Alaska Airlines to Charge for Meals in Coach

Say goodbye to free meals in coach on Alaska Airlines cross-country flights.

The SeaTac-based airline announced Thursday that it will begin selling meals for $5 on 17 daily transcontinental flights beginning Oct. 29. The for-sale meals will replace complimentary snack sandwiches. The new program is expected to save Alaska "several million dollars" annually, the airline said.

Alaska had been one of a few carriers offering free meals to coach passengers. The company will continue providing no-cost meals to first-class fliers.

The cross-country meals program is the latest extension of a for-sale experiment Alaska began last year on its flights to Mexico.

The airline had expanded the program this year to flights to Alaska. With the latest announcement, the airline will offer $5 meals on virtually all of its flights over three hours that occur at mealtime, about 90 daily flights.

On breakfast flights, customers can buy a meal featuring southwest sausage, scrambled eggs and hash brown potatoes. On lunch and dinner flights, customers will have a choice of a chicken fajita salad wrap with an Almond Roca candy or a quarter-pound U.S. Angus beef cheeseburger with potato chips.

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