Snack boxes replacing meals on most airlines

Once we got free, hot meals in coach. Then just cold sandwiches. Then we paid for the sandwiches.

And now comes the next evolution in airline food: snack boxes, sometimes free, often not.

American, Delta and United are among carriers that recently started replacing some or all of their domestic meal service with bagged or boxed snacks such as tortilla chips, cookies and dried fruits.

Airlines say the switch saves them money and might give fliers more edibles for their buck, including some more healthful options such as granola bars and green tea.

Since implementing buy-on-board programs in the last couple of years, airlines have had trouble predicting how many customers would buy sandwiches and salads on flights. That left fliers hungry if the airline ran out of meals, or the carrier with perishable leftovers if there were not enough takers.

After snack boxes “sold out on almost every flight” when tested on its low-cost carrier Ted late last year, spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said, United decided to replace its buy-on-board meal program with snacks on some flights.

Instead of lunches or dinners, which typically cost about $10 and consist of sandwiches or salads, United is offering four types of $5 snack boxes in coach on flights longer than 3 1/2 hours. The Funpack, for instance, includes strawberry applesauce, a Pez dispenser, Cheddar crackers and a fruit roll-up.

But United’s Jumpstart pack – billed as “a light, healthy choice” – didn’t impress Barbara J. Moore, president of Shape Up America, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit educational organization on obesity and weight management.

“They’re giving you a meal’s worth of calories and providing you with no nutritional value,” said Moore, who holds a doctorate in nutrition. “It’s appalling.”

There is some nutrition in Jumpstart: at least 18 grams of protein, for instance. But its dried fruit and nut mix, wheat crackers, biscotti and low-fat granola bar totaled 780 calories.

Moore figured that with its fruit cup and sunflower-seed spread, neither of which listed calories, the snack box tallied more than 1,000 calories.

Responding to the criticism, United’s Urbanski said: “It’s all about moderation. You can eat the food throughout the flight and even take it off the plane and eat it later.”

For now, United continues to serve free, hot meals in first class.

American also provides free meals in first class, but since Feb. 1, it stopped doing so in domestic coach. Instead it sells $5 sandwiches and wraps and $3 snack boxes on domestic flights longer than three hours.

Delta too offers free meals in first class on flights longer than 3 1/2 hours but has begun replacing free meals in coach with free snacks such as cheese and crackers.