Airline Food: The Topic

[TJHarris]

Y'all mean there is more than peanuts to airline food?

[Ohba]

Well, I'm all for good train food. I was born far too late for the Golden Age of Rail, but I still yearn for it. And I love travelling by train, but the food, if available at all, is a constant disappointment. Singapore-Penang express? Styrofoam boxes of fried noodles, reheated. China? Real cooked food, but something very very wrong with the taste of those eggs. Virgin West Coast? Nescafe at boiling point in a thin plastic cup. Burgers. An insult. Japan has the station bento. They're okay if cold food's your thing. Well, it's interesting to hear about Eurostar. We can live in hope of seeing more of that.

[jbonne]

i suspect some of the vast differences in quality even on single airlines is due to the various catering facilities at any given airport. Air France may be able to offer culinary wonders from PAR-NYC, but they're beholden to the JFK ground crews on the return.

that, and expectations. i'm just happy for anything with a better consistency than vulcanized rubber.

[KatieM]

Anyone flown SAS lately? I flew from Chicago to Copenhagen, and then from Stockholm back to Chicago a few years ago, and it was AWESOME. They served quite a lot of alcohol. It started as soon as you were seated, and continued through dinner and after when they served the coffee (and a little something to put in the coffee!) In fact, I think they fed us so much alcohol to conk us out so we would just sleep the whole time. I didn't mind at all! The coffee was outstanding, and they served fresh hot rolls that they had apparently just baked in their little plane oven. They walked around with baskets of them. I also remember the food being served in courses. I know there was a fantastic gravlax course, and though I can't recall the rest of the meal, I remember it being great. Well, at least by airline standards. We had two meals, and I'm sure there were snacks, but I slept the whole time, so I can't remember. The staff was so gracious and wonderful, and by the way, this was all happening in COACH! Well, this was pre 9/11 though, so I have no idea how the service is now. I can't imagine that it has changed that much, though. At least I hope not!

[sassybat]

i've pretty much stopped eating airline meals on national flights. if they even serve a meal, it's usually inedible, so i just make a habit of bringing my own sandwiches. but internationally speaking, i flew on air japan from LA to tokyo once, and the difference in quality absolutely blew me away. there was actually edible food! and the flight attendants were all pleasant, and made constant rounds with pots of coffee and green tea.

[hathor]

Please, oh please, give me something to soothe my very long, cramped body in the middle of this flight-from-hell.

As Busboy said: Ambien. Best thing you can eat on the overseas flights. I think I've been on most major carriers, and inconsistency is the rule. Never count on being fed. I was on Air France flight last summer where they had 'forgotten' the food and beverage...there wasn't even a sip of water to be had. They were so sorry for the inconvienence (however you spell that!).

[Malawry]

I'm flying Air Franch (coach) in a few months. What can I expect? Some people have mentioned it but I haven't seen any details. When my spouse made the reservation, the agent told him we should show up for the flight hungry...

[NewYorkTexan]

I'm flying Air Franch (coach) in a few months. What can I expect? Some people have mentioned it but I haven't seen any details. When my spouse made the reservation, the agent told him we should show up for the flight hungry...

I have taken Air France both as a code-share with continental and a Paris-New Delhi flight and the food was nothing great. That was in Business and Business/first and I can not imagine it would be any better in economy. In other words, do not go hungry expecting a fine meal. That is what traveling to France is for

The wine on the international flight was actually pretty good, I do not remember the details of it.

As someone who flies about one a week and takes international flights about every 8 weeks, I have given up on airline food. At best it is edible, but never is a truly enjoyable culinary experience. I think first class on British Air is the best right now.

Most airports have one or two quality restaurants or vendors who will pack a "to-go" meal that is a good option. For the overnight flights to Europe, all I want is some room to recline, an outlet to plug the laptop into and maybe, just maybe a decent movie to watch before I go to sleep.

[Katherine]

I'm flying Air Franch (coach) in a few months. What can I expect? Some people have mentioned it but I haven't seen any details. When my spouse made the reservation, the agent told him we should show up for the flight hungry...

Always have a backup plan. If your travel agent is wrong, you'll starve on the trip. Then you'll complain, and he'll say he was sorry, which won't change the memory of your suffering one bit.

Chocolate, nuts, and dried fruit, in the very least.

[cakewench]

wow. Go hungry, in anticipation of an Air France flight? Perhaps the agent meant that one should be prepared for the great food at the destination...

