No such thing as a free meal? It's back - on some airlines

New York

IT had seemed extinct. Airlines stopped offering it on domestic flights more than a decade ago, along with amenities that once made air travel an adventure rather than an endurance test, but it has reappeared in recent months - a free meal in coach.

Continuing their emergence from hard economic times, some airlines have begun adding complimentary breakfast, lunch or dinner on some of their flights in the United States.