Best Airline Meal

[deanm]

There's a thread running on the Cabin Crew forum trying to find out about a dish called 'Princess Scallops' served on BA Concorde.

The thread has prompted some discussion of airline meals, so maybe we can start another: what's the best (or worst?!) airline meal you ever had?

I'll start: 1997, Sabena 737 to Berlin, flying high alongside the Alps. Lunch - 'Chicken a la King'. Sitting back as the Alps cruised alongside in glorious sunshine, glass of red in one hand, ciggie in the other (those were the days!), I thought 'It doesn't get better than this!'

Dean

[dhavillandpilot]

Today

In the hotel prior to leaving for the airport

[longer ron]

Many years ago we were booked with Alitalia from LGW to sicily but the week prior to departure were on holiday in england,got back to sussex the night before to find 3 msgs from travel agent on ansafone - (1) ''Alitalia on strike,we can book you on BA for 450 squid'' (2) Same msg again then (3) ''Just turn up at LGW and see the Alitalia station manager who can get you to Bologna that day and then to sicily the next morning ''

So we go to LGW and end up on a Lauda Citation,with proper crockery and metal cutlery :) out to bologna - v nice !

Unfortunately the strike finished before our return date and we flew back in a threadbare DC9 LOL.
I flew out to Zimbabwe with Swissair back in the mid 80's (DC 8) and that was also v nice with crockery and metal cutlery :)

[megan]

Don't recall the menu, other than impressed, but the most memorable flight was the only time I've flown BA, Gatwick to Charlotte. Was actually a USair 767 with USA rego, US crew, painted in BA colours. Linen table cloth, china, metal eating irons, and this in economy - and the best ever quality IFE sound to this day. Did I say I was impressed?

[Midland 331]

Glugging copious champagne on an MD81 jumpseat coming back from Copenhagen to Heathrow on SAS. And eating the always-outstanding SAS Euroclass meal.

Certainly the best seat in the house, and an experience never bettered in my 15 years in the industry.

At around 400 AGL or so, 1 mile final to 27R at Heathrow, the characterful captain turned to me and said

"Do you know what the French call hand-flying?"

(funny time to ask, I thought)

"Aviation Naturelle .....LOOK OUT BELOW!"

He jabbed the A/P disconnect button and did a greaser. Happy days.

[BEagle]

Before they dumbed down their service in April 2004, I was fortunate enough to be flying from Birmingham to Frankfurt with Lufthansa in Business Class. When the meal (hot in those days) came, it was fine - the dessert was some Black Forest gateau inspired ice cream in what I took to be a cardboard cylinder.

It wasn't - it was pure white chocolate and very yummy!

But a few days after the Apr 2004 dumb down, I paid for a quick Economy Class trip to Frankfurt - all they gave us for a meal was bread and water. Literally! The cabin crew had already expressed their outrage to the management, about serving 'prison food' (as they put it) to their passengers, so as well as the bread and water, we were given 'customer comment' forms....

The bread and water era didn't last long, but the catering on LH short haul is pretty meagre still.....:(

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Breakfast on the 'Budgie' Manchester to Aberdeen was always pretty good, even more so for the anticipation as the aroma of bacon and eggs wafted around the small cabin as the nosh was prepared as the thrumming Darts lifted us high over the Lake District.

Manchester to Copenhagen business class breakfast on the BA 1-11, which I did a lot in the late '80s, always included a small bottle of champagne. Very civilised.

My one and only Concorde flight (Manchester to Paris via The Bay for mach2 and 60,000') was entirely in the jump seat (absolutely amazing experience) so I missed out on the fizz and nosh on that one. Not bothered about that, though!

I do however, remember coming back from Muscat in a BA 767 years ago and spending the first couple of hours in the jump seat, and being liberally supplied with G&Ts!

[Genghis the Engineer]

The best I can ever remember is a bibimbap flying Korean from LHR to Seoul.

