those days are gone forever! I like having the option of buying a meal on board. I don't like having to cram a stale sandwich from the newspaper stand into my briefcase (if I remember as I'm dashing for the flight, and if the deli isn't sold out)or I don't eat all day!

Now, if only they'd serve some decent wine to go with it...

[This message has been edited by Ginger K (edited 08-05-2003).]

Not UA.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, Jamoldo.

Say, if you're a young kid now, what were you in 1996, a toddler?

Why are you so shocked that First Class gets free food and coach has the option of paying? It makes perfect sense to me.

------------------
"Where's my money?" -- Pizza the Hutt

I'm not at all shocked or appalled that first class gets food or anything. that was not my point. after all first class passengers pay a hell of a lot more money or have more miles, so thats no big deal. i just think it looks extremely tacky when you pay 200 bucks for a plane ticket to sit in cramped quarters, get lackluster service, and then you see stewards/stewardesses collecting cash for food/ife like streethawkers in a big city who sell fake/stolen merchandise.. ok ok, thats pretty bad, more like the hot dog/beer guys at sporting events.

yes yes economics, ive studied some basics. airlines are in trouble, need to cut costs, services blah blah blah. prices dont go down, service does though. its sad. ua does not charge for ife from what i remember. its sad that in america we are putting up with substandard services. we arent the only ones suffering.

that being said, i would rather get mcdonalds or burger king and take it aboard. might as well use someone like southwest where people are still cheerful...

Amtrak doesn't give you free food in coach.

Greyhound doesn't give you free food.

Like you said, baseball stadiums don't give you free food.

The only reason airlines were giving free food in coach for such a long time is that competition on price was not allowed for a long time, so they had to compete on service. People were used to getting free food in coach, so the idea stuck around for a long time.

Now it's gone, so airlines have finally joined the ranks of other venues who sell you food. It's not tacky. It's normalcy, replacing a convoluted market created by years of government price regulation.

------------------
"Where's my money?" -- Pizza the Hutt