It’s the thin end of the wedge. United Airlines has said it is to stop serving meals to its business class passengers in the US and plans to give them pre-packed snack boxes instead. The snack boxes are the same as those offered to its economy passengers but will be free of charge. It may only seem a small change but it risks alienating some of the airline’s key customers at a time when it is likely to be desperate to retain them, given the softening of the US economy.

Graham Atkinson, the airline’s executive vice president and chief customer officer, said: “Our industry is changing and we need to tailor products and services to what customers value and provide them with more choice."

Of course, what this doesn’t say is that “more choice” will cost the airline less, because snackboxes are less perishable than fresh meals.

At the same time, the airline will stop offering free food to economy passengers on its transatlantic flights from Washington. While such charges are now common within Europe and the domestic US, it is the first time an airline has said it is going to charge passengers on such long flights. From 1 October, fresh meals will cost $9 and snackboxes $6.

The airline industry calls this “unbundling”, making passengers pay for those products and services they want, such as aisle seats and priority boarding rather than charging a fare that includes everything. Unbundling is becoming all the rage for airlines which are having a hard time making enough profits out of those headline air fares. Other airlines will undoubtedly be watching to see how United’s food experiment goes.