Buy on board

In commercial flight, buy on board (BoB) is a system where food or beverages are paid for on board; often food or beverages are not included in the ticket price for certain fare classes.

Starting in 2003, many United States air carriers began eliminating free meal services in economy classes on North American flights and replacing them with buy on board services.[1][2] By 2009, many US carriers had established buy on board as part of an à la carte pricing movement.[3] Around that year, US carriers began using celebrity-named and brand name products to make their buy on board products generate more revenue.[4] Continental Airlines, the last large United States carrier to offer free meals on all domestic flights,[5] announced in March 2010 that it would begin a buy on board program in fall 2010 and end many of its free meal programs on domestic flights.[6] Jeff Green of Businessweek described the end of Continental's program as an "end of an era."[7]

As the airline market in the United States became deregulated, airlines began to compete by price. Airline ticket prices began to decrease, and airlines began to charge extra for services that were once included in the airfare.[8]

In the United States, passengers increasingly began to bring their own foods on board to avoid paying for buy on board.[9] In the 2000s US Airways briefly charged for soft drinks, but then reversed course. According to Joe Brancantelli of Portfolio.com, the competitors of US Airways admitted that charging for food and snack boxes does not increase profits; Brancatelli explains that airlines say that because they now charge for food and snacks, they no longer "lose" money by providing meals at no additional cost to economy class passengers.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Alexander, Keith L. "Passengers find buy-on-board food hard to digest - Airlines are starting to feed fliers again." San Francisco Chronicle. Sunday March 27, 2005.
  2. ↑ "Buy On-Board Meals?." The Early Show/CBS News. July 7, 2003.
  3. ↑ Stellin, Susan. "Pros and cons of a la carte airfare pricing." CNN. Thursday February 19, 2009. Retrieved on February 19, 2009.
  4. ↑ "Pie in the Sky? Upgrading Food in Coach." The Wall Street Journal. September 3, 2003. Retrieved on September 5, 2009.
  5. ↑ Bennett, Andrea. "The lowdown on airline food." Travel+Leisure at CNN. Tuesday September 29, 2009. Retrieved on March 15, 2010.
  6. ↑ Hunter, Marnie. "Continental cuts back on free food." CNN. March 15, 2010. Retrieved on March 15, 2010.
  7. ↑ Green, Jeff. "Continental Ends Airline Era as Free Coach Meals Cut (Update3)." Businessweek. March 15, 2010. Retrieved on March 16, 2010.
  8. ↑ Brancatelli, Joe. "What's Fair Is Fare." Portfolio.com (Bizjournals). July 21, 2010. 1. Retrieved on September 28, 2010.
  9. ↑ Pawlowski, A. "Food fight: Meals are tricky in the sky." CNN. April 5, 2010. Retrieved on April 5, 2010.
  10. ↑ Brancatelli, Joe. "What's Fair Is Fare." Portfolio.com (Bizjournals). July 21, 2010. 2. Retrieved on September 28, 2010.