Air France food (economy class) is just as tasty as any other economy class food. Meaning, I sure wouldn't salivate with anticipation or anything. If anything, I seem to recall that they really like having a large portion of the meal consist of a cold 'salad' type food, which has been refrigerated with a million other things, and tastes accordingly.

The notable exceptions: Air France usually has extra rolls for people if they wish, which they heat up and bring around about halfway through the meal. Also, they have a lot of wine options, and I've never had a bad one on one of their flights. They will come around to offer some sort of sparking wine, as well, if they are feeling nice.

PS: nothing to do with food, but if you know any French, use it. The flight attendants have a reputation of being a bit snarky, but I've found that they are just as helpful as any other major carriers economy attendants, just not as effusive as (possibly) most Americans expect. They become a smidge happier when they hear a 'merci', even if you aren't good at it.

[Giagie]

On most of the short-haul flights that I take, I will avoid the food or bring something for myself. American is one of my prefferred carriers, but that does not mean I prefer any of their food, it is standard mush to me . On the long-haul flights generally on British Air I will tell them that I would prefer a Vegetarian meal, and sometimes I end up with something half-way decent compared to the normal meals that they will be serving on the flight. Generally all of the time that I fly, I am flying coach, so I don't expect anything great to begin with.

[Pan]

A couple of days ago, I completed a trip on United Airlines from JFK to SFO, then on Air China from SFO to PEK (Beijing), later on China Southern from PEK to Changchun and back to PEK, Air China/Shanghai from PEK to Shanghai-HongQiao, Air China from Shanghai-Pudong to SFO and UA back to JFK. I didn't eat any of the food provided on UA, instead having Katz's pastrami, cole slaw, and pickles (turkey sandwich for my mother) on the way from JFK to SFO. On the way back on UA, I slept for most of the flight and otherwise ate a sandwich of turkey, havarti, lettuce, and tomato on sourdough from the Boudin outlet in the SFO terminal. Take note of that name. Boudin makes tasty sandwiches on artisanal sourdough bread. Incidentally, my parents split on the quality of the airline food on the SFO-JFK flight, with my father liking it and my mother panning it. It didn't smell very good to me while I was trying to sleep, and I'm glad to report that no-one tried to wake me to see if I wanted any.

I found that the food on the Chinese flights, while clearly falling short of the quality you'd expect in a cheap restaurant, was quite acceptable for airline food, with the exception of the SFO-PEK flight, when I was served an overly oily beef or chicken-noodle dish (I forget) that upset my stomach.

From PEK to Changchun, we were fed absolutely unfishy fishballs with rice. I also ate a packet of preserved vegetables with some of the rice. Also included in the meal was a decent roll and some gelatinous pineapple jam which wasn't half bad.

Changchun-PEK wasn't a meal flight, and only drinks and peanuts were offered (good peanuts, though).

On the PEK-HongQiao flight, we were asked "rice or noodles?" Rice came with pork, noodles with beef. The beef noodles were somewhat tasty. I chose not to eat the roll or cake and gave them to the somewhat elderly woman behind me, who was flying for the first time and was very happy with the gift.

On the Pudong-SFO flight, we had a choice of "porridge" (a rather viscous combination of rice and beans) or a "Western breakfast" of what I guess you'd call a plain omelette (fried eggs with mixed-up yolks and whites) with a piece of ham. I was warned that the porridge was tasteless, so I ordered the eggs and ham and was satisfied. I forget what the side dishes were.

Also, all of the tea we were offered was good Chinese jasmine tea, none of that Lipton teabag bullshit. Plus, a bottle of beer was free for those who wanted it (like my brother).

To sum up, whatever problems Chinese airlines have (and they do have problems), they seem not to have learned from American airlines that it's best to offer total crap or nothing in place of actual food. And I hope they never do.

[Tess]

I never pay out of my own pocket for anything above coach. I do fly business or first sometimes, almost always on United. I find it hard to guess whether there will even be a meal served on a flight. I generally try to assume there won't be, and eat before or after the flight. That said, I've had some fairly tasty meals on long United flights above coach. But my favorite dining moment was in coach on Alitalia. I was eating the OK cheese and crackers when they asked what type of wine I would like. I asked if they had prosecco and they brought out a bottle in an ice bucket.

