More than a third of the world’s population – an estimated 2.77 billion of us – will shop online in 2025, and the number keeps on growing year on year.
“Based on this, you would think that the uptake of airline pre-ordering would be high, or at least on the rise,” observes Lance Hayward, Founder and Managing Director of The Hayward Partnership. “But the reality is that airlines have experienced mixed success.”
Despite the best efforts of the industry, the percentage of air passengers who pre-order their inflight meals is believed to be less than 5%. Some believe the figure is as low as 2%.
Win-win
The low take-up of pre-ordering is perhaps even more puzzling because it brings significant benefits for airlines, and for their customers too.
For the airlines, it enables better planning. “It stops inventory being needlessly packed, loaded and flown from destination to destination at great cost and with no revenue generation,” says Hayward.
This, of course, helps to tackle one of the major challenges of onboard catering – waste. According to IATA’s cabin waste audit trials, based on 25 short, medium and long-haul flights out of Singapore Changi, F&B accounts for 65% of cabin and catering waste, with untouched meals accounting for 18% of all waste.
If airlines are able to only load what their passengers actually want to eat and drink onboard, waste can be significantly reduced. This also reduces the overall weight of the plane, which lowers fuel consumption and, therefore, the carbon footprint of each flight.
But the benefits don’t stop there. “Done well, pre-ordering can raise passenger satisfaction through increased, personalised choice,” says Hayward.
Tobias Ögren, Sunclass Airlines Head of Inflight Product & Catering, says this is clearly demonstrated by its customer feedback.
Roughly 80% of the Danish charter airline’s inflight meals are pre-ordered during the winter months and around half during the summer.
“We can measure customer satisfaction and through that data we know passengers who pre-order meals have a better experience,” he says.
He advises airlines to create their inflight offering around customer profiles. “Look into the typical customers you are flying and build the whole service concept and pre-order meals around that. Provide them with something they actually want to order.”
Product placement
Icelandair, which also has a high take-up of pre-ordering for its inflight dining, also says product choice is key.
“We can offer a broader selection of meals to cater to the needs of different passengers. We are also able to offer different products in different price ranges, depending on what the passenger is looking for,” says its Operations Analyst Thorunn Gudmundsdottir.
“Pre-ordering sets expectations for passengers from the booking process until they’re onboard, where they get the meal they wanted to receive, instead of perhaps having to get their second choice due to their preferred meal being sold out by the time crew reach their seat.”
Icelandair offers a buy-on-board concept on all routes in Economy class and has seen a big jump in pre-orders this year, particularly in meals that cater for passengers with dietary restrictions.
“Year-on-year we have had an almost 40% increase over all and in some products, for example our vegan salad, we have seen a 125% increase from last year,” says Gudmundsdottir, who puts the rise down to a number of factors.
“Our pre-purchase selection was made more visible through our app, which increased engagement from passengers. We also put more focus and increased the visibility of all our pre-purchase offerings on all platforms, including in our pre-flight emails.”
Sales tactics
How and when airlines present pre-ordering options to passengers is crucial, particularly with so many other add-ons being presented during the booking process and leading up to the flight.
“It’s an art and a science,” says Hayward. “The unbundling of services has created a lot of ‘noise’ when you book your flight up to the point of departure from both the airline and the airport.
“The communication needs to be attention grabbing and correspond to the time when most passengers start thinking about their F&B and retail needs.”
Cut-off times for placing pre-orders vary, but the general consensus seems to be up to 24 hours before departure time for airlines offering it to passengers in their premium cabins on long-haul flights and 48 hours for buy-on-board pre-orders on short-haul flights.
“Supply chains and compliance regulations for airline catering create challenges when trying to correspond with the optimum time passengers are ready to make decisions on their F&B and retail requirements,” notes Hayward.
Other operational logistics, such as aircraft changes, diversions and passengers deciding to take earlier or later flights, all add complexity, he notes.
Ögren at Sunclass Airlines says being an integrated part of a tour operator makes communication easier.
“It means we have full access to our passengers already from when they book their trip and can push for sales through different communication channels,” he explains.
Speaking to a Scandinavian audience might also help. Based on the findings of a meeting of airlines with buy-on-board F&B at this year’s WTCE, there are clear regional trends.
“The only airlines with good results with pre-ordering were in the Nordics,” noted Laura Heijmann, Buy on Board Manager at Transavia.
Hayward agrees: “Some nations, such as Scandinavians, just seem to embrace the concept of pre-order more than others and spend per head is incredibly high. But while it’s tempting to emphasise culture when measuring success of pre-ordering, I suspect the Scandinavians have also got a lot of the necessary factors right for their target consumers.”
Sales push
Iberojet is introducing pre-ordering for the first time this summer and its Director of Customer Experience, Juan José Salgueiro, believes it’s important to have clear information – text and pictures – on its website to increase uptake. It has decided to use WhatsApp, not email, to push pre-ordering and to communicate to customers the benefits of ordering in advance.
Offering discounts exclusively for pre-ordered items can also help persuade passengers to buy meals in advance.
SWISS, for example, offers a 10% discount to Economy passengers who pre-select food on its European flights. Other airlines encourage passengers to pre-order by offering meal deal bundles or discounts for meal on return legs.
Special treatment
Serving those with pre-ordered items first is also likely to encourage passengers who are not already converted to the idea – especially if they end up not getting their first choice.
Passengers with special dietary requirements are also more inclined to pre-select their meals, and many airlines will take orders for cakes or champagne for special occasions, too. •
