Are We Entitled To Free Plane Snacks?

TTT - Plane Snacks
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Jenn: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Travel Tip Tuesday with the Travel Mug Podcast. All right, Meggan. Let's search back in your memory. Have the last few flights you've been on served you free snacks? Do you remember?

Meggan: I don't know about snacks, but there were meals.

Jenn: Oh,

Meggan: I know we got fancy. I don't remember. I don't remember the being snacks. I remember the menu that you could choose the snacks, but I don't recall free ones, but are both of our last flights were long hauls and they actually had meals.

Jenn: Yes, that's a different story. we're going to talk about the free Snacks. last

Meggan: we love a snack.

Jenn: I know, my last trip was to and from Florida on Air Canada. So it's a four ish, four and a half hour flight depending. No free snacks to be found on this

Meggan: that seems egregious.

Jenn: I know. And so my previous flight before that was a two hour flight to and from Boston, and we got snacks.

Meggan: Also Air Canada?

Jenn: Also Air Canada. I know. And then two weeks before we went to Florida, my husband flew Halifax to Newark, and he got snacks. And I was like, I don't understand what is happening

Meggan: Didn't they forget the snacks?

Jenn: I don't know. So, I thought I'd put on my detective hat and find out what the heck is up with this.

Meggan: Do tell us what you found.

Jenn: well, obviously, it's all about the bottom line because they used to serve full meals on the planes, like, no matter how long your flight was.

It was, you know, of course, included in the price. But the snack has been the standard since the 1970s.

Meggan: it should be.

Jenn: I know, I'm like, I love my airplane snacks, where are they? So my first question is, are they required to serve free food on any flights? And from what I could find, no. There's no legal requirement for airlines to serve food, complimentary or not.

However, there is one situation where they are. are required, and it's not actually while you're in the air. So as outlined by the department, American Department of Transportation, they are required to serve food during a tarmac delay. So, this is a quote from the website. During a tarmac delay, airlines must provide you with a snack, such as a granola bar, and drinking water no later than two hours after the start of the tarmac delay.

And here in Canada, we have a similar regulation. However, it's three hours and it just says food and drink in reasonable quantities, so whatever that means.

Meggan: I love how the American rule is like drinking water, not, toilet water. They need you to have drinking water.

Jenn: drinking water and snacks such as a granola bar. I'm like

Meggan: specific.

Jenn: very, so they aren't required, but many airlines do serve complimentary snacks and I can't, couldn't find anything on the Air Canada website about snacks. So it seems like pretty willy nilly, whether or not you'll get one. So WestJet on their website does have a table for what they serve depending on the flight, uh, duration and destination.

So basically, if you're in economy and flying within Canada, From Canada to the U. S., Caribbean, or Mexico, and the flight time is over an hour, you'll get a snack, apparently.

Meggan: Okay.

Jenn: Porter flights in Canada have multiple options for complimentary snacks, and their chocolate chip shortbread cookies are really good.

Um, so good. And then, of course, I have to mention the delicious Biscoff cookies. So they are served on Delta, WestJet, Alaska Airlines, and American Airlines. And they are So good. Uh, so, really, the moral of the story is always bring your own snacks, because apparently you never know when they will or won't be provided for you, unless

Meggan: like

Jenn: tarmac delay.

Meggan: It's like snack roulette out there.

Jenn: It's wild out there. I I was upset. I'm like, where are my pretzels?

Meggan: I'm distraught. Could I speak with the manager?

Jenn: So that's it. We just wanted to talk about snacks. Thank you for listening to this Travel Tip Tuesday. You can find us on Instagram and Facebook at the Travel Mug Podcast. We're also on our website, travel mug podcast.com. If you want to support our show, you can do that through Buy Me a Coffee or leave us a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify, or share the show with a travel loving pal, and we'll talk to you again soon. Bye!

Meggan: Bye everyone.