[bleudauvergne]

I've flown many airlines and I used to fly Air France for my France-US-France trips. Somehow while making a reservation for an overseas flight I got duped into a Delta flight with an AF code - what a rude awakening! They charged money for wine with meal. We were happy with KLM on the way home this vacation and I think we'll go that airline again. The best in-flight meal I have ever had was AEROFLOT 1st class, from Alma Ata to Moscow. I was dreading the flight, having heard horror stories about the airline. They did such a wonderful job. The most memorable part of it was the warm blinis with creme fraiche, onion shavings, and beluga caviar, which the hostess prepared for us one by one, with big spoonfuls of caviar on each one. I'll never forget it.

[helenjp]

I don't care what airline it is, I always avoid the fish.

Been watching "Airplane" have we...where a passenger eats fish and starts vomiting eggs??

[Pan]

I didn't think about the idea that I'd have to clarify that we were flying Economy Class. I've never flown above Economy Class in my life, and I think if you're paying twice economy fare or more, they'd damn well better feed you like a king, because as far as I'm concerned, it would be tough for anything to make it really worth that kind of price increase for a few hours of my life, even if I had so much money that a few thousand here or there didn't matter much to my bank account. Then again, if I were on an expense account...

As far as fish on airlines is concerned, I normally give it a very wide berth, but I kid you not about the total unfishiness of the fishballs - the one and only available main dish - on that China Southern flight. (My mother, who has a pretty hard-and-fast rule against eating fish anywhere, didn't eat the fishballs, but I feel sure she could have.)

[Jammin]

I have taken Air France both as a code-share with continental and a Paris-New Delhi flight and the food was nothing great.  That was in Business and Business/first and I can not imagine it would be any better in economy.  In other words, do not go hungry expecting a fine meal.  That is what traveling to France is for 

The wine on the international flight was actually pretty good, I do not remember the details of it.

[note to newyorktexan: who ever you are, you are making me think i'm reading my own posts. current new york resident born and bred in texas who just recently hopped AF to new delhi in business class.]

anyway...

i had SUCH high hopes for the food on air france after getting the first appetizer on the new york to paris half of my trip. it was a scallop and shrimp with some kind of mango salsa and both were PERFECTLY executed. i was stunned that *seafood* could turn out that way on a plane. what i failed to note was that it was served cold so when i took a chance on the fish main course, it was - as usual - overcooked and dry. in general, i found the apps to be much better than the mains. depressing what a convection oven often does to food.

ahh, and yes, the champagnes/wines on the flights were superb.

[Smarmotron]

For anyone concerned about their in-flight dining, I must echo the Singapore Air recommendations. I can't say enough good things about the quality of their food. It wouldn't compete with a nice restaurant, but for airplane food it's tops. Plus, they bring around hourly cups of water or orange juice- great to have on those long flights - without going through the whole drink service rigamarole.

I can't say enough about their service.

[Bridgestone]

I'm wondering a little about the whole "never touch the fish on airlines" cliché...

Has anyone here ever actually gotten sick from the fish option? As someone else mentioned, we've all seen "Airplane!" but what are our experiences?

I know that until recently I have also felt a warning lamp go on when offered the fish choice. I fly SAS intercontinental (Stockholm - Chicago) pretty regularly and noticed that the meat course has, due to recent cutbacks, nearly always been meatballs with mashed potatoes. I'm not too wild about the factory-produced meatballs Sweden is rapidly becoming associated with (Thanks IKEA!) so I've been choosing the fish course recently. Guess what?

It's great! Fresh, well-cooked fish with a great sauce and some green beans (or similar) and rice. It's usually a white fish (halibut?) or maybe sometimes salmon. Trust me - a far cry better then the meatballs. Not only better quality but significant more quantity, too. And certainly no Linda Blair-like incidents for me so far...

So, have we been fooled or have the airlines (at least SAS) listened to our complaints, seen the non-eaten fish and improved the fish choice without informing us? Anyone else dare to order the fish?

(I will, in general, put in another vote for SAS having great food, service and flights to and within Scandinavia.)

