First they came for the airline meals. Then they came for the pillows, blankets, and free headsets. Then they started charging to sit near the front of the plane, and airline passengers accepted it all as part of the cost of air travel. But now United Airlines is coming for the stroopwafels—and that may be a step too far for customers.
News of this snack-based snafu comes courtesy of journalist Ethan Klapper and a press release that touts a new food item entering United’s “complimentary snack rotation.” That item is a maple wafer cookie created for the airline by Byrd Cookie Company, which is all well and good, except it will take the place of stroopwafels in the snack rotation (at least on domestic flights departing before 9:45 a.m.).
Per the press release, the decision was made due to “Google Trends data” that showed an increase in maple searches, so yeah, blame the wellness crowd for looking up all those maple cures!
Based on responses to Klapper’s tweets, the change isn’t going over well. While United claims the stroopwafel will be available again in the future, for now, it will only be available on flights departing Europe prior to 9:30 a.m. That is, if customers let them get away with this. One thing United surely doesn’t need is yet another customer-service crisis. After this stroopwafel calamity, let it be known that Delta Airlines will pry the Biscoff cookies out of our cold, dead hands.
A United spokesperson offered the following comment:
“Our new maple wafer was created especially for United Airlines by a woman-owned bakery with deep American roots. We have introduced this new inflight snack into our complimentary snack rotation so that we could offer customers a new option that is based on the current maple flavor trend that is becoming increasingly popular in a variety of food and beverages.”
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