Airlines Struggle Not to Leave Passengers High and Dry Over the Vital Amenities

Forget fare wars and safety fears--passengers say it’s peanuts that matter.

Amenities are as old as the airline industry itself, so even in the post-deregulation era of cut-rate tickets and scaled-back service, people expect them and are not afraid to show it.

“If we ever run out of peanuts, they (passengers) are quite perturbed,” said Mary O’Neill, spokeswoman for American Airlines in Fort Worth. “They expect a little munchie with their flight.”

And if the munchies run short?

“If they’re very mad, the flight attendant may ask another passenger to voluntarily give their peanuts up,” O’Neill said.

Merger Brings Hard Choices

The importance of snacks, drinks and magazines and toy captain’s wings for the kids was underscored earlier this month in the USAir merger with Piedmont Airlines, which traditionally served passengers a full can of soda. USAir’s practice was only to provide a cup of the drink.

The merged airline decided to adopt the full-can practice to avoid miffed passengers.

“Let me put it this way,” said Edwin I. Colodny, chairman and president of USAir Group Inc. “There will be no complaints on the Coca-Cola service.”

Bill Jackman, a spokesman for the Washington-based airline industry organization the Air Transport Assn., said major U.S. carriers expect to spend about $2 billion this year on food service. He said he was unsure what percentage of that figure went toward snacks and how much was for meals.

High Anxieties

Jackman said complimentary service dates to the beginning of the commercial airline industry, when carriers would fill seats with their own employees to reduce anxiety among passengers afraid of the then-new form of travel.

“In the early days, there was widespread fear of flying,” Jackman said. “All kinds of inducements were offered.”

Jackman said efforts to comfort passengers evolved into free snacks and cocktails and hit its heyday in the 1970s, when airline regulation standardized fares and the companies had to provide something to distinguish their service.

Complimentary Champagne

Those were the days of piano bars, complimentary champagne and platters of roast beef sliced at your seat. Jackman said one airline hired an aerobics instructor to demonstrate exercises in the aisle.

“In the days prior to deregulation, when everything (fares) was the same, you had to differentiate by on-board service. They’d go to great lengths to describe their food,” he said.

Now, with fares and routes deregulated, passenger ads focus more on which airline has the lowest fares and the most convenient schedules, he said.

But most fliers still apparently expect to get their freebies, which of course are not really free. Most amenities are part of the cost of a ticket. One of the best-known children of deregulation that tried to make it without freebies, People Express, failed after a few years.

In-flight goodies vary among airlines and are more extensive as the passenger class rises. The most common items are soft drinks and peanuts.

Mixed Snack Pack

Pan American’s business class passengers get a mixed snack pack--including nuts, pretzels and sesame sticks--instead of just peanuts, said Pamela Hanlon, a spokeswoman in New York. They also receive complimentary cocktails or wine and an “amenities kit,” containing toothpaste, hand lotion and other toiletries.

On dinner flights, frequent fliers get to choose meals from a menu of about nine items, Hanlon said.

“Certainly, in first class or business class that does make a difference,” she said of the complimentary items. “I think it’s part of the decision” of which airline to fly.

Advances in technology and changing social customs also have influenced the content of airline handouts.

Jim Lundy, spokesman for Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, said many airlines used to distribute complimentary mini cigarette packs and matches to passengers. That stopped when smoking became less acceptable on planes.

In the old days before cabins were pressurized, the airlines gave passengers a stick of chewing gum to help equalize the pressure in their ears.