I graduated college in 1996 and earned elite status with United Airlines for the first time in 1997. The very first time I was upgraded was on a Los Angeles – Washington Dulles flight and lunch was served in courses. I had an almond dusted shrimp plate as an appetizer followed by a steak for my entree and then dessert.
Come spring 2001 United was making cutbacks in their inflight catering spend and I remember the controversy among frequent flyers over their ‘gourmet’ cheeseburger being served at lunch. It was a good and substantive burger, not like what customers think of as an onboard burger today.
Prior to the US Airways merger here was an American Airlines dinner served onboard the 919 mile Washington National – Miami flight.
That was before meal service on American was US Airways-ed in September 2014. Things got so bad the airline started investing a little more in its meals less than a year later. I stopped eating inflight.
After several cuts to meal service, in 2018 United Airlines tried to eliminate meals altogether on flights under 4 hours outside of dinner hours. They rolled that back after just two weeks.
- Airlines want to spend less on food
- But what if they’re missing a real revenue opportunity?
A dozen years ago American introduced the ability to pre-order meals in first class. You’re just pre-selecting what they’d otherwise have onboard and assuring you get your meal choice. Then they added the ability to choose ‘special meals’ and those were higher quality than the rest of American’s domestic meal service. I recommended the Muslim meal, before they removed protein from them. (These meals were worth it even if ordering one meant the government would think you’re a terrorist.)
Airlines are scrounging for revenue, United raised first checked bag prices before the pandemic and isn’t doing anything more for customers in return. Why not look for opportunities to earn more money in ways that also add more value?
Airlines should offer paid buy on board in first class. Let you pre-order a premium meal for extra money. That way airlines can make more money off of customers who may be best-positioned to pay, a better strategy perhaps than higher checked bag fees for infrequent leisure flyers traveling in coach.
I’d happily spend for a meal that was actually good on a 3 hour flight. The only worry is that airlines would cut ‘included’ meals even further. And that’s certainly possible, but doesn’t have to be the case and really how much worse could they get? American Airlines serves $1 shelf-stable pasta in first class.
I’d rather have a good meal that cost me something than what’s served today without extra cost. And U.S. airport caterers are clearly capable of pulling off good food. The food served on many Asian airlines, and on some European ones, can be quite delicious – even when the flights are departing the U.S.
ANA Ramen
Singapore Airlines Lobster Thermidor
Etihad salmon biryani
Singapore Airlines Dim Sum
This is logistically possible. Twelve years ago Austrian Airlines introduced paid pre-order meals in coach from caterer DO & CO at the 15 euro price point.
Czech Airlines offers paid meals even in economy which myriad choices as well as paid premium wines, such as Moët and Chandon Imperial Brut Rosé champagne. airBaltic has a good looking paid premium meal selection program as well.
It should be:
- easier to do this in first class with fewer passengers to manage
- possible to invest more in food at a lower price since customers would opt for this instead of a first class meal — the airline generates revenue and saves cost at the same time.
Raising more money for airlines by delivering a better product to customers is a better and more sustainable business model in a competitive industry than trying to charge more for the same or lesser product.
Do you agree – should airlines make this change? Would you buy a premium meal in domestic first class?
If a tiny airline like Czech or Air Baltic can do it, so can Delta or American. I’d rather have the meal Air France serves in business-class on a 1-hour flight between London and Paris than the meal served on a the 3-hour Delta domestic first-class flight.
If they did something like this, it would likely start off fine and eventually, through cost-cutting measures, devolve into paying for the same meal they serve for free today.
The issue is that if you did pre order BOB in first and had to switch flights due to irregular ops then it’s doubtful you’re meal would follow you. Then you’re forced to file for a refund.
The best idea is not to show up to the flight really hungry if you can help it.
“First Class Food On Airlines Is Terrible” – this is false. FC meals are quite good, on non-US carriers. US airlines don’t have FC and their biz offerings are subpar. But they didn’t used to be.
The American people are paying for front row seats and sitting in the bleachers on every deal. AeroMexico has better service and food between Reynosa and Mexico City a 500 mile flight than any American carrier.
The last real meal that I had on a flight was years ago with American Airlines from Houston to San Jose, (Economy seating). Speaking of Houston. If anyone happens to be in the city. Visit the 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport located in the old terminal building. You will be amazed to see how well passengers were treated in those days. It really was the Golden Age of Aviation.
Asif is off-base. Señor Leff wasn’t defending the idea of using special meal orders to profile and harass Muslim passengers. He was indicating that it could be done. Some Muslim passengers actually defaulted to ordering KSML because they were concerned the government would flag them as a Muslim extremist based on MSML orders.
I would not want to pay for a “first class” meal. I too have been flying all my life and do miss the good Ole days, but I do enjoy the selections available on AA and always preorder my meal. . If people are unhappy with the meal they can always eat in the terminal or bring their own and decline the airlines offerings.
