Skift Business Traveler: Airline Snacks Make a Return to Economy Class

What to Know Now

It only took a near-collapse of the worldwide oil market, but airlines are finally starting to restore some of the services that they took away during the great recession. Last week, American updated its inflight service to include some variety of free snacks for economy customers to match recent updates from United airlines. As of this month, all three legacy carriers are now offering some sort of service.

Updated meals are a small penance for what consumers have gone through in the last years (when do we get our leg room back guys?) but it's a good first start. Perhaps next, airlines will start respecting consumers again.

Social Quote of the Day

My resentment against airline treatment of customers is unlikely to change b/c of a small bag of pretzels. Probably.

- @orwoll | Mark Orwoll, International Editor of Travel + Leisure

Airlines

Delta Air Lines’ New CEO Wants to Improve International Results: Shoring up international operations is Delta Air Lines Inc.’s biggest challenge and opportunity, incoming Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said. Read more at Skift

Portugal Decides It Can’t Let TAP Go and Buys Half of it for $2.1 Billion: The Portuguese government says it has agreed to buy 50 percent of the country’s carrier TAP Air Portugal for 1.9 million euros ($2.1 million). Read more at Skift

American Airlines Says Premium Seats Will Be the Next Frontier in Ancillary Fees: In 2008, American Airlines introduced a $15 fee for a first-checked bag, new territory for a legacy carrier although Ryanair, which might be considered “the Godfather of ancillary revenue,” had already been at it tacking on fees for years. Read more at Skift

Delta CEO Richard Anderson’s Contrarian Legacy of Outspoken Leadership: Anderson’s success was accompanied by a series of questionable positions on policies and public relations missteps. Read more at Skift

Airports

Kansas City airport terminal: Renovate or rebuild? A plan to renovate the Kansas City International Airport, rather than demolish and replace it, is unrealistic and more expensive than originally suggested, a consultant for airlines that use the airport said. Read more at USA Today

Delta Study: Privatizing Air Traffic Control Would Result in Increased Airfare, Safety Concerns: Delta Airlines is clashing with Airlines for America and House Republicans over plans to privatize air traffic control in the U.S. Read more at FlyerTalk

Travel groups urge Congress to study airline competition: A group of travel organizations is urging Congress to create a national commission to study airline competition, after a decade of consolidation and a year of record profits. Read more at USA Today

Tech

Why the Modern Travel Agency Needs to Charge Fees: In an age when additional travel fees and costly ancillaries have become commonplace, travel agencies have found that travelers are willing to pay fees for the services agents provide. Read more at Skift

Travel Brands Are Missing Out on Snapchat Right Now: With 100 million active users and seven billion daily video views Snapchat is already seen as a maturing platform by several brands from television networks to lifestyle publications. But so far most travel brands haven’t taken the bait. Read more at Skift

Google’s New “Plan A Trip” Feature Is Changing the Way You Search: Google is never one to miss a beat. To keep up with the trend in smartphone usage over traditional desktop searches, the company has unveiled a brand new redesign that makes it easier to research, plan, and book a trip all within a few clicks. Let us explain how this is different and why this is kind of a big deal. Read more at Travel + Leisure

Hotels

Industry outlook: A crash or soft landing? Hoteliers, analysts and investors aren’t quite sure what to expect of the hotel industry’s performance in 2016 and beyond. But what could previous declines tell us about what to expect when the industry does finally trend downward? Read more at Hotel News Now

High-Priced Airbnb and Vacation Rentals Fall Flat at Super Bowl: Some San Francisco Bay Area residents hoping to rent their homes for thousands of dollars a night to deep-pocketed Super Bowl attendees are finding themselves short of the goal line. Read more at Skift

Your Turn

Nomadic Matt just published answers to a laundry list of community questions over on his site, such as "How do you deal with the inevitably of coming home?" It's a good read for many of us wanderers.

Tips and Comments

Can be sent to gm[at]skift[dot]com or to @grantkmartin

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