Months after announcing a new CEO who pledged to hear customer feedback, United Airlines has responded: free "stroopwafels" starting in February.
These breakfast snacks, which United calls "a little bit of caramel heaven between crisp wafers," are among the free munchies that United will provide economy fliers. United hasn't served free snacks since 2008. Continental Airlines, which merged with United in 2010, quit offering this service shortly after their union.
"Food is a very important part of the customer experience," spokeswoman Karen May said Wednesday after the change was announced.
Stroopwafels - traditional Dutch cookies - will be served on flights departing before 9:45 a.m., and United suggests warming the pastry on top of your coffee cup for two minutes. Passengers on later flights can choose between an Asian-style snack mix with rice crackers, sesame sticks and wasabi peas, or a zesty-ranch mix with mini pretzel sticks, Cajun corn sticks and ranch soy nuts.
These will be served on thousands of daily flights within North America and Latin America.
May said the return of free snacks stems from a "listening campaign with our customers." Part of this campaign includes the website unitedairtime.com that CEO Oscar Munoz is using to seek feedback from customers and employees.
Munoz took the top position in September after former CEO Jeff Smisek left in the wake of an internal investigation related to a federal probe of the airline's dealings with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Munoz is currently on medical leave following a heart attack he suffered Oct. 15.
Brett Snyder, author of the airline industry blog crankyflier.com, said free snacks are a nice gesture by the airline. And with industry consolidation, he said it's important to compete with products in addition to price.
"Little things like this have the ability to have a meaningful impact on travelers," he said.
Yet this and United's other recent food improvements could fall on deaf ears if the airline can't get the basics right: getting passengers to their destination on time, Snyder said. United has improved in this area, but he said it still has a ways to go.
Snyder is optimistic next year will be better as United said it will give select corporate accounts a services credit if the airline doesn't meet one of two goals: have a better on-time arrival rate in 2016 than American Airlines or Delta or have fewer canceled flights in 2016 than American or Delta.
"Why are we setting the bar so high? Quite simply because we know we can deliver," Dave Hilfman, senior vice president of worldwide sales for United, said in a video discussing the topic.
Southwest Airlines, United's main competitor in Houston, has offered free snacks for the past 45 years. It offers peanuts and pretzels on every flight, and some of the longer flights serve an assortment of Kraft and Nabisco snack options.
"We continue to provide free snacks on every flight for everyone at a low fare," said spokesman Brad Hawkins.
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