Continental Airlines will stop offering free meals on domestic flights under six hours starting this fall. Passengers will be able to buy a meal at a still to be announced price. First class and busienss class passengers will still get free meals.

Yay?

quote:

On a Continental Airlines flight this summer from Newark to Seattle, a seatmate made a crack about the “mystery meat” in the complimentary in-flight meal. “Say what you want,” snapped the flight attendant, “Continental is the last airline serving free meals and soon they’re going bye-bye. I bet you’ll complain then, too.”

She was right about the complimentary meals. Starting Oct. 12, Continental, which recently merged with United, will sell buy-on-board meals on all domestic flights under six hours. Continental is the last major domestic airline to jettison free meals.

“What Continental served to coach passengers wasn’t exactly a four-course meal. It was more like a roll with a piece of meat,” said aviation expert Mike Boyd of Boyd Group International. “I won’t miss it. But now that the free meals are gone, I’m sure some people will complain.”

Moving away from free food, according to Jim Compton, Continental's chief marketing offer, is a reflection of “today's market and customer preference.” Eliminating complimentary meals will save the airline an estimated $35 million each year — not much when you consider an airline's success is measured in billions of dollars, but still significant in an era when every penny counts.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39...avel-business_travel

Doing that would presumably save them a bit of money per passenger.

It would also cause some reduction in the number of passengers.

I suppose they'd made estimates of the size of both effects and decided that the savings are worth the bad image they're creating.

Henry

I was surprised on my last couple of Continental flights when I was served a snack which was comprised of a small roll with turkey and lettuce, a package of baby carrots and a Kit-Kat bar. I wasn't expecting anything.