In-flight dining has changed a lot over the years.
Back in the 1950s and ’60s, flyers could enjoy everything from freshly carved roast beef to crab legs, veal, and more, even on domestic flights. Today, you’re lucky if you get a Biscoff.
One might think that, given how low expectations are for in-flight food, airlines would struggle to mess it up. Somehow, this is not the case. One passenger reported that she became violently ill after consuming the hot chocolate on a Spirit Airlines flight. Others have documented mystery meat sandwiches, gross eating areas, and more.
Now, one user has gone viral for sharing an in-flight snack that isn’t much of a snack at all.
What’s Wrong With This Bag Of Cheez-Its?
In a video with over 1.2 million views, TikTok user @kelligt shows herself sitting on a Delta Airlines flight. In her hands is a bag of Cheez-Its.
After a second, she turns the bag—showing that it is almost entirely flat. Tearing off a corner and opening the bag, she reveals its contents: three Cheez-Its.
For context, that’s about 17 calories worth of Cheez-Its. She may have burned more calories walking through security and to her gate than she consumed in the form of Cheez-Its.
“So hungry, happy @delta gave me these delicious @Cheez-It to enjoy,” she writes in the video’s caption.
Is This Normal?
Under the video, the official Cheez-It account left a comment reading, “This definitely isn’t the in-flight vibe we were going for,” encouraging the TikToker to reach out. This would imply that what @kelligt experienced was not intentional.
But if that’s the case, how many Cheez-Its was she supposed to receive?
To answer that question, let’s do some Cheez-It math. Other images and videos of the in-flight Cheez-Its put their weight at 0.75 ounces, or around 21 grams. Each cracker weighs approximately 1.1 grams. This means that the TikToker should have received about 19 crackers—meaning she got about 16 Cheez-Its fewer than she should have.
In summary, this is not normal.
How Common Is This?
Accidents do happen. That said, there have been enough viral cases of listed weights not matching actual weights in recent months that some internet users are beginning to wonder what’s going on.
For example, one customer found that several 2-pound sugar bags from Dollar General actually weighed between 1.2 and 1.5 pounds. Others have noted inaccurate weights for meat at Walmart, including ham, bacon, and other products.
As previously noted by BroBible, small variations in weight are allowed from package to package. However, two standards must be met: the “Average Requirement” and the “Individual Package Requirement.” The former means that the entire batch of products must average out to the weight printed on the individual packages. The latter requires that the difference between the printed weight and actual weight of each package must not be “unreasonably large.”
Given that the true weight of the TikToker’s Cheez-It package was around 3.5 grams and that the listed weight is around 21, it’s fair to say that this standard was not met and that this product is in violation of the NIST Handbook.
Commenters Are Angry
In the comments section, users were upset by the paltry amount of Cheez-Its received by @kelligt, as well as the current state of the airline industry.
“And yet your non-refundable seat with no WIFI or leg room cost $45,322.82 and will earn you 24 mileage points,” joked a user.
“It should be illegal to waste this much plastic packaging,” added another.
“Genuinely, I would be significantly less offended if they just didn’t give us anything at this point,” declared a third.
@kelligt So hungry, happy @delta gave me these delicious @Cheez-It to enjoy 😊
BroBible reached out to @kelligt via TikTok direct message and comment, Delta via media contact form, and Kellanova via email.