/ / / / / / /

Continental Eliminates Free In-Flight Snacks!

March 4, 2011 at 11:57 AM | by | Comments (3)

Just last year Continental was still serving free food—as in real meals on a tray—in the back of the plane, but it looks like even the pretzels will now be eliminated from the in-flight service. Sure, they’re not filling and are hardly a meal replacement, but it kind of bums us out. They made the in-flight Diet Coke taste that much more refreshing!

As of March 1 the snacks were taken away from all coach passengers on most domestic and North American routes, and apparently that’s going to save the airline $2.5 million a year. We realize that’s a lot of money, but still, we’re not thrilled about the decision. Although we do understand that it’s probably more of a change to align themselves with United, who don't serve freebie foodstuffs either.

We all know that some of the smaller—and often friendlier—carriers still offer plenty of free snacks. JetBlue is obviously the standout, but among the legacy carriers only Delta is now still serving up an option of peanuts, pretzels, or Biscoff cookies on their flights. For now Delta claims they’re not changing anything anytime soon.

It’s not like we're going to avoid flying Continental—or United—in the future, as we’re growing used to the idea of B.Y.O.Snacks on shorter flights anyway. However, there’s just part of us that has a hard time letting go of the 35 calories of salty sustenance.

Related Stories:
· Continental: No More Free Pretzels in Economy Class [USA Today]
· Continental and United, uh, Unite with Their Newest Ad Campaign [Jaunted]
· Airline News coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of the past: kawanet]

Comments (3)

Post a Comment

Return to » Continental Eliminates Free In-Flight Snacks!


And the food went too...

Not only did Continental eliminate the snacks, they also pulled the Hawaii meal service. Even Newark to Honolulu (10+ hours) is food free. I wrote an article yesterday updating food service to Hawaii. http://beatofhawaii.com/packing-for-hawaii-bring-food-on-board/ Aloha, Jeff http://beatofhawaii.com
beatofhawaii com on March 4, 2011 at 2:20 PM #Permalink

Oh, WOW

Thanks, Jeff! It's horrendous that the 10+hour trip to Hawaii from EWR is food-free. They justify it because it's technically domestic, but there really needs to be some reconsidering on routes over 5 hours, I believe.
JetSetCD on March 4, 2011 at 5:31 PM #Permalink

so is this...

one of the changes that Jeff Smisek thinks I'm going to like? in all seriousness though, I'll take E+ over free pretzels any day!
hulagrrl210 on March 4, 2011 at 11:39 PM #Permalink

Return to » Continental Eliminates Free In-Flight Snacks!

Join the conversation!

Not a member? .
Use of this Site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (effective 3/21/12) and Privacy Policy (effective 3/21/12). © Condé Nast. Your California Privacy Rights. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.
Ad Choices