Continental has finally joined the rest of its airline brethren in charging for food in coach class on flights. There are many reasons why it might do this, from the obviously venal 'so we can make more money' to the anticipatory 'we're about to become United Airlines anyway so who cares', and so on.
But instead, Sandra Pineau-Boddison, Continental’s vice president of food services, said in a statement quoted here 'The new menu is a direct result of feedback from our customers, who told us they wanted more food choices on our flights'.
If you are one of these people who allegedly told Continental that you wanted more food choices on board and were happy to pay for them, please comment below and 'fess up. But failing a rush of people saying "Oh yes, I'm pleased to now pay for Pringles chips, Jimmy Dean sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches and 'gourmet' cheese plates", one has to wonder, ahem, how accurate Sandra's statement is. I'm sure that anyone and everyone would appreciate extra food choices, but I wonder how many of the people surveyed said they'd be happy to pay up to $8.25 per food item.
Also, a question to her. Now that you've responded so 'positively' to your customers' request for more choices of food, can you guarantee that all food items will be available to all passengers on all flights? It has been my experience that airlines are more likely to run out of food they sell on a flight than they formerly would run out of food they used to give away.
David here is a copy of what I have told the airline executives:
Meals don’t have to be complimentary I just want a good choice. It does not matter to me if I have to pay for them or not. In fact even in first class I would pay more for food choices beyond what is served today. For example the standard lunch dessert maybe a cookie, but I’d pay $5-$10 for an ice cream sundae instead.
Speaking for the tens of millions of diabetics who do NOT want airline food because of the dangerously questionable content (sugars, starches, etc) I vote against all food on airlines. Having a smelly tray of glop on my neighbors tray and a cabin reeking of food makes for lousy flight conditions. Of course, I don’t want to pay for ANY food and look forward, perhaps forlornly, that two ticket fares will someday emerge – those with food and those without. What about overseas flights – like all flights I bring my own food – and it was not prepared 20 to 30 hours ago and had to travel through a prep line, into a truck, across the tarmac, into the plane’s questionable food storage areas and then served hours later.