Efficiency and the joys of low-cost airline meals

35,000 feet over Northern Europe -- Aboard our lunchtime SAS flight from Paris to Stockholm, we suddenly realize that there is no lunch service, just a list of not very exciting menu items for which we may pay top dollar. (One our party, having booked our tickets, and, owing to her employment, something of an expert on air travel, might reasonably have been expected to have known this. However, this person shall not be identified so as to ensure the continuation of domestic bliss).

So we opt for the "venison wraps," a tiny can of Pringles potato chips and two free plastic cups of tap water. Total bill: 8 euros, or a little more than $11. We are prepared for the worst, but the venison wraps are not terrible. Indeed, they would probably rank among the top 50 percent, quality-wise, of the sandwiches in the refrigerated section of a large gas station. Mrs. Marichaux describes them as tasting "like bologna." And the water and Pringles are exactly what I expect.

I have resisted flying on the low-cost carriers in Europe, which Mrs. Marichaux describes as being little more than airborne bus travel. To my knowledge, Air France, my regular carrier, still serves meals. And my recent trips to and from Budapest on Malev included food that, while more processed than I would prefer, had the advantages of being both edible and free. SAS, I had imagined, was still an old-line carrier. But no, Mrs. Marichaux explains, SAS has had to take drastic steps to cope with financial difficulties. There are other signs, literally. A large advertisement is tastefully stuck to the back of each seat: "Doing business in the Nordic region? Swedbank." Unfortunately, the sticky, dirty, imprint of the previous sticker remains in place, visible behind them.

Someone, somewhere, an airline economist, has concluded that serving the meals and charging each passenger separately, instead of just adding his food and drinks cost to his ticket price, is the way to go. There are perhaps 100 passengers aboard, each paying, let's guess, five euros apiece, on average. It certainly holds down the drinking, according to my observations, though I noticed that most of the Swedish passengers appear to have skipped the sandwiches and gone with the always-popular alcohol and potato chips lunch.

But I wonder if it really is really more efficient for the airline to do it this way. The poor flight attendants have to tally up the bills, charge in either Swedish crowns or euros, or by credit card, depending on what each passenger is carrying, and of course deliver the food and drinks. That's a lot of individual bills and a lot of hassle.

But thinking about that venison wrap, I suspect their food products actually DO carry a sufficiently high margin...