No, This Isn't The April 1st Edition

With the overall decline in the availability of inflight meals on domestic flights, perhaps this was a natural -- last week the flight crew aboard an AirTran aircraft grabbed a Wendy's order to go, without ever leaving the cockpit.

The ignoble event -- conducted by AirTran Airways, Wendy's International, Inc. and Coca-Cola -- was held at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Friday to promote the Round Trip Refreshment campaign, that offers Wendy's diners credits towards free air travel on AirTran with the purchase of a soft drink at the fast-food chain.

"If drive-up pharmacies and drive-in wedding chapels can work, the idea of an airplane drive-thru just might take off," joked AirTran VP of Marketing Tad Hutcheson. "This was an opportunity to celebrate our new partnership with a dynamic company, Wendy's, and recognize our continued relationship with AirTran Airways' long-time beverage partner, Coca-Cola."

As part of the promotion, an AirTran 737 taxied through a specially designed Wendy's 'fly-thru' window, according to media reports, where the captain presented an AirTran Airways A+ Visa card to the honorary "air-food controller" manning the window.

No word how well the order was heard through the order board's speaker system -- usually just barely intelligible over the din of an automobile's engine, nevermind a GE turbofan at high idle power. And believe it or not, this is the only part of this story we made up.

FMI: www.airtran.com, www.wendys.com