I've some fond memories also of Soviet era tea on board Aeroflot, where the cabin crew would come down the cabin with an enormous teapot.

G

[Stanwell]

On my last pilgrimage to Mecca, I enjoyed a wonderful goat-knuckle freshly cooked on the primus in the aisle.
Just joking. :p

[Warmtoast]

The worst perhaps?

Lunchbox as provided by civilian caterers at Khartoum c-1980.


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/Far%20East%20Trip%201979/KhartoumLunchBoxc-1980_1066x800.jpg


A couple of ropey rolls and two dead bananas - so awful I had to photograph it for posterity.

[Stanwell]

But look at how hygienically packed and well presented it is.
That's better than Garuda economy can do.

[dixi188]

deanm.

"1997, Sabena 737 to Berlin, flying high alongside the Alps."

Presumably from Brussels. How come you were near the Alps???

Flew Sabena several times, never anything to write home about.

SABENA - "Such a bad experience never again".

[Sultan Ismail]

Fine dining: Swiss MD11 First Class Zurich to Bangkok, fillet steak.

Surprising dining: Singapore Airlines 777 Biz Johannesburg to Sin, breakfast with poached eggs, bacon, the real thing, baked beans and fried potatoes.

Worst by far: Air Cepati CN235 Halim to Cilacap on Java, a box of something like Warmtoasts offering above.

[TCAS FAN]

Courtesy of the knock on effect of the LATCC ATCAs (as they were in those days) going on strike, ended up on a very delayed PAN-AM B747 JFK-LHR, with most of the PAX being squeezed onto the preceding (less delayed) PA 1. Three of us in First Class normally with a choice of prime-rib or lobster thermidor for dinner. Offered both, the best surf n' turf I have ever tasted!

[paulc]

Wardair (remember them) LGW to Montreal 1989 - steak served on proper china plates / metal cutlery. Also asked how i wanted it cooked. All in economy.

Worst - any of those that have given me a case of the calcutta quickstep. (well know sand pit airline in business class - twice)

[longer ron]

I had forgotten that there were not many pax on my Swissair flight to zimbabwe in the 1980's - result bored cabin crew keeping us supplied with copious alcohol until I zonked out - I was completely smashed LOL :)

[despegue]

Sorry, but our service was way better than anything you see nowadays in Europe.
Sonce 1995 or so, service improved a lot, bar the occasional old fart/goat as Purser...

[aerobelly]

The thread has prompted some discussion of airline meals, so maybe we can start another: what's the best (or worst?!) airline meal you ever had?


Worst: I think it was AA in the early 1980s Detroit to Boston on Friday evenings. When I got on I said "If you're serving that tyre-rubber chicken again this is the last time you'll see me." On the way out: "Sorry, Northeast for me next week." Slightly less convenient timing but....

In fact Northeast's food wasn't great so I'd ask for a miniature of brandy and make it last the whole hour to Baaaaston. And then get sloshed as one did did after getting home following a week working in Detroit.

Best: Laker transatlantic of course! Bring your own food and drink, no corkage charge. Loved Laker Skytrain in the 1970s.


'a

[ZFT]

The best - SAA first class early 70s. Chateaubriand, glorious wines (and the upper deck lounge was still available for liquors and coffee afterwards). Probably the last of the enjoyable flights.

[tdracer]

About 25 years ago, I was flying Seattle-London on a Pan Am 747 for work. I had a business class ticket, but in those days if you worked for Boeing, Pan Am would bump you one class (space available). Yep, I got bumped to First Class. The seats were nothing special (especially compared to today's lie flat), but the service was special. They fed us a seven course meal - started with caviar (never had it before and quickly decided I wasn't missing anything :rolleyes:), came around with a salad bar on a trolley where you got to pick what you wanted. One of the main course options was prime rib - they brought the meat out on a trolley - you pointed to the cut you wanted and they sliced it and served it to you. Finished up with a made to order ice cream sundae. Fantastic way to fly :ok:

[crewmeal]

They fed us a seven course meal - started with caviar (never had it before and quickly decided I wasn't missing anything ), came around with a salad bar on a trolley where you got to pick what you wanted. One of the main course options was prime rib - they brought the meat out on a trolley - you pointed to the cut you wanted and they sliced it and served it to you. Finished up with a made to order ice cream sundae.

