Paying for better food on an airline
 

I read recently about 2 airlines experimenting with the idea of providing more or alternative meals on flights such as cheese & crackers($3), a hot sandwich & chips($5), or chicken Kiev with salad & baked potato,vegetable & dessert($10). I realize some people feel you should get a decent meal to begin with, but for those flights that only provide a measly bland snack, I would be more than happy to pay a few bucks to get something substantial. Either that or bring your own food on board. Comments please.

I would definitely be willing to pay for whatever food they offer. Would this be as if the plane were a restaurant and they give you choices and different prices? That would be great. Most times, I hardly eat, only when flying to Europe do I enjoy having coffee and breakfast before landing.<BR>It would be worth it not to deal with the mess and smells of everybody bringing their favorite Linberger Cheese with Tuna sandwiches along:)

*Limburger*, named after Limburg, Belgium.

Thank you for correcting the spelling, Jonathon, nobody here could possibly understand what Lola was trying to state with that terribly misspelled word.<BR><BR>Here's another you can look up: douchebag

&quot;Where ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise.&quot;

Will we be expected to leave a tip?

heck no. $10 for airplane food? no way would it be worth it. I pack a lunch before i leave my house, or if i'm flying home, pick something up at a deli or supermarket. cheaper, fresher, and much much tastier.

When I read this article I was thinking about the times when you are pressed for time, you arrive late for a connecting flight, you have no time to pick up something to eat &amp; both flights offered very little or nothing at all. That's the time when it would be nice to pay for something substantial to eat instead of starving to death. I was looking at it purely from a last resort standpoint.

Gary - <BR><BR>&quot;starving to death&quot;? That's unlikely to happen even in the time it would take to fly halfway around the world.

American West was one involved in the experiment but I never heard the results. Did anyone else hear?

when do you not have time to make a peanut butter &amp; jelly sandwich and toss an apple into your briefcase/purse? 60 seconds of my time is better than eating food that's high in sodium, fat, and probably stale to boot.

<BR>Thank you Jonathan.<BR>So Linburger it is, it does still smell just as bad spelled that way, doesn't it?<BR><BR>

Traveller - well, I usually don't have time for what you suggest when I've been running around to business engagements and dinners and post-dinner tete-a-tetes all day for the fifth day in a row and I arrive back at my hotel - sans peanut butter, jelly, knife, bread, apple, or zip-lock bag - to fall asleep exhausted and wake up in the morning with just enough time to shower, dress, throw my stuff in my suitcase, check out, and grab a cab to the airport, thinking I'll get something there. Then there's some big holdup at check-in or security and I just make my plane, still foodless, for the 6.5-hour flight from NYC to LAX. If you're so organised that that never happens to you, great - but that doesn't mean that everyone is!

hahaha you people crack me up. I continually hear the complaints of terrible airline food......bland, high in sodium &amp; fat, and stale....da da da da da <BR><BR>Lets face it most of you probably eat 1/2 your meals at MacDonalds!!!! The airline meals are probably better quality than what you are used to eating at home or when you travel.<BR><BR>Does it make you feel like a highly sophisticated foodie to be sooooo critical? LMAO &lt;the inexperienced traveler is very easy to spot&gt;

You're right Mr Katz. It's funny that people complain so much, yet nearly everyone that I see who is offered a meal on the plane, even in economy, takes it. If so many people really packed their own food for the plane, the airlines would have stopped offering any meal service long ago. However, we all know what a pompous bunch Fodorites can be.

Lol, isn't it nice that we can give &quot;Dr Katz&quot;-that worldly man- about- town- traveler something to laugh about?<BR>Dr K-you seem to have taken this very personally, could it be that the truth is, you are the one that has no comparison to airline food, other than your nightly Burger King/McDonalds? <BR>Or are you one of those armchair travelers who read these boards, but really have no experience to back up any comments you might have?

The airlines can't manage their books. How could they run a kitchen on top of that? Greedy people at the top are using you and your money and all you want is a sandwich.?????<BR><BR>Let's settle for bringing our own lunches and seeing that security, training, preventative means &amp; measures are implemented.<BR><BR>I bring to eat nuts, edame (sp) fruits, soy milk, veggies, etc. My husband a subway style sandwich.<BR><BR>Drinks are free.

I find the whole process of distributing beverages and/or food on domestic flights to be very anoying. <BR><BR>Selling food on flights will just make the disturbance worse.<BR><BR> Keith

1.)We have no control over the airline industry - deal with it. 2.)I don't know too many travellers who have time to plan a meal to take onto the plane with them. 3.)This was a convenient OPTION they came up with. Nobody is sticking a gun to your head. 4.)What's the BIG deal. You don't want it,don't pay for it.

Privatizing the food would be a good idea. For example,Dunkin Donuts in the AM for coffee and muffins,Subway for lunch, and so on. Rent the space out to add revenue and save on production of meals.