Why one airline is bucking the trend and reintroducing free meals in economy class
As the majority of airlines take free meals away from economy class passengers, one is bringing them back.
Industry downturns have led airlines, including British Airways, to make savings by reducing their complimentary food service for economy passengers on short-haul and some long-haul routes.
Economy passengers generally enjoy free food on long-haul flights from the UK but passengers in America are not so lucky. Thanks to customer demand however, Delta has announced that it will again start serving free food to all passengers on 12 long-haul routes in the next few weeks.
The American airline tested the service on routes between New York and California last year and found that customer-satisfaction scores were much higher on flights that provided meals.
Lisa Bauer, the airline's vice president of on-board services, said in an interview: "People appreciate not being nickel-and-dimed on these long flights. We believe this will be a competitive advantage."
Delta was previously among the first airlines to drop meals in economy class, in 2001, and all the other big US carriers folowed suit by 2010.
On the majority of domestic flights in America, economy passengers have to carry on food purchased in the airport, pay for food on board, or make do with airline pretzels and peanuts.
In January, BA stopped serving free food and drink on any of its short-haul services, partnering up with Marks and Spencer instead to supply sandwiches and snacks. Last summer, the national carrier also reduced its free meal service on long-haul economy flights of less than eight-and-a-half hours from two meals to one.
Many flights from the UK to the east coast of America, including New York, take between seven and eight hours while the journey to Toronto and Montreal in Canada is around seven hours.
Business (Club) and first-class passengers, however, will still be given free food and drink.
Budget airlines in the UK have traditionally been able to offer lower fares than their rivals partly because they never provided “frills”, such as free food.
The model appears to have been successful, with airlines such as BA moving towards the “no-frills” approach of budget carriers such as Ryanair and easyJet, and offering their economy passengers only the basic seat price.
Free meals are still the norm on most long-haul flights from the UK however, except on the newer routes offered by airlines advertising a budget long-haul service. Norwegian and WOW, for example, fly from the UK to the US for less than £200, but passengers much purchase food on board and pay extra for their checked luggage.
Norwegian recently announced plans to launch flights from Britain to the US for less than £60 – reducing its current prices by more than 50 per cent. The $69 (£56) one-way fares, which will be start in summer 2017, will be the cheapest transatlantic tickets on the market.
Atlanta-based Delta declined to say how much it will cost the airline to offer the meal service but said that even passengers paying the cheapest "basic economy" fare will get free meals. Options include a honey-maple breakfast sandwich, a turkey combo and a veggie wrap.
The airline said the service will start March 1 on flights between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and both Los Angeles and San Francisco.
It will expand on April 24 to ten more cross-country routes: JFK to Seattle, San Diego and Phoenix; between Boston and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle; Reagan Washington National Airport-Los Angeles; and between Seattle and Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.