BOAC did one better back in those days by adding a soup and salad course and finishing off with a cheeseboard coffee liqueurs and packs of 5 B&H or Malboro.

There's an old thread about BOAC food here.

http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/371691-boac-menu-1960s.html

[Phileas Fogg]

The Best:

Like Cantonese, evening departure LHR/HKG with CX, on the cheapest of economy tickets something like a 4 course dinner followed by a 3 course breakfast.

The Worst:

Because of my accumulated Flying Blue points I found myself upgraded to business class AMS/BHX on KLM S*ittyhopper, they served me some sort of smoked salmon cr@p, I asked if I could have the sandwich they were enjoying back in economy.

[ian16th]

In the 80's, Varig business class, Joburg to Rio and on to LA or Miami, depending upon my destination.

DC10 in a 2 Class configuration, no 1st, so buss class was their best.

Great food, even better wines and a free stop over in Rio :ok:

A pity they went out of business.

Best 'cattle class', Air Austral from Joburg to Reunion, when they 1st started in 1992. The only time I've had free champagne in cattle class.

[BEagle]

You haven't lived until you've experienced the RAF 'S1 box'.....:\

Especially if it contained the infamously stale Robirch pork pie with a concrete-hard crust and if you shook it, you could hear the ball of bright pink congealed ex-piggy rattling around inside like a dice in a cup!

[Genghis the Engineer]

Seasonally, I've just remembered this photograph of the choice of lunch bags we got, that I took operating a research aircraft out of Kiruna in Swedish Lapland a couple of years ago.

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/538784_575237772495264_1581544956_n.jpg?oh=37b64f9712f898a65 a8a06806339f869&oe=570D5935

G

[strake]

Not quite on the aeroplane but 2002, flying from Moscow, Vnukovo to Yakutsk, we were diverted because of bad weather. To this day I can't remember the airport but as First (there was no business class) class passengers, along with our ten travelling companions, we were taken to a private lounge straight out of the 60's. There we were fed Caviar, Lobster and other seafood delights with various Vodka's and wines until we were poured back on the aircraft to continue our flight. That was pretty special.

[PAXboy]

I enjoyed the meal on Concorde but then, I expected to, and the food was not the only reason for enjoying it ...

The one that sticks in the mind is very simple and the food was a small part of it: In the early days of VS, on their 747 (-100 I think?) from LGW to EWR, August 1987.

I was in Upper (as others say, it was good but nothing like today) but it was a late afternoon and, being on the Port side, the sun was streaming in. We'd had a lovely meal and then they put up the movie (yes, still a screen!) and it began with about 20 minutes of cartoons. They then served mini tubs of Losely ice-cream, like you get in the movies and theatre. I thought, "I'm being paid to suffer this?" It was a truly wonderful sector.

[Reverserbucket]

I remember similar experiences with VS LGW-EWR in Upper Class about the same time PAXboy. Their first aircraft was a -200 series (RG) as was the second (IN) and both had a lounge area at the rear of the upper-deck with a sort of semi-circular settee. I do remember the food was very good and I recall the ice cream as well!

During the '90's VS did operate a 747-100 (IA) named latterly 'Spirit of Sir Freddie' which had previously been with Highland Express (G-HIHO), a company which of course played a part in the creation of VS.

