I got a kick out of a recent story on the Dallas NBC affiliate (and in the interest of full disclosure, I’ve appeared on their news many times – most recently in a story called “Time to Bag TSA Screeners?”).
The latest news concerns American Airlines’ new weight regimen; I guess you could call it a diet. It’s all about the various things the carrier is doing to drop weight on its planes in an effort to keep fuel costs down.
These new measures include replacing all 19,000 drink cart with new ones that are 12 pounds lighter than the old ones. Believe me, it adds up.
This reminds me of the legendary story about former American head Robert Crandall who, in a fit of cost-cutting, once ordered the removal of olives from salads in the onboard meals. Then, during the last fuel crisis – circa 2008 – we saw airlines removing life jackets from cabins and paper manuals from cockpits. And now, lighter drink carts. Nothing like $100 a barrel oil to get jets on a diet.
On the bright side, at least now when that drink cart comes by and whacks your elbow, it may not hurt as much.