Airline follows Ryanair in scrapping free meals for many flights

-Credit: (Image: Getty Images)
-Credit: (Image: Getty Images)


Air France has become the latest airline to halt free meals from certain flights. The likes of Ryanair have already culled free food.

Passengers will no longer be served free meals on certain flights as the airline tests a 'buy on board' option. From January 2025, economy ticket holders. on two routes from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Lisbon, Portugal and Helsinki, Finland will not receive complimentary inflight meals.

The trial will initially focus on short and medium flights under three hours. While a free beverage and small snack like a biscuit will still be provided, all other meal options will need to be purchased.

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Currently, Air France offers a free meal to all passengers regardless of destination or travel class, with sandwiches, pastries or snacks depending on flight duration. On most long-haul flights, passengers can also buy one of the airline's a la carte meals when booking their seats or up to 24 hours before departure.

The new trial will offer onboard catering for purchase, but buying food will be optional. Air France says this change is in response to "developments" in the market, noting that the 'buy-on-board' model is already used by other European airlines such as Lufthansa and British Airways.

"Air France is constantly studying opportunities to develop its offer, in order to best meet the expectations of its customers, in line with market developments," the airline communicated to Le Figaro. Despite speculation, there are no adjustments forthcoming to AirFrance's business class services.

"Customers [in business class] will continue to receive a full service consisting of a chef's signature cold platter, accompanied by hot and cold beverages and a selection of wines and champagne," they confirmed. Over time, numerous airlines have curtailed their complimentary meal services to mitigate operational costs, presumably resulting in cheaper tickets.

Pioneering this trend, Ryanair ditched gratis in-flight meals from its shorter journeys, justifying that eliminating these "unnecessary frills" allowed them to provide lower fares and superior services. British Airways has also revised its offerings, ceasing cost-free meals on short-haul voyages in 2017 in favour of 'buy on board' catering, albeit reinstating some benefits recently with free water and snacks for every traveller.