Getting people to pay for a meal is going to be a means of generating cash or reducing costs – allegedly.
But once the systems costs and paper-work cost of tracking and flagging who is and isn’t entitled to a meal is taken into account.
Alongside the hassle factor – dealing with passengers who think they have paid for a meal but haven’t, dealing with the consequences that follow when passengers - especially within groups - don’t sit in precisely their allocated seats etc etc.
Is this actually going to be worth a candle?
I have had some OK meals on charter flights and I have been served food that was to say the least iffy. When they were ‘free’ the worst that would happen is that I wouldn’t eat and maybe make a joke about it. But if I have paid for a meal, what happens if I want to send it back and/or get a refund because it wasn’t the mouth-watering gourmet delight promised in the brochure?
Also, doesn’t all this de-packaging of individual elements (a) generate the impression that the operators are trying to rip people off (b) serve to remind people that they can book flights and accommodation on the web and don’t actually need a tour operator.
But other than that I think charging for meals is an excellent idea.