Going nuts over the Southwest Airlines snack box

Southwest Airlines snack box, July 2018 edition

I am probably the only person in the world who obsesses over the Southwest Airlines snack box. This is a tray of individual packaged food items offered on flights over two hours in duration. The flight attendant comes down the aisle and displays the box to each row in turn, and when it gets to you the proper etiquette (sometimes specified by the server) is to take up to two items, but no more. No charge, this being Southwest.

I loved the Cheese Ritz crackers that were originally included in these boxes, along with a package of shortbread cookies. I have thought about having a birthday party where the food consists of nothing but Southwest Airlines snack trays, which the airline would possibly donate as a public relations stunt. I have even been tempted to snatch a box when they are waiting to be loaded, on the jetway outside the plane, but where would I hide it and anyway why steal something you are getting for free?

Lately, however the Southwest snack box has gone downhill. The Cheese Ritz are gone and the flight attendant yesterday told me they aren’t coming back. For a while there were bags of one-bite cheese crackers and chocolate chip cookies, but they were just weaning us from the good stuff. Now the choices consist of a small bag of Fritos (appropriate since Southwest is based in Texas, as is Frito-Lay), peanuts and pretzels, “plane cookies” which are animal crackers shaped like airplanes, and one good item, Belvita breakfast biscuits which promise “4 hours of energy”.

Cheese Ritz are available in bulk at Walmart

The peanuts are going away on August 1, as you may have heard, allegedly due to concerns over nut allergies. But the real story is the steady decline of the overall snack box. I fear we’re headed for a world in which you have to pay for your snacks on Southwest.

The good news is that two of the most important items, the Belvita biscuits (in multiple flavors, not just the coconut offered in flight) and my beloved Cheese Ritz are available in bulk at Walmart! Currently an 8 pack of Cheese Ritz is just $2.79 (don’t be tempted by the cheaper but inferior Lance crackers on the next kiosk) and Belvitas are $2.98.

BelVita breakfast biscuits at Walmart

To insure a classic Southwest experience I brought two packages of each on my current itinerary (one for outgoing, the other for return flight). I advise you to do the same. Maybe you can perform some sleight of hand where you reach for the snack box then produce the Cheese Ritz which you have been hiding in your sleeve. Your seatmates will think they have gone back in time.