United, the second-largest U.S. carrier and the dominant airline at Denver International Airport, had intended to offer food for sale aboard trips to Europe from the Washington area's Dulles International Airport starting Oct. 1. The Chicago-based carrier would have been the first in the U.S. to end free meals on such flights.
"They told us quite directly and candidly that they value hot meals," Robin Urbanski, a United spokeswoman, said Tuesday.
Corporate customers and the airline's most frequent fliers objected to plans to replace hot food with salads and sandwiches, and to charge for them, she said.
Airlines are ending many complimentary services because of jet-fuel prices that are up 46 percent in the past year. United parent UAL Corp., with net losses of $3.32 billion in the past three quarters, is eliminating 7,000 jobs and parking 100 planes to cut operating costs.
Dulles is United's main U.S. departure point to Europe, with about 33 daily international flights. The carrier planned to charge $6 for snack boxes and $9 for salads and sandwiches in the coach cabins.
United will continue with plans to replace free hot meals for business-class customers on some domestic flights with snack boxes, sandwiches or salads, depending on the length of the flight and time of departure, Urbanski said. The new food choices, effective Oct. 1, will still be free, she said.
The changes in the business- class domestic menu will occur on aircraft with three-class cabins used on cross-country routes or flights between United hubs such as Chicago and Denver.
The carrier also ended coach-class free snacks on domestic flights of more than two hours, after earlier dropping them on shorter routes. Snacks now can be purchased, a change the carrier expects will generate $1.7 million in annual revenue, Urbanski said.
In a letter to customers announcing the decisions, United said it will "continue to be proactive in testing new ideas" to help counter the higher fuel costs.