As a frequent but not “elite” member of the community I find it a bit pretentious to complain about first class when those of us subsidizing your seats get a packet of stale pretzels and half a water.
I would pay for better options… I’m already paying more $$$ in the airport restaurants/bars because of this very reason because the food is so much better. I still will get the meal- in case it might be good- which to be fair does sometimes happen but usually not.
I do Agree with @Gary that having a paid offering which has value is smart (instead of charging for something that is already free). Also, 1st class passengers are more price insensitive as a rule, and obviously those who always pay for their travel (I’m now one of them as generally- but not always- you can usually get a 1st class upgrade for about $150-$200 more per out/in segment, or use a 1st class certificate) do make up about 50% of the seats in my experience, though it varies on short flights (much less), vs. longer flights (more people buying ahead of time).
Personally, I think the real opportunity is to exploit the traveler who is stuck in the donut hole of 1st vs. Private Jet. It’s amazing to me that the cost difference between 1st and Private is still thousands of dollars- ONE WAY. If AA or others would invest in different security lines and true concierge service (literally preboarding via a tarmac shuttle), then they would be on too something, IMO.
@View from the tail – more often than not the subsidy is working the other way around
Unless food quality were to improve in airline food domestically I would not pre-pay for a meal in first class. I agree with others that on foreign carries, even on short flights 1 hour and 25 minutes the food is far superior than what you get in the USA. I’d say the same applies for lounge food domestically as well.
@View from the tail – I picked a random route: ORD-LAX round trip, nonstop, in October on Tuesdays. The highest coach fare is $263 to get regular (non basic) Y plus a checked bag each way. The lowest F fare is $883. A row of 6 Ys pays ($263×6) $1578, and a row of F pays ($883×6) $3532. So, F pays more than two rows of Y, but don’t get twice the pitch.
The airlines do such a horrible job with food I think they should totally eliminate food in all classes and let people bring their own…even on international flights. Food handling at the catering services is abysmal, as indicated by the recent stale food on the international Delta flight that had to divert to JFK. I haven’t eaten airline food for 20 years and have survived just fine (and most of my travel has been business class international flights across the Pacific or first class domestic). Flight attendants tell me that 80% of staff don’t eat airline food either.
It’s not that US Airlines can’t provide true first class dining, they simply don’t want to. I remember flying AA first class from Miami to Paris in1999. The meal service included a caviar cart, a made to-order salad cart PRIOR to the main meal service. The arrival meal included made-to-order eggs for breakfast. Today’s AA looks nothing like the incredible “doing what we do best” AA did. Sad
Thanks for bringing this up.
After over 50 years of air travel, I have now decided to stop eating airplane food on domestic “first” class.
The last times, when I had pre-ordered a chicken containing dish, the chicken actually smelled like old meat with an extra touch of chemicals, probably from the tons of antibiotics the chicken they use get fed.
This is disgusting to a degree I cannot believe. There is no limit of price-gourging, lack of integrity, and recklessness. Next time I’ll take hard boiled eggs with onions from home and I’ll funk up the cabin as a revenge measure !! 😉
I pre paid for dinner on an Iceland Air flight from the USA to Scotland.
The app 25$ meal was tiny, was not very tasty and one leg it was not even heated up all the way (it was supposedly lasagna).. it was the same on the way back except it was properly heated.
Like my wife said, get stuffed at the airport before you leave. It’s expensive but at least it’s general good food
I’ll never buy a meal from an airline again
This is just the top us airlines. Jetblue for example are always good to great. I just took a 11pm red eye from CA to nyc and they still served a good meal. No business models for those 3 us airlines will be good long term. It will just eventually become a line item they can cut in service and quality but raise the price.
With hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, I think airlines should be able to serve first class meals without any extra charges. The first class and business fares are ample enough to enable the carrier to up the meal ante on their own without fleecing the customers more than they already are. I usually fly business class internationally and the food is pretty good even on the US airlines.
I cannot agree with the blanket statement that “first class meals are terrible.” I’ve had Crew Meals, with mystery meat, that I would put into the category, and definitely Economy meals, more mystery meat, but First Class meals . . . probably the worst was adequate. A friend once said to me, “this is the worst fish I’ve ever had.” I told him that’s because it was chicken.
Don’t forget to order a delicious meal when flying with LOT Polish airlines in Economy ( 10 to 12€, choose the Polish one)
I disagree on a couple of fronts.
First off, current airline food in first class is not uniformly awful. Yesterday my wife and I flew PDX-DFW on American and she had a vegetarian pasta with a sort of cheesy bechamel sauce. She loved it. I had a sort of madras curry chicken with very flavorful rice that was quite good. Both came with salads, warm bread, and dessert. We were extremely pleased.
Secondly I think that especially in first class, airlines really do have an obligation to serve you food, and not some awful gruel out of a Charles Dickens novel either but enjoyable food. We’re paying extra for the experience and that absolutely includes meals.