Following a successful trial period a couple months ago, Continental Airlines has announced that they are introducing a number of premium cocktails on their domestic and Latin American flights. The drinks – Red Bull and Stirrings cocktail mixers – will be priced at $9 including alcohol or $3 for just the mixer in the economy cabin. The program goes into effect on July 1, 2010. The press release is not particularly clear how they will be treated in the first class cabin and there is plenty of speculation and debate on FlyerTalk about how that is going to play out.
I’ve had the Mojito mix that will be included on a Virgin America flight and they were decent enough. I’m not sure that they are $9 decent, but when they were included in the price of my ticket I was certainly happy to drink the entire available stock during my transcon flight. On the Virgin America flight they also came served in a shaker rather than just poured into a glass. That might be worth a little bit of a premium just for the kitsch factor.
This move shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, especially given the recent trial program and the announcement of Buy-on-Board meal service also starting later this fall.
UPDATE (30 June 13:50 EDT): Apparently the July issue of Continental Magazine is out and it indicates that the premium mixers will be a paid item in the forward cabin. That’s pretty bad form.
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