Air France and KLM made headlines in September when media leaks revealed that both airlines were considering trialing buy-on-board catering in economy, a concept that many European “full” service airlines have already adopted.
The airlines were planning to launch this on select routes to evaluate how it affects passengers satisfaction scores, and now the trial is set to begin in mid-February.
You can access Air France here and KLM here.
Previous Coverage:
KLM Plans To Introduce Buy-On-Board On Short-Haul Flights In 2025
Air France Buy-On-Board Trial On Two Routes January – July 2025
Now, there are more leaks about what passengers on select services can expect based on a FlyerTalk post:
- The trial will begin in mid-February and last 8 weeks.
- In the first four weeks, passengers can expect a water bottle, snack, and coffee or tea. In the following four weeks, juice will also be available (that’s all).
- KLM will test the buy-on-board service on the Amsterdam-Oslo/Lisbon/Porto flights, and Air France will run the test on the Paris-Helsinki/Lisbon routes.
- There were plans to allow passengers to preorder meals for these test flights, but these plans have now been scrapped.
This buy-on-board concept has many issues, and many airlines have tried to perfect it but have failed.
Some of these European service flights can be very long (all the way to the Middle East), and having practically no service on these rotations certainly affects passenger satisfaction.
The buy-on-board is usually stocked only from the base, and if there are many purchases on the flight to the destinations, there might be nothing available for purchase in the return sector.
Also, some of these fights may involve night stops, and it remains unclear what “fresh” items can be left onboard overnight to ensure that they are still sellable quality in the morning.
KLM’s Business Class Prison Meals:
KLM Calls Prison Style Food “Luxury Meals”
KLM advertises its short-haul business class meal as high-quality dining with several options when the reality is that you are presented with a cardboard box loaded with crap with absolutely no options at all.
Conclusion
The “complimentary” F&B is the only differentiator to many between the (former) full-service airlines to the likes of Ryanair and Wizz (hard discounters).
Passengers with airlines that have previously implemented this concept have expressed resistance, and it has already been partially retracted.
You would think spending a little bit of money on catering and liquoring up passengers would keep them happier than throwing a cup of water or coffee at them.
I hope that KLM and Air France’s trials will fail miserably and that at least a minimum level of complimentary catering on European routes will remain.
