Hawaiian Air expands choices for food in flight
POSTED: Thursday, April 23, 2009
Hawaiian Airlines has expanded coach-class passengers' food options on flights between Hawaii and the mainland.
Passengers now can choose a free meal or opt for a new, $10 premium meal at lunch or dinner under Hawaiian's in-house 'Ono Bistro brand of meals and snacks.
“;You would kind of think it's counterintuitive”; to offer passengers something to buy when they can get something free, said Louis Saint-Cyr, vice president of in-flight services. “;But the reason why it's working for us right now is that people want choices.”;
Premium meals are mostly salads, except for the sushi, and each flight offers two free and two premium choices.
On the premium menu, from here to the mainland, it's sushi or a chicken Caesar salad. From the mainland to here, it's a Greek salad or the chicken Caesar salad, he said.
Premium meals come with bottled water, but lest anyone gasp at the political and environmental incorrectness of a landfill-clogging plastic bottle, the bottle is “;made from plant resin which basically makes it completely biodegradable,”; said Saint-Cyr.
The food boxes, containers and cutlery also are either biodegradable or recyclable.
If a mainland-bound passenger wants the freebie but doesn't want the chicken Caesar pasta (pictured at left), they could opt for a turkey sandwich.
Flying here from the mainland, the other choice is a Mediterranean salad.
In the mornings only breakfast burritos are available, but within three weeks Hawaiian will offer a 16-ounce cup of organic fruit from Lanikai Juice Co. Inc.
The airline is not spending additional money on its enhanced meal service.
“;The challenge for us to do this free offering was to do it on a cost-neutral basis,”; and the premium meals are generating revenue, Saint-Cyr said.
On the Net
Marketing icon retiring
Central Pacific Bank's “;Loyalty Officer,”; Alex the Shetland sheepdog, is retiring as the bank's mascot, as it has started a new branding campaign with Matsumoto & Clapperton Advertising LLC.
Alex already has another gig.
He has been certified as a therapy dog that can serve in situations where patients will respond better to him than a human caregiver, said Wayne Kirihara, senior vice president of corporate communications.
Alex will have a retirement ceremony this afternoon at Kapiolani Medical Center featuring Ronald Migita, CPB's chairman, president and chief executive officer, and Susan LaFountaine, hospital director of rehabilitation services.
CPB will donate 2,800 Alex plushies to the hospital that will retrofit them at a cost of $5 to $12 each, for pediatric treatments.
“;What they do is wire up the dog (internally) so that, for example, if you press the tummy,”; it says one phrase and squeezing a paw will generate a different phrase, Kirihara said.
Introduced after CPB took over City Bank, Alex became CPB's symbol for “;fiercely loyal banking.”;
Kirihara said CPB's new tagline is “;Works. For. You.”;
On the Net
» centralpacificbank.com
