MSN: Delta to cut snack services on what they deem short flights

At a quick glance, this doesn’t sound like a big deal at all.  Many on social media are very quick to opine such, claiming those people who see it as doom and gloom to be overreacting.  And in all fairness, it really doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, considering the fairly logical rationale behind it: shorter flights struggle to even complete snack service, with an extremely tight window that offers almost no margin of error, and any sort of turbulence or complication leads to some people getting snacks and others not, leading to a negative experience for some.

However, it’s the timing of this business decision, coincidentally as soon as Spirit Airlines has wrapped up operations, that raises my eyebrow, and gives me the impression that this is just the start of eventual perk-removing, that starts with snacks on a small scale to test the waters of reception and blowback, to eventually transforming into a fare class that might as well be called the Spirit fare, but without the actual Spirit prices.

Although the removal of snack service really doesn’t sound like a big deal at first blush, Delta will probably save somewhere in the neighborhood of like $8-12M in snacks they don’t have to purchase, more if this slashes their alcohol stocking.  These savings of course, will not mean that they will be passed onto customers, and in fact will probably pad the end-of-year bonuses to guys like Ed Bastian, who reportedly made around $24M in bonuses last year, and a conglomerate of old white male shareholders.

I can’t speak for any airlines, but I’m not going to assume Delta is the only one doing it, with their offering of some basic bare bones fare class, that’s basically already like Spirit Airlines, with no assigned seats, no checked bags, last to board, and the kicker being no SkyMiles earned, but it still costs like 3x the price of a Spirit RT.  I imagine this fare class will become more expensive with the removal of Spirit Airlines as a competitor, further entrapping would-be travelers with bullshit prices for the shortest of flights.

The point is, airlines are already fucking the people on a daily basis with their bullshit high fares, and the people are entitled to take back as much as humanly possible from them for how much they’re paying.  It’s not so much about the actual snacks themselves being removed as much as it’s an exploratory malicious act of deception with the end goal being more cash pocketed at the corporate executive level.

It starts with snacks, and little by little, 350 mile flights turns into 500 mile flights, the little bag checker displays start showing up outside of Delta gates, with ominous threats to start charging for personal items.  All while the fare classes continue to escalate, citing inflation, the Strait of Hormuz and the rise of jet fuel.

Randos on the internet can claim that it’s no big deal, but will be wondering why their round trip from ATL to DCA costs $479, gets no snacks, and no SkyMiles are awarded; all while Ed Bastian makes $30M in bonuses at the end of the year.

I know the death of Spirit was a good time for many on the internet, with all the jokes and memes to have come out of it, but it seriously was not a good thing at all for the entire industry, and the only ones who will suffer from it, are people who need to travel.  Eventually, nobody will be able to travel at all, unless it’s on their employer’s dime.