‘Butter, Sugar and Crap’: Transportation Secretary Pushes Airlines to Drop Pretzels and Biscoffs [Roundup]

by Gary Leff

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • Along with telling people on Spirit Airlines how to dress, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wants airlines to stop serving cookies and pretzels in favor of healthier snacks. Does he realize he has a choice whether to eat them or not, and can bring his own snacks?

    “I would love some better snacks. I would love a little healthier snack on the airplane,” Duffy said …it would be much better “if I didn’t get the really fattening cookie full of butter, sugar and crap. Or that little snack pack of pretzels.”

  • Chase is surveying a premium Aeroplan card. The Air Canada portfolio seems like it should be pretty small – almost too small for Chase to care about! – but like the Hyatt card this one hits above its weight relative to the size of the program in the U.S. market. And their new Hyatt deal anticipates a premium card there as well.

  • Maybe he could focus on making airport shoe shines great again? Those shoe shine shops rarely seem staffed anymore. They’re where I used to get my shoes shined. Not a lot of options in Austin, at least that don’t require downtown parking and leaving shoes for a week. Now I look forward to shoe shines at better downtown hotels in large cities.

    Except…

  • United is making a huge investment in wine. They keep talking up their food investment, too, but I don’t know anyone that thinks they’re doing a great job in long haul business there.

  • Planes need to be cleaned between flights.

  • Airline not earning the fare they charged. Carriers advertise and sell premium products, then fall back on ‘we were just selling transportation and you got that’. Some say ‘what, did you want them to delay the flight?’ (1) They should have systematically addressed the problem earlier, such as overnight, and (2) if a passenger gets stuck with this they should be refunded with deep apology. Y’all think I’m crazy but I will continue to believe this.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Diehard libertarians can’t stand about the only sensible thing this Administration with regards to Americans’ health.

  3. Doesn’t Duffy have better things to do then rail against airtime snacks? Who does he think he is? RFK Jr.?

  4. @1990 – I’m sure they’ll use all the savings they got from killing off the EU261 equivalent to provide healthier snacks, right? Because that’s how capitalism works?

  7. I don’t think the Federal Government should have anything to do with airline snacks, but what is the deal with Biscoff cookies? Does anyone actually want these? I have never once in my life been offered a Biscoff cookie outside of an airplane. Nobody buys these. There are so many better cookies out there. Why does every airline give us Biscoffs?

  8. What does he think a healthier snack is in the USA?

    Apples? What a mess that would make on planes that are never cleaned.

    There are no healthy snacks in the USA. They are full of crap.

    Maybe they could install a bunch of air popped popcorn machines or a salad bar.

  10. People pay more for seats up front but the idea that they will get a premium product for the extra cash is just a crap shoot on USA airlines. Usually all they can expect is to have a good whine.

  11. The people who campaigned on getting the government out of personal choices like vaccines seem to have no problem telling people what to eat or when to take Tylenol.

    Tell you what, I’ll start caring about what I out in my body when they start worrying about what we allow to pollute our air and water.

  12. Butter is the least of problems in the snacks. Then again the butter being used is likely the processed pump machine kind not grass fed butter or any butter you use with bread. The bigger problems are seed oils and all the ingredients you can’t pronounce.

  13. I was on an Air France flight within Europe. Just under 2 hours. $65 one way fare. They served a small sandwich!

    On the bad side, they were strict about a 12 kg carry on limit (combined personal item and main bag) and assigned a seat with no option to choose without a fee. My bag was too heavy but I got it down to 11.8 kg by throwing out stuff, wearing a 2nd short and sweater, and stuffing my pockets with heavier items, like a laptop charger.

    Airlines can serve food and still survive

  14. If Duffy is looking for a prime target to ignore his job and become a dietary consultant then he should start by haranguing his boss to lay off the Big Macs and set an example.

  16. @Doug, not making a value judgment here, but the supermarket right down the street from me has a whole display of Biscoff products – cookies, spreads, etc. They’re more popular than you think.

  17. Dear Sean Duffy, May I suggest that the healthiness of snacks is something you should worry about much later, after solving the more important issues. They average number of flights per person per year in the US is less than one. The impact of healthier snacks on planes is therefore essentially zero. The healthiness of school meals or SNAP-bought food? Much more consequential (but not your department).

  18. Duffy should go back to his MTV days – maybe more appropriate for him. Too bad he has gotten too old and moldy.

    What a Buffoon!

  23. How about joyfully shoving those unhealthy snacks in one’s mouth and enjoying them instead of dropping them in the floor and grinding them into an already dirty carpet?

Comments are closed.