selling food on flights

Now here's a new wrinkle. Many jokes exist on the quality of foods provided on flights. Will this become a gourmet's delight?

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Airline to sell food on flights
Thu May 29, 7:02 AM ET Add Top Stories - USA TODAY to My Yahoo!


Barbara De Lollis USA TODAY

US Airways will sell food on all domestic flights longer than two hours this summer, becoming the first major airline to adopt what could become the next trend in airline service.


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Passenger food -- joke fodder when airlines gave it away -- is now being sold on small numbers of test flights by almost every major airline.


But instead of soggy casseroles and mystery meat entrees, airlines are selling chocolate chip cookies and gourmet-style sandwiches -- such as honey-baked ham with Swiss cheese on ciabatta, a kind of Italian bread, and roasted chicken with smoked gouda on challah, a traditional Jewish bread.


US Airways is expected to announce today that it will sell such meals on about 360 daily flights, a third of its domestic schedule.


It's selling food on 56 daily flights out of Washington Reagan National and Pittsburgh. The program will expand next month to Charlotte and Philadelphia flights and on July 1 to the rest of US Airways' flights longer than 700 miles.


''I just think it makes sense,'' says Sherry Hendry, US Airways' vice president in charge of in-flight services. ''It's been very favorable to the customer. It is giving them options to have a last-minute choice on board the aircraft.''

US Airways wouldn't give more details of its plan. It now offers a $7 breakfast and a $10 lunch/dinner option developed with Einstein Bros. bagel chain and LSG Sky Chefs, the world's largest airline caterer.

Airlines started experimenting with selling food on flights earlier this year to save money. Midwest Airlines, a midsize carrier, sells food on most of its flights. Some airline and airline catering executives say they believe the concept is here to stay.


Passengers don't mind forking over money for appetizing food, says LSG Sky Chefs, which is participating in most of the tests.


''Here you have an industry that suffered jokes about airline food,'' Sky Chefs executive Stephan Egli says. ''People are rating the quality incredibly well after just a few weeks.''


Delta Air Lines will test food sales at airport gates in June and start testing on-board sales in July. Its new low-fare airline, Song, already sells food. By summer's end, food will be available on more than 100 Delta and Song flights a day, spokesman John Kennedy says.


Other airlines are still studying the buy-on-board concept:


* America West, the first airline to test food sales in January, expects to decide whether to sell food permanently within a month. It recently ended complimentary meals in coach on all flights.


* United Airlines is in its third weeklong test, this one on 40 daily flights, but it has tested on as many as 80 daily flights.


* Northwest is testing sales on 69 daily flights at three hubs.


* American is exploring the possibility of selling food to passengers at the gate, but it is not considering in-flight sales, spokeswoman Laura Mayo says.


Continental says it has no plans to sell meals. ''We think it's important to feed people at meal times when they're hungry,'' spokeswoman Julie King says. ''It was an important part of our strategy to attract and retain customers.''