It’s the end of an era for Southwest Airlines.
The Dallas-based company announced on Tuesday that it will no longer be serving peanuts on any of its flights as of August 1, citing passenger allergy concerns.
“Peanuts forever will be part of Southwest’s history and DNA,” the airline said in a statement. “However, to ensure the best on-board experience for everyone, especially for customers with peanut-related allergies, we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue serving peanuts on all flights beginning August 1.”
Peanuts have become synonymous with airline food over the years, thanks in no small part to Southwest, who ran ads in the ’70s and ’80s claiming their fares were so low, you could “fly for peanuts.”
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“Everyone made fun of Southwest because all they served was peanuts, so we turned it around and used it as an advantage,” Roy Spence, co-founder of GSD&M advertising agency which has done Southwest’s marketing for over 35 years, tells PEOPLE.
“People don’t remember that, but that was at a time when air travel was for rich people, and Southwest was for ordinary citizens,” he adds. “Southwest was the pioneer of peanuts. It was a marketing strategy, not just a food strategy.”
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Though the in-flight nuts will soon be a thing of the past, the airline will continue to serve other snacks like pretzels and cookies.
“We’ll miss the peanuts, but, at the end of the day, it’s our Southwest employees and the hospitality they deliver that set us apart, far more than peanuts ever could,” the company said in their statement.
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