British Airways cuts food for economy – shouldn't all airlines?

In an economising measure, British Airways has announced that economy passengers on flights shorter than 8.5 hours will no longer get a second meal. And on premium-economy flights of less than seven hours, the much anticipated pre-landing sandwich will be replaced by a small chocolate bar.

This follows a blow to long-suffering first class passengers, who were not particularly amused when in July it was announced that the amuse bouche was set to be cut from meals.

One can see why airlines make such cutbacks. Apparently, when one major airline decided to omit black olives from salads it saved the airline nearly CHF 3 million annually, because it served 80 million passengers a year.

Now, to some passengers cutbacks to their in-flight meals are outrageous, yet others will be glad. Some are glad that the aisles will no longer be clogged with stressed stewards and stewardesses dishing out plastic trays of meals where you’re not really sure whether you’ve got chicken or beef, coffee or tea, where the industrial-style bread is drier than the Arizona desert, the fried egg more leathery than the moccasins you’re wearing, and the sausages more plastic than the contents of Toys R Us.

In an effort to improve tastes, it’s true that airlines have been investing in improving meals, and enlisting celebrity chefs in the process, such as Luke Mangan (Virgin), two-star Michelin chef Carlo Cracco (Singapore); Joel Robuchon (Air France) and Heston Blumenthal (BA). However, premium passengers are usually the only ones benefitting from such celebrity arrangements.

The madness of in-flight catering

Many passengers will be glad for inflight catering cutbacks because of the eco-friendly implications. The gargantuan effort providing everyone with in-flight meals every couple of hours in flight uses a humongous amount of energy and resouces in manufacture and transportation.

Wouldn't it be far more ecologically sound to allow passengers to chose whether they want to pay for food, as they do on budget airlines like easyJet and Ryanair, which would greatly lower energy wastage? If such a policy triggered a lowering of airfares too, so much the better.

Despite the lack of affection for them, hardly anybody refuses in-flight meals. Even though they may not be hungry, have no intention to eat them, can see clearly that the offering is an abomination to mankind, nonetheless they accept these plastic trays hoping to find something to their taste or because it is included in the ticket fare. Many people open the wrapping, taste just a little bit, others eat something, but few brave souls eat everything – at least in cattle class.

The madness of in-flight catering was recently really brought home to me witnessing stressed stewards providing a snack on a 45-minute flight to Amsterdam. Once the safety demonstration had ended there was barely enough time to carry the procedure out at all. I should imagine even the most pampered European short-haul passenger can forgo something to eat for less than an hour. And if not, they could always bring a snack.