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Airline food has been the butt of jokes for a long time.
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The first of the year all of the airlines are going to be in a lot of
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trouble because the FAA has now
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passed a law that will require all airline food must taste like something.
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People just don't expect to get on an airline and enjoy the meal they're going to eat.
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But why does airline food taste so bad?
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Is it that the airlines are just too cheap to put money into their food?
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Or is there something else they play?
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The first airline meals were served on October 11th, 1919.
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It was aboard a Hanley page flight from London to Paris,
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featuring a pre-packed lunch box that costs
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interested passengers three shillings a piece.
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Pack lunches like the original consisting of sandwiches and
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fruit were common for decades following this first course.
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United Airlines stepped up the in-flight service in 1936,
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when they installed the first on-board kitchens making hot meals near a possibility.
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Having a kitchen wasn't possible until this point because engines were much weaker.
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So, much so that diverting power away from them towards
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an appliance like an oven, was somewhat dangerous.
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Back then, meals were things like egg salad,
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crab meat cocktails, lobster and sherbet.
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It also wasn't uncommon for planes to land where meals could be served at picnic tables.
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There were other reasons for needing to land
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like the need to refuel,b ut what's the rush.
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Everyone on the board is rich. Take your time.
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With kitchens, airlines could now serve hot and fresh meat that was repaired on board.
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On top of that, frozen meals,
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ones that were prepared earlier and then heated up in
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the sky also took off and dominated the 40s.
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By 1958, jet travel had spread throughout the US.
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But only the wealthy could enjoy the luxury offered in the skies.
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People certainly paid for that luxury.
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When adjusted for inflation,
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a TWA flight in the late 1950s,
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from Boston to L.A., cost $896.
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A quick google flight search and I found tickets for that same trip
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going for 120 in January of 2019.
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Just look at how comfortable these people appear in this Pan Am commercial
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intended to introduce people to the opulence they can expect on board.
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This is the atmosphere on a jet clipper flight.
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Delicious food adds to the enjoyment.
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It's prepared in full of simultaneously operating galleys,
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where dishes can be cooked in five minute ovens.
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During the late 50s,
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the 60s and early 70s,
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passengers could expect to see items like lobster, caviar,
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ham, Cornish game hens an things along those lines.
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Sometimes, meals were several courses and would last as long as two hours.
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In 1978, president Jimmy Carter,
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signed the Airline Deregulation Act.
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The law altered the course of the entire airline industry. Pan intended.
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Before the airline industry was deregulated,
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the Civil Aeronautics Board told which airlines could
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fly what routes and even set prices.
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Prices that congress had deemed to be inflated.
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With the Airline Deregulation Act,
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the government abolished the CAB creating
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a free and open market for airlines to decide what routes they want to fly,
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and what price they'd like to charge.
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This gave rise to the low cost carriers which are exactly what you think they are.
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The southwest of the world.
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The ramifications of the law still being felt today as
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airlines try and keep their overhead down as much as possible.
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But it seems to work for profit margins.
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Airlines like allegiant, spirit and frontier,
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they charge a low upfront fares and then hit you with fees are among
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the top in terms of their operating margins between costs and profits.
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So, is that it. Can we blame the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act and the fact that
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airlines try to keep their costs down as much as
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possible for the reason that airplane food is so bad.
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Well, no.
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That doesn't tell the whole story.
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Today, airplanes fly in the sweet spot of 35,000 feet where lower
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air pressure offers maximum fuel efficiency at a height above most weather events.
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The air inside the cabin is pressurized to simulate air at six to 8,000 feet in altitude.
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That's about the same height as Mount Olympus, in Washington state.
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Meanwhile, the air within a plane is that 20 percent humidity. Really dry.
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In fact, the Sahara Desert hovers
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around 25 percent humidity and there's a simple reason why.
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Over the course of their trip,
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planes recycle about 50 percent of their air.
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If they didn't, oxygen could become scarce with everyone filling it with carbon dioxide.
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Air pulled in at, let's say,
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35,000 feet is really thin,
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meaning, there's not a lot of moisture.
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In fact, the air at that altitude can have as little as one percent humidity.
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The plane takes this air in and is able to pressurized it
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to feel like the air pressure of 68,000 feet,
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and then hydrated to 20 percent.
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But as I've said that's still extremely dry.
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So, what does this have to do with food on planes?
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The lack of humidity is an issue because it affects your ability to taste.
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Let's also remember that food can go dry,
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because it's under that same lack of humidity.
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Your sense of smell works with the moisture in the air and if that moisture is not there,
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you won't be able to taste things as well as you can on the ground.
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Germany's Fraunhofer Institute, studied the dulling of our taste buds on planes and
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found that on planes your ability to taste is about the same as someone with a Colt.
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Meaning, even if you're eating a meal prepared
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by the best chef in the world using the best ingredients,
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you wouldn't be able to taste it.
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But that's not all. A 2014,
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study conducted by Charles Spence,
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a psychologist from Oxford,
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found that constant loud noises such as a plane engine,
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also dulls your sense of taste.
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Spence's, quoted as saying in order for things that
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taste the same on the ground as they do in the air,
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airlines would need to add 30 percent more sugar or
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30 percent more salt which sounds awful for your health.
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Airlines are looking into it,
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especially for their first class passengers,
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where they're trying to create a luxury experience.
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Lufthansa, reports that cinnamon, ginger,
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chilly and curry, don't need as much help to taste normal.
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Same with oranges and tomato oils,
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which probably explains why tomato juice is so popular on planes.
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So, we'll see if airlines can overcome our dull taste buds.
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Actually, let's be honest,
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most of us are not first class travelers
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and we're never going to have to worry about this.
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We'll just have to stick with our airport diets of fast food and candy.
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God bless America. Everyone, thank you so much for watching.
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