[Mr Mac]

PaxBoy
Got to agree with you being paid to travel is a perk, and more so if you are lucky enough to be able to do it by turning left on entrance. Memorable meals would be BA / BMI in the 80,s , BOAC / BEA flights in the 60,s with parents, and the long BCAL flights back to London from Santiago to and from school. That was like a Well's Fargo Stage coach stopping everywhere, although I remember the food being quite good (after school food anyway), and a naughty stewardess called Rachel who introduced me to the delights of wine and Chivas Regal - I was only 13 ! More recently it has been EK/SQ/LUFTY long haul for me, and all have at times produced very good meals, some even quite memorable (EK Roast Duck into HK a couple of years ago was better than the Peninsular Hotels offering later in the same trip !). Lufty Beef out of Tokyo last spring was also very good. I have noticed however that standards are dropping even with these 3 in small ways, EK what happened to the pre dinner canapés in Business ? However overall for me, a G&T and good seat, and a view of a fantastic sunset or sunrise beats the meal anytime !


Compliments of the Season to the cabin


Cheers
Mr Mac

[ian16th]

Dunno what make it was, but a tub of ice cream was the total extent of the in-flight catering on the Sabena Caravelle's between Heathrow and Brussels in 1967.

Mind you, there wasn't time to serve much else.

[larssnowpharter]

Dan Air BAC 1-11 from Inverness to LHR. Fresh salmon and freshly cooked veggies. Was told is was prepared by one of the local hotels. Excellent meal.

Must give a mention to the caterers at Lyneham who did an excellent breakfast for the C130 crews.

[ATNotts]

During the '90's VS did operate a 747-100 (IA) named latterly 'Spirit of Sir Freddie' which had previously been with Highland Express (G-HIHO), a company which of course played a part in the creation of VS.

If I recall correctly it was actually Virgin that (in a very small way) spawned Highland Express, in so far as one of the founders if Highland was a guy who's name I believe was Randolph Fields who was one of Richard Bransons partners at the birth of Virgin (as opposed to a Virgin birth!).

Sadly Highland was a complete fiasco, with delays in delivery of a refurbished, knackered 747 in the form of G-HIHO, and the first couple of months services from BHX being operated by Flights Coaches to Gatwick, Stansted or wherever else Highland could buy seats for the passengers that were booked. I was one of them, bumped on to a Tower Air 747 from STN on the outward, and (rather better) a Virgin 747 on the return to LGW. Would Highland have fared better had they aircraft been delivered on time for the start of operations? Who knows, but my gut feeling is, no not much.

Coming back on thread - sometimes it's the small things - and for me the wonderful smell of warm croissants that greeted you when you boarded the CTA MD87 (operating for Swissair) at BHX headed for Zürich on the morning flight. The croissants themselves weren't bad either.

[FAStoat]

Back in the early 2000s,we used to do a Red Eye to Istanbul via Vienna.Upon landing,we parked the Aircraft up for the weekend,and jumped aboard a Turkish Airlines 757 I think it was,back to UK.Anyway they put us in 1st Class,and treated us to the most sumptious meal with Champagne,proper cooked Steaks and proper cutlery,then insisted we took a doggy bag of their best Red Wines,just on the basis we plugged Turkish Airlines when we got home!!!!I used to look forward to those trips!!

[Reverserbucket]

ATNotts - quite right, it was Randolph Fields who, with the help of Richard Branson's money had an idea for an airline called British Atlantic Airways that gave birth to Virgin Atlantic.

[dazdaz1]

Purchased a hot dog (€5) on a Ryanair filight from Bristol > Malaga it was :{:{

[VX275]

Not an airline meal as such and not exactly a culinary masterpiece either, but certainly my most memorable in-flight meal was the Haggis, Neaps and Tatties served to me in a Nimrod whilst I was conducting the instrumented flight trials of a defensive aids pod. The meal arrived just before we carried out the maximum rate descent from 25000 ft and my job was to log the rate of descent by looking at the chronometer and the Altimeter on the Nav's station and writing the numbers down on my notepad every time another 1000 ft was ticked off whilst occasionally snatching a forkful of the meal.
The Altimeter was spinning so fast that I'll admit to missing the odd test point whilst at the same time the movement of the aircraft was such that the meal was moving around the desktop and occasionally had to be saved from falling on the floor. Drinking tea during max rate turns at low level was another not to be missed experience.

