Snack on This

In a case of “I told you so” (sort of), I just read that US Airways has decided to stop its free in-flight snack service as of Sunday, June 1st. This is part of the airlines’ cost-cutting measures, which goes along with its raising fares this week to keep pace with American Airlines and Delta, all of which have raised fares, too–and, as we know with American Airlines, have started charging for all checked bags. (US Airways isn’t there yet, though it has joined the ranks of charging $25 for a second checked bag.)

As I’d written about earlier, airlines are like lemmings, and once one of them starts a new behavior or institutes a new policy, the rest of them follow along. So how long until the other airlines decide to stop giving out free snacks and drinks during flights?

Truthfully, no one really needs that one-ounce pouch of peanuts or pretzels, but that can of free soda is nice since you would pay an arm and a leg for it in the terminal. Remember the days when you could bring your own drinks onto an airline, ones that you brought from home and could take with you through security? Oh, those good old days.

(Non sequitir tangent: did you see the 30 Rock episode “Sandwich Day” where Liz Lemon had to choose between a Teamster sandwich and her boyfriend? She’s stopped at TSA security trying to bring a sandwich through. I’ve never seen someone shove a sandwich in her face that fast, and I doubt Tina Fey was using a stunt double!)

You know what, all reminiscing aside, I’m actually OK with the airlines doing away with the free snacks, especially the drinks. Why? Because the airlines have done an abysmal job of recycling those cans after each flight. Did you ever notice how the flight attendants usually dump the cans in with the regular trash? I’m pretty confident that they weren’t going back to the galley, and fishing out the cans to put them in recycling.

How bad is this non-recycling problem? A recent Natural Resources Defense Council report, as quoted in an USA Today article, said the following: “Airlines in the U.S. throw away enough aluminum cans every year to build 58 new 747′s. In 2004, the industry also jettisoned 9,000 tons of plastic and enough newspapers and magazines to bury a football field more than 230 feet deep.”

That’s pretty pathetic. So if stopping snacks means that fewer recyclables end up in the trash, I’m OK with that. Now the only thing I’m wondering: without a beverage or food cart to man, what exactly will the flight attendants do during flights? (I expect to receive the wrath of flight attendants everywhere for even asking that question. Bring it on.)