airline meals?

[nibot]

I notice on my United Airlines flight booking, it says on all of the flights: "meal: food to purchase". Does this mean that UAL has gone the way of Ryan Airlines in selling food instead of the usual meal service? I have to say, that rather sucks. I would have requested a different airline had I known...

Google reveals "most major airlines cut complimentary food in coach to reduce costs in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001." Really? There was meal service on American and British Airways over the summer...

(I actually like airline food. I think it's because I'm usually starving by the time it's served, and because the portions are small enough that I don't get tired of it. That, and food on European airlines isn't nearly as scary as that on American carriers... once on United there were green spiders in my salad!)

edit: BTW, anyone have a list of airlines with reciprocal frequent-flyer-mileage programs with United?

edit2: Anyone know anything about the airline ATA? I haven't heard of them before.

Comments

yes

[fanlain.livejournal.com]

the last few united flights i've flown were no meals unless purchased onboard. sometimes they give you snacks. i pack food with me in my carryon. for international flights i usually bring water b/c they never give u enough water and it's one of the few times i actually feel dehydrated.

i think they're afraid the food will blow up on you?

[baseballump.livejournal.com]

I was subjected to the "food for purchase" option on my flight to Chicago on Monday.
Chicken wrap: $7, salad: $7, Pringles chips: $2. It's cheaper to buy food at the airport and eat on the plane. Food for purchase is available on flights longer than 3 hours. On shorter flights they only serve beverages and peanuts. They serve "real" food on transatlantic and transpacific flights. On SAS the other day, we were given a cold breakfast instead of the normal hot breakfast, and you now have to pay for the headphones!

[janviere.livejournal.com]

I think they've cut nearly all meals on domestic flights, but have kept them for international flights.

I'm glad they've at least started warning customers that there will be no meals served. When I bought tickets to fly to Toronto, I was asked to select a meal preference by the Air Canada site, so, you know, it might be easy to infer that we would be served food. But the flight from SFO to Chicago was run by United, and there was no notice that there would be no food until they announced *on the plane* that they had "gourmet" meals for sale for $10 dollars or so. At least Air Canada fed me on the direct flight back home.

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

I've generally still had meals on cross-country flights, except for redeyes and flights by jetBlue. Although now that I think about it, that hasn't been very many flights. But jetBlue specifically advertises their lack of food, and makes up for it by giving you a choice between very yummy cookies, gourmet potato chips, and real animal crackers.

[baseballump.livejournal.com]

edit: BTW, anyone have a list of airlines with reciprocal frequent-flyer-mileage programs with United?

Are you flying United and planning to deposit the miles into another airline's FF program, or are you planning to fly with another airline and deposit the miles into your United FF account?

Look at: http://www.united.com/page/article/0,1360,1173,00.html

You can fly both Star Alliance airlines and partner airlines and earn miles to your United account, or you can fly United and credit the miles to the FF programs of Star Alliance or (most) partner airlines.

edit2: Anyone know anything about the airline ATA? I haven't heard of them before.

Cheap but pretty reliable. Not very good, not very bad...

[rebbyribs.livejournal.com]

I'm actually happy about the lack of airline meals - you don't have to pay for food unless you want to, whereas before you didn't have a choice - you paid for the food whether or not you wanted it or ate it. It's a bit overpriced, but not more so than food in airports. Last time I flew, P and I got a veggie wrap sandwich and some fruit and it was $6 each (because we shared both items) and there are still free pretzels and juice. Both of them were yummy, and the portions were pretty large.

Re:

[kaolinfire.livejournal.com]

Have ticket costs gone down any since they stopped giving "free" food (that you paid for in the price of your ticket?)

Re:

[rebbyribs.livejournal.com]

I don't think so. But United is usually the cheapest (or close to it) option for flying, and I'd prefer that to the food. I used to fly Southwest when it was cheaper, even though they don't give you food either.

Re:

[nibot.livejournal.com]

For some reason I just think it's more "elegant" to have complimentary meal service on flights. It seems "classy," whereas the Ryan Air experience feels "cheap."

[ephermata.livejournal.com]

ATA is a midwest regional airline with a hub in Chicago, maybe some other places. I've flown them, and it was about the usual airline experience. NOT to be confused with AirTran; they are *different* airlines. ATA also flies to Boston and a few other places.

Re:

[hyperionab.livejournal.com]

they offer great SFO-->EWR or JFK rates as well