[jbonne]

on a generally related topic: airport food.

lots of airlines are getting rid of food on domestic flights, but JetBlue's long-standing policy of that has really blossomed the food offerings at their JFK hub since last i was there.

i was amazed this weekend to see how much variety was available (with, it appears, a new food court on the way), including a sushi bar that offered not-bad maki, a decent wakame salad and pretty good wines by the glass. there's also a new deli selling sandwiches, frittatas, salads and lots of dry goods, plus small cans of Sofia blanc de blancs (we brought on one of those) and, inexplicably, even steak sauce.

we already had pizza from Lombardi's and leftover bagels, so we were well stocked, but the whole thing made for the best meal flight i've had in a while.

it just made me even sadder to return to the north terminal at SEA, where the best we had was Cinnabon, Burger King and an airport bar serving California chardonnay so flabby and oaky i described it as tasting like a "f***ing lumberyard."

then there's JBLU's blue potato chips. little touch, but such a thoughtful one. and, allegedly, they'll serve you your own wine if you carry it aboard. next time, i'm bringing a screwcapped bottle of Argyle pinot noir and fully intend to test that theory out.

[joey madison]

Having spent an ungodly amount of time on planes lately, I thought I'd chip in my two cents.

By far, the best and most consistent airline food I've had is on Midwest Airlines. Maybe it's the exceptionally roomy seats, maybe it's the wine that actually is served in a glass, maybe it's that they use real flatware... but they have the best food, IMHO.

I recently flew on Lufthansa from DC to Frankfurt, and was pleasantly surprised by the food. Nothing extraordinary, but the staff kept the cocktails coming, and the food was more than edible.

On a seperate trip from London to DC, I had the misfortune of sampling United's fare. Ugh. I wanted to die it was SO bad.

I haven't flown Continential much lately, but I did twice last month, and they seem to be a close runner up to Midwest.

AA and USAir don't even warrant mention.

BA is supposed to be really exceptional...

[Muffin210]

Houseberg and I just got back last week from Japan; we used a chunk of frequent flier miles to upgrade to business class on United Airlines. The food was actually pretty good! MUCH better than what we're used to back in economy class. I embarassed Houseberg by whipping out the camera and taking a bunch of photos for eGullet...the flight attendants were joking that I must be a spy from another airline...sorry, I slept through the second meal on both flights, so these are just the pictures from the first part of the flight.

Gotta start out with salted warm nuts and drinks...

Appetizer course: "Spiced shrimp and Parma ham...fresh seasonal greens with roasted garlic red wine vinaigrette"

Western entree: "Filet mignon with applewood smoked bacon demi-glace, roasted red potatoes and green beans with yellow pepper"

[Muffin210]

PART II:

O-bento appetizer: "Eggs with garlic chive and tomato, salmon sushi, green beans with sesame sauce, beef negima-yaki, shrimp nanban-zuke and soba noodles"

O-bento entree: "Chicken, vegetable, and shiitake mushroom shikuzen-ni, steamed salmon with grated daikon, fried fish cake and peas with steamed rice, served with green tea" (and sake!)

Dessert: "Eli's Apple Crunch pie" with Sandeman's porto

There was also champagne and a selection of red and white wines...I think I had a 2002 Jean-Luc Colombo Cotes-du-Rhone Les Abeilles...the other entree option was a grilled salmon dish...there was also a cheese plate of Stilton and Black Diamond cheddar.

On the way back to CA, there was again a filet mignon entree (which Houseberg got -- this one with shiitake mushroom and port wine demi-glace), so I didn't bother taking a photo. The Western appetizer was smoked salmon, prosciutto, cream cheese, and tomato with fresh seasonal greens, cucumbers, and red bell peppers. The alternate entree was tropical barbecued chicken breast with Hawaiian marinade.

O-bento appetizer: "spicy vinegared horse mackerel, shrimp with lily root, shiitake mushroom stuffed egg, simmered sweet potato and udon noodles"

O-bento entree: "silver cod in soy mirin sauce with shimeji mushrooms, vegetables, ginkgo nuts and steamed rice, served with green tea"

The cheeses were a red cheddar and gorgonzola; the dessert was orange mouse with creme chantilly.

Not bad, for airline food!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Last long flight was on Delta (you can stop reading here, I realize!), and one had to purchase their sandwiches for $8 each .. so I asked for the fruit and cheese plate ... also $8 ... the last one she had was given to a girl in my row who had just consumed an entire meal she brought from home ... there is no way I will get on a Delta flight to California and back without taking my own food... ever!!

And on my last flight from Washington to Frankfurt, Lufthansa ran out of the regular dinners and we wound up with dried out cheese manicotti ...

[Pan]

Having spent an ungodly amount of time on planes lately, I thought I'd chip in my two cents.

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Thanks. The crucial question: What class were you in?