Is There Any Airline that supplies snacks or food on board?

[chris1gill]

I'm wondering from those who have flown various airlines recently could you report in on what food or snacks were served or what services provided?

We recently flew on American from Dallas to Maui, 8.5 hours... apparently American no longer serves snacks or meals on any domestic route, thus 8.5 hours with no food or snacks.... you could buy a wrap for 8.00 or snack box for 4.00, there was only one type of each product... There was music to listen to via their system if you had headphones.... same with a movie that was shown if you could see the screen and had your headphones.....

We flew from Boston to Dallas & again there was this snack service you could buy but there was no music or movie to be heard...

We flew from Maui to LA, there was no snack or sandwich to buy & same for the LA to Boston run, no snack or sandwich to buy...

To say that overall I was disappointed was an understatement....

I know Jetblue has seatback entertainment, but really what types of changes have occurred over the last year or so on other airlines?

 

[snowbunny]

Hi Chris, I've only been on JetBlue this year but we were served snacks on short-hop (1 hour) as well as longer flights (2 1/2 hours).

They aren't what the legacy airlines used to call "snacks" (sandwiches), they are snacks...choice of potato chips, cookies, chex mix type of thing. Choice of the usual drinks. I don't know whether they serve anything more substantial on longer flights. But like you I would expect to be served something on a coast to coast or Hawaii-mainland flight...

 

[ducklite]

Unless you are flying a long haul or first class, dont expect more than crackers or peanutes or such with a cup of soda on any flight.

US Air has a nice snack box of $6 or so that's a snack for two or a full meal for one.

Anne

 

[NotUrsula]

Most FF agree that of the US-based carriers, the one that still offers the most complimentary in-flight amenities is Continental. However, "most" is a relative term. The only domestic flights that get a complimentary full meal in coach are transcontinentals and the Hawaii route. They do offer fairly substantial complimentary munchies (sandwich, etc.) on most flights that are longer than 5 hours, but not all of them, so you need to pay attention when you book.

They still have pillows and blankets, and free entertainment on wide-body aircraft.

I happen to live in the middle of the US, geographically speaking, so unless I'm going over the water, I'm fine with brown-bagging it, especially if I can save a lot of money by carrying my own meal.

 

[snowy76]

We always pick up food on our way to the airport -- of course now you can't buy beverages until you're airside. It's a hassle but IMO I never liked the airline meals much anyway. I'd much rather bring a sub or salad with me.

 

[chris1gill]

Thanks everyone, looks like maybe I will look at Continental for our next Trans. Cont. flight... I would think 8.5 hours on a flight from Dallas would have gotten us SOMETHING, anything at all, but not a thing! We usually bring lunch with us on short flights, or when we are leaving from home.... but we'd spent the night before in a Dallas hotel, so no go on that one....

Anyhow, I was just looking at the Jet blue site... they serve Dunkin Donuts coffee and bags of a few different types of chips.... that's pretty good, so we'll keep them in mind too...

I think our days of traveling on American are O-V-E-R

 

[n2mm]

On our most recent flights on Ted we often get a tiny snack size bag of pretzels. The days of food on flights are long gone. We now bring our food and snacks with us. Several carriers were offering food for purchase on their flights. I think FlyI was one of them, but we know where they are now. I thought SONG was offering food for a price too, may can't remember since they left Dulles a couple of years ago...I miss them too.

 

[bavaria]

Most airlines do buy on board for economy class flyers. Even in the 'old' days when AA served food, I recall the fridge outside the door where one picked up a 'lunch bag' - invariably people didn't see the fridge or forget to collect their lunch, and went without.

Frankly, I PREFER it this way. After years of nasty airline meals I now have a choice - eat at the airport (and many airports do have a good selection), bring my own food, eat before I leave, or go with buy on board. United does a great box for $5 called 'Rite Bite' which has organic crackers, hummus, cheese, Toblerone, can of tuna, pita chips etc. (In first they serve warm nuts before takeoff, some form of meal, and ice cream sundaes with warm chocolate sauce..... )

If you want to see what is available before you fly, check out your airline's website.

 

[NotUrsula]

Any hotel that has a full-service restaurant should be able to create a box lunch for you, so that you can take it with you when you leave. I often do this when flying home from business conferences.

 

[bicker]

Also, you can pick up food at all the terminals where you make connections during a long flight.

 

[CarolA]

Considering that airline food is basically GROSS this is one "freebie" I don't miss LOL!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

We recently flew on American from Dallas to Maui, 8.5 hours... apparently American no longer serves snacks or meals on any domestic route, thus 8.5 hours with no food or snacks..

There was food available, you just had to pay for it.

If you really are that desperate to be served airline food, spring for business or first class; I assure you that you will get a meal on a flight from Dallas to Maui.

A cheaper alternative is to bring your own.

FYI - Food service information is provided on American's web site.

https://www.aa.com/content/travelInformation/duringFlight/dining/domesticMealService.jhtml

 

[TaraPA]

Flew USAir yesterday (2 hr flight) & they did have drinks & a snack - cashews & honey sesame sticks. You could buy a snack box for $4 I think which included 4 snack-size bags of chips, pretzels, etc.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

As a too frequent flyer, I can tell you that coach meals are nothing to mourn. In fact, I liked it when bringing your own food became the norm. Because I fly standby, sometimes the only remaining seats on a flight are in first class. Those meals are ok, but I still prefer to bring my own munchies.

 

[Dan Murphy]

If you are lucky enough to be able to use Midwest, check their food.....

http://www.midwestairlines.com/MAWeb/travelPlanner/customerExperience/menu.aspx

GREAT airline.

 

[paulmc80]

Generally, I only fly Continental or Delta From/To Hawaii and the continental U.S.A. In the coach cabin they both serve meals on those flights. Or at least they have on any of those flights I've flown.

 

[DebbieB]

I bought a $5 Caesar Chicken Sandwich on my LAX/PIT flight last Friday. It was much better than the sandwiches they used to have free. I noticed that they seemed to be selling. When they first came out with the $7 snack box that included a sandwich and a couple little side items, they didn't sell well.

 

[chris1gill]

I bought a $5 Caesar Chicken Sandwich on my LAX/PIT flight last Friday. It was much better than the sandwiches they used to have free. I noticed that they seemed to be selling. When they first came out with the $7 snack box that included a sandwich and a couple little side items, they didn't sell well.

Debbie, which airline were you on that sold the Caesar chicken sandwich?

I'll keep both Continental and Delta in mind for our future Hawaii trips (we go every year or so...)

We did purchase food on the Dallas to Maui run, but even though we paid for it, it still wasn't very good... they had one wrap variety & one snack box half filled with crap I didn't like...

Bringing food on board is only reasonable in some cases... after leaving Maui at 10:45pm, we arrived in the very early morning hours at LAX, we did eat there at 5:45am at the Starbucks, that was great... BUT, by the time we got that coffee/food & ate it, it was time to board the plane bound for Boston... and, there was no place in the terminal to get additional food for that trip. Similarly, we spent the night in Dallas & had breakfast the next morning... this is where we made our major mistake.... we should have taken the shuttle to the airport earlier so that we could have time to buy food to bring on board... unfortunately we didn't.... BIG mistake.... now we know! I don't mind paying for food on board, I just want it to be decent to eat!

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

I don't mind paying for food on board, I just want it to be decent to eat!

There are two places you should never count on decent food. Aircraft and Hospitals....

 

[TDC Nala]

I'd buy food or snacks in the airport and carry on. Or bring along nonperishable items like trail mix. Yeah, they charge more in the airport, but what ya gonna do.

As for the movie thing, that's why I now have a video Ipod.