There are new food and beverage options in the skies flying towards Hawaii this week. Some of these are free and others are not. Together with baggage and other ancillary fees, there’s clearly money to be made in the airline food business. Hawaii visitors won’t be left out of the new choices.
Free airline food has been all but phased out, with Hawaiian Air being the remaining exception for now. The airline industry has shifted focus to premium food. This trend will continue to escalate as carriers compete with among other things, airport gourmet food offerings. As for me, I am likely to continue bringing food on board. Surveys indicate that I’m not alone in that regard.
Alaska made the jump this week to Starbucks coffee brewed on board its flights, including those to Hawaii. I haven’t seen any changes coming yet to their food service offerings, but I expect to in the near future. With Alaska Air and Starbucks both being Seattle-based, this was no surprise. The airline already offers other Pacific Northwest specialty food items including Beecher’s cheese, Tim’s Cascade potato chips and Alaskan Amber beer.
The carrier announced today that starting Friday they will be revising their meals and snacks for purchase. They will be including more Hawaii sourced products including Kauai’s Anahola Granola (congratulations Becky) and Big Islands’ Punalu’u Bake Shop. I haven’t seen yet if there will be any corresponding changes in their premium food prices.
Hawaiian will also now offer guests purchasing a premium meal ($10) a choice of complementary beverages including alcohol. There is a new Japanese style meal too provided by Oahu’s Gokujo Sushi.
Airline Food: Your thoughts
I’d love to hear from you on airline food, both free and premium. Are you paying for it, eating it. and how are you liking it?
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blp says
id rather skip the comp food and get a headset for free. HA charged $5 on the return trip for any headset (including your own) to plug in to hear the movie or music, On the trip over, from SFO, they stated they would charge the $5 , but just passed them out to everyone. Breakfast burrito I thought was good. Had the turkey sandwich on the way back: boring.
mc says
Just returned on Hawaiian Air the the breakfast burrito out of San Diego was edible. The pasta on return was good with veggies in a curry sauce.. I was going to get the sushi but reading the above review I am glad I did not. HA also served a turkey cheese sandwich which looked fresh. I bring snack food on board also and enjoy the comp drinks.
Erlinda says
You’re out of luck on most airlines, including Hawaiian, if by medical necessity you have to eat gluten-free. Even if you request gf meals (and few airlines have these available) they often mess it up. I always, always bring food on board or I’d starve!
joy hulse says
I had the sushi and it was not good tasted very old and dry