Investing
Economy Class Benefits from United’s Freebie Snacks
Apparently senior leadership at United Airlines recognizes this time of year to rejoice and express appreciation for those you care about by once again dishing out free snacks to economy fliers. Wow! After an approximate 7-year hiatus dating back to sometime in 2008, in which United management then decided to nix serving the freebie miniature-sized snack packs to quell the peasants squished together like chickens in an overcrowded henhouse sitting back in economy during cruising altitude, the brilliance of asking for and receiving customer feedback in 2015 produced reinstating the infamous in-flight freebie. Hilarious!
Suffice it to say I suspect among the top 5 concerns that economy customers really railed on about included cost of airfare, promptness of departure/arrival times, seating comfort (e.g., leg room, etc.), carry-on policies and luggage fees, and for me the cost to purchase one liquor drink (because sitting in the airport for 2-3 hours prior to take-off is brutally fun). Unfortunately, however, a “listening campaign” revealed to United Airlines that “food is a very important part of the customer experience” as this concern over all others (the ones that make the most logical sense to me anyway) resonated with United officials.
Redonkulous…LMAO! Okay, got it. Thanks CEO of United. Let me be the first to congratulate you on doing such a wonderful job getting inside the minds of your customers. N
ot me of course, because I stopped flying United in 2008 when management cancelled the freebies vowing never to return. Actually that’s not true. While I can care less about feeding my body a tiny bag of junk food that I could buy from any convenience store for around a buck, I’d rather enjoy a price reduction on ticket fare or read in the news how United – one of largest airline operations in the world – has remodeled interior space to increase passenger spacing – for everyone, economy class included.
To conclude I take it from United’s generosity of distributing in-flight freebies – such as peanuts, stroopwafels, ranch soy nuts, or Asian snack mix – that the health of the U.S. economy, must be improving to extend such a noble gesture to the economy class. Wait, UAL doesn’t pay dividends to its shareholders? How can the company afford to give away free snacks? Did UAL shareholders get to vote on the freebie reinstatement?
Author
Other Articles by Edmund Burden
Investing
Investing
Is U.S. Housing Investment Under Threat of an Impending Slowdown?
It's no secret 2016 started off in precarious fashion as several U.S. stock indices tumbled on news of China’s slowing economy, weakening international crude oil prices, and quietly transmitted rumors of a looming recession. Upon these revelations and other market performance indicators, the FOMC announced last week “to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at ¼ to ½ percent” in accordance with “its objective of maximum employment...
Investing
