Northwest Airlines cuts pretzels

[CMC Airboss]

I think the cost cutting at airlines is getting is getting ridiculous if they have to remove pretzels.

Northwest pinches pennies: No more pretzels
The Detroit News   05/27/05
author: Joel J. Smith
(Copyright 2005)


First it was meal service. Then the pillows disappeared. Now Northwest Airlines is taking away the free pretzels on all domestic flights.

It's the latest twist in an intensive cost-cutting effort that has led Detroit Metro Airport's largest carrier to eliminate many amenities passengers had come to expect.

The airline will stop handing out free pretzels to coach-class passengers on June 9, Northwest spokeswoman Jennifer Bagdade said.

Passengers instead can buy a 3-ounce bag of trail mix for $1.

Northwest has already cut out pretzels on flights that offered a $3 snack pack for passengers. The airline has no plans to eliminate free beverages.

Eliminating complimentary pretzels will save Northwest $2 million annually, officials say. The carrier has lost nearly $3.3 billion since 2001.

Predictably, some Northwest customers were chagrined over the new policy.

[Gunslinger]

yes but I bet their executives still get multi million dollar bonuses.

[Creamo]

100 million dollar jets ought to demand a fair ticket. Because they won't/can't, if you don't get a bag of pretzels, you'll get over it.

[CMC Airboss]

It turns out that Northwest is also rehiring a LOT of flight attendants for the summer travel season.  I wonder what they are going to do now that the pretzel ban is going to happen.

Northwest to recall 691 flight attendants
Honolulu Advertiser   05/26/05

MINNEAPOLIS -- Northwest Airlines Corp., which is seeking concessions from its employees, plans to recall all of its 691 laid-off flight attendants because of summer travel demand and possible labor strife, the attendants' union said.

The Professional Flight Attendants Association expects more than half of the workers to return to the airline, union spokesman Bob Krabbe said yesterday. Some of the attendants have been on furlough since October 2001 and may stay in other jobs, he said. The union has about 8,500 members now working at Eagan, Minnesota-based Northwest.

Northwest, the fourth-largest U.S. carrier, is in talks with most of its unions in an effort to reach new contracts that will reduce costs through pay and benefit reductions. The pilots union is the only worker group that has contributed to Northwest's goal to cut annual labor expenses by $1.1 billion.

The company is doing the recall partly to prepare for "an expected contentious summer with labor negotiations," the union said in a statement. Krabbe said tension in Northwest's talks with its mechanics could lead to flight disruptions, causing a need for more attendants. Northwest didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.

Meanwhile, Northwest officials said talks with mechanics are at an impasse and they are asking a federal mediator to release the company from negotiations. If the mediator agrees, the next step would be arbitration or a possible strike.

[Creamo]

Pry meet the minimum FAA rules?

I give. Is it something more crazy?

[mora]

Why do you expect to get free snack and beverages on a flight? Personally I prefer to pay for the services I need. I have no desire to pay for other peoples pretzels. You're a bunch of commies.

[boxboy28]

DAMN IT!   them preztels   are damn good too!   lol  I just got back from Minneapolis in NWA  - i buy 2 beers at atime and get like 4 of them lil bags!   now i wont get my bags!  this is an out rage!

I fly NWA all the time (doing trade shows)   this ruins myday no make that my year!:(

[Chairboy]

Personally, I prefer the cheezit flavored airplane shaped goldfish that Alaska sometimes has.

It's funny, the money saved by pretzels is consumed per flight in like 5 seconds of the engines running.  If they were really serious about cost cutting, they'd actively work to change procedures to minimize the time on the ground with the engines going.  IMHO.  Or, for that matter, just plain minimize time on the ground.

Of course, maybe they are, and this just happens to be one of the tiny things they're doing that got some reporters attention.

I'd guess that boarding/deboarding could be significantly sped up if they utilized both the front and rear exits.  Even if the rear exit went to a portable staircase, the amount of grumbling by people who have to climb stairs would be offset by satisfaction with not having to wait as long in the stuffy cabin.  

...and if the airport HAS another jetway available, even THAT's not a problem.

[john9001]

me no want "amenities", me want cheap transportation.

[Holden McGroin]

Here ya go John9001...

[Toad]

Originally posted by Chairboy
If they were really serious about cost cutting, they'd actively work to change procedures to minimize the time on the ground with the engines going.  IMHO.  Or, for that matter, just plain minimize time on the ground.
 

Airlines have been "taxi on one" for a long time, with start of the rest of the engines immediately prior to takeoff (allowing for required warmup times), for many, many years.

Once the aircraft is off the gate, it's the FAA that determines ground time, not the airlines.

[spitfiremkv]

I have an idea:
remove the pilots and flight attendants.
for their own safety, pasengers will be cuffed to their seats for the flight.
heck, who needs seats? passengers will be stacked and chained to the floor.
by eliminating seats, more passengers will be carried per flight.
savings would be enorumous.

[vorticon]

why cant they just go running to the government for a handout like everyone else?

[spitfiremkv]

so young, yet so cynical...they must be growing up fast in Canada!

[-tronski-]

These pretzels are making me thirsty...

 Tronsky