Air Fayre.

Today's security alert means that virtually all carry-on luggage (with particular attention to liquids) is being banned on flights. As someone who always carries on a bottle of water, my mind immediately contemplated long flights with insufficient hydration.

Now, I know things are changing, albeit for cost-cutting purposes, but it has always struck me that it is quite possible for any healthy person to go up to ten hours without a major meal. Food services are really a ritual designed to occcupy our time on board. But is that what passengers want? Surely a constant supply of non-alcoholic liquids and cold snacks would be sufficient - not to mention easier to supply and would reduce passengers' carry-on provisions.

Marketers may claim to add value to their offerings in order to achieve differentiation (or justify a higher price), but that is only true if it's valued by the customer.

Addendum: Seth echoes my other thought on hearing the tales of many business people at Heathrow at 6 a.m. - wouldn't their hours of travel and waiting time incurred to make one or two meetings have been better spent utilising modern technology to get much more done?