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June 3, 2005
No Free Lunch, or Snack
Northwest Airlines passengers who said goodbye to free meals in February at least got free pretzels to console them. Now the airline is taking the pretzels away, too.

Beginning June 9, coach passengers who want anything other than soda will have to pay for it. They can get a 3-ounce bag of trail mix for $1. Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said the airline has no immediate plans to stop offering soda for free.

He said pulling the free pretzels should save $2 million a year.

USATODAY.com

They'd make a lot more money if they charged for the soda. Who the hell cares about the pretzels? My sister found a mouse vertebrae in a bag of peanuts on Amtrak last month, so I'm off mini-serving salted snacks anyway.

Comments

Previous Comments

Who cares..... if it makes traveling any cheaper I'll bring my own snacks and soda on the plane.

You really think it's going to make traveling cheaper?

I don't care about the pretzels either, but this won't have any effect on ticket prices. They're not going to "pass the savings on to you," they're just trying to save money because they've run their businesses into the ground and if they don't cut costs, they'll have to get the government to bail them out again.

Corporations are about making money! News at 11:00.

Now, do the upstart airlines like JetBlue, etc., which also skimp on inflight meals, but won't recieve the kinds of massive bailouts their older cousins enjoy, fall into your categorical denuciation of the transportation industy?

Yes! Yes! See there where I categorically denounced the transportation industry? It's right there in black and... oh wait.. hmmm... it's... uhhhh.... what?

JetBlue and the like do skimp on meals, but they also - get this - have lower ticket prices! And they offer other amenities that customers enjoy (DirectTV at every seat, etc.). The big old airlines reduce services, keep prices the same or raise them, and they should have their feeding tube removed.