Airlines experiment with fancy fixings By Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY For vegetarians, Midwest Airlines sells a grilled summer vegetable wrap with portobello mushroom on a spinach tortilla, a baby green salad, apple and bottled water for $10. Airlines have discovered that passengers will pay for meals, but they're still trying to find out what foods sell best. After months of passenger testing by several airlines, the buy-on-board trend is gaining ground. Midwest Airlines in April began selling meals on most of its flights. US Airways said last week it will begin selling food on most long domestic flights this summer. Tests show passengers don't want what they used to get for free. No more mystery meats and diced vegetables that were cooked, frozen and reheated. "Consumers have spoken loud and clear: 'We want an option, but we will only pay for it if it's good,' " says catering executive Stephan Egli of LSG Sky Chefs, the world's largest airline caterer. Airlines aren't just reinventing their food. They're also rethinking its packaging. Gone are the TV-dinner style trays with compartments for entree, salad and dessert. Now meals are served in boxes or baskets. United says passengers liked its TGI Friday's meal boxes for their word games. Also popular are: Unusual ingredients. Instead of using wheat or white bread, sandwiches are being made on ethnic breads like ciabatta, focaccia or challah. Upscale-sounding ingredients help make the food more appealing, says Steven Shipley, director of culinary relations for Johnson & Wales University. Choices. Customers love the idea of simply having an option to buy food, airline executives say, but they also like having choices. Midwest, formerly Midwest Express, last month added a grilled summer vegetable wrap with portobello mushroom on a spinach tortilla in response to requests for vegetarian selections. Brand names. Airlines are selling brand-name products from national and regional chains like TGI Friday's or Einstein Bros. "Just the brand name makes people realize it's a good product and separate from airline food," says Kris Winge, a United catering official. Passengers also have told airlines they don't want: Too much sugar. United says candy like $2 king-size Hershey almond bars haven't been big sellers in its tests. People prefer the salads and sandwiches, Winge says. US Airways recently replaced its sweet breakfast platter, including crumb cake, fruit and a strawberry drink, with a more savory selection of a honey-baked ham sandwich on ciabatta with onion-chive cream cheese. Too much food. America West says leisure travelers going to and from Florida thought the full dinners for $10 were a good value, but more food than they wanted. A beef tenderloin patty melt has been a big seller. Cash required. The airlines so far aren't selling food in advance, and flight attendants can only accept cash on board. That's one problem Midwest is trying to solve for its passengers, airline executive Jill Van Leuven says. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.natalielaughlin.com/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************