Lunch Crunch Nation News - Tuesday 19, November-2002 If you are travelling to Miami on American Airlines and won=92t be satisfied= =20 with a Granola Bar and a Coke as a meal, then pack your own lunch before=20 boarding. On the return journey from the Florida peninsula, passengers=20 waiting to board the American Airlines flight are told: =93All passengers=20 travelling in coach to Barbados are reminded that this is a beverage-only=20 flight. You are however welcomed to purchase your own food in the terminal= =20 and take it on board.=94 About 40 minutes into the flight passengers are=20 treated to a soft drink, juice, coffee or tea and a small pack of=20 pretzels. Tamara Wilson, a reservations agent with the American Airline,=20 confirmed yesterday the airline was no longer serving meals on some=20 flights, depending on duration. =93There is a list of flights on which we= do=20 not serve meals and that depends on how long the flight is,=94 she said, but= =20 declined to list the flights. Wilson explained that it was a cost-saving measure which started after the= =20 September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States that created a=20 major slump in air travel resulting in major losses for most=20 airlines. While American Airlines continues to serve meals on the=20 four-and-a-half hour New York-Barbados route, some travellers complained=20 that the Barbados-Miami cut was hurting since that Florida city was a major= =20 gateway for Barbadians travelling to other East Coast cities as well as=20 neighbouring states and even to the United States West Coast. These can=20 comprise a series of back-to-back short flights that also don=92t include= hot=20 meals. Officials at Air Jamaica, on the other hand, stressed they had not stopped= =20 serving meals on any flights but had instituted other cost-saving=20 measures. =93There is a meals service on every flight and it is usually a= =20 choice of fish or chicken. We have never stopped serving meals on any of=20 our flights. In fact, we serve full, hot meals,=94 regional manager Abdul=20 Pandor said. =93We know that some airlines have cut back on meals as means= =20 of cutting cost. We are also cutting cost but we decided to do it in other= =20 areas such as [office] stationery. All our flights from the Eastern=20 Caribbean, Barbados, Antigua, St Lucia, Grenada =96 all flights to New York= =20 or Jamaica have hot meals.=94 BWIA, like Air Jamaica, reported they had no= =20 plans at this time to discontinue serving hot meals on international=20 flights. Efforts to get a comment from officials at Barbados Flight=20 Kitchen on the impact of American Airlines=92 cutbacks on their business= were=20 unsuccessful. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (chgdev) http://www.chagdev.com/ (Chaguaramas Development Authority) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************