Rant about ‘Buy on Board’ meals

US domestic airlines have pretty much transitioned to ‘buy on board’ meals for lots of domestic flights. Fine. I’d like better taste, lower fat content, and always more than what’s offered in back (or at least as much!) up front in first class.


But couldn’t they provide better receipts for folks purchasing their meals?


United’s are photocopy tear off scraps of paper with fill on lines for flight number, date, and amount.


The amounts involved are small enough that lack of receipt doesn’t fall afoul of IRS guidelines, but the receipt itself is enough of a joke that I imagine lots of corporate accounting departments won’t reimburse the expense. At least that’s something United might survey on, especially if ‘buy on board’ sales are below expectation. Are business travelers having to bear the cost of their meals out of pocket? And could that be easily fixed?

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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