[Allan Lupton]

Also not an airline meal, but mention of Ryanair reminds me that the best in-flight meal I ever had was on Ryanair - we brought our own sandwiches and they were made with real bread and fillings we liked in conditions we approved of.
Faced with a BA breakfast a few months later, I actually said to the crewperson that the meals on Ryanair were better!!

[Warmtoast]

Best Lunch Box

I was with 99 Sqn (Britannias) until 1963 and standard method of feeding PAX was with lunch boxes. The best lunch box I remember was that supplied from Embakasi in Kenya in Sept 1961.

With some sort of trouble brewing in the Gulf it was decided the Army brigade based in East Africa would be transferred to Bahrain, a long Britannia flog with many hours - Embakasi - Khormaksar - Bahrain and then back again to do the same trip several times over to get the brigade to Bahrain.
Anyway on the first trip we left Embakasi, dished out the lunch boxes to the squaddies in the back and then heard mutterings of complaint. When asked what was wrong, the general consensus was that the 'jam' tasted salty. It turned out each lunch box contained a small pot of something to be spread on the rolls or biscuits or whatever and the contents were very salty.
Investigation quickly showed the pots were in fact pots of Caviar, real Caviar and not Lumpfish roe. This was not immediately obvious to the troops so we collected any unopened and unwanted pots and put them aside for later crew use.

Their loss was our gain!

[xtypeman]

Worked on the ramp at LGW for GH. The Dan Air breakfasts and the meals of the southbound ABZ where rather good. From ABZ it was either Smoked Salmon or Venison.

Then the best catered flight. On a delivery flight from Boeing Seattle to Stanstead in a new 737-300. The flight was also a proving flight for the CAA so we had two crews including Cabin crew and 30 crew who had just done training. and two ops guys. We had asked Boeing to cater but thought we had better get some booze in for a bit of a party. So we went out and bought wine spirits beers etc. Then Boeing turned up First class hot mains, first class hot breakfast. Huge trays of club sandwiches fresh fruit hot dogs and burgers. Then on came the drink...... Two cases of Champagne, two cases of Red two cases of white plus spirits etc etc

[Low Level Pilot]

Would be about 1980. Turned up at Amsterdam to catch the afternoon BA 1-11 flight to Manchester. Opposite their check-in desk was Suckling Airways.
They accepted the BA ticket so flew on their Dornier to MAN. Can't remember what the food was - 3 course meal - but thoroughly enjoyed the G&T before the meal, bottle of wine with the main course and a brandy to finish afterwards. Nothing wrong withnthe food as far as I recall. My wife wasn't to impressed when I handed the car keys back to her when she met me at MAN.

[broadreach]

I've had lots of reasonable airline meals in economy or business class but none of them memorable. Equally forgettable are the bad ones. But one does stand out. It was 1993 or 94, Sao Paulo to Frankfurt and thence to London. The aircraft was a LH 747 Combi, late night departure from GRU. As soon as we were seated on the port side I could see there were problems on the ramp, pallets being unloaded, reloaded, some fairly frantic gesticulating down there.

The delay was around an hour and a half, explained by the flight deck as a need to get the W+B right. Thanks, that's always a good idea. And so dinner was served. Economy class this time. Steak and a salad of sorts. I think it was the side veg on the steak dish that had some sort of mould over it, from which several sprouts were trying to poke through the aluminium cover sheet. Same with my then girlfriend's meal, yecch.

To give LH the benefit of the doubt, back then I think they had an agreement with VASP for domestic ops and there may have been some VASP "help" in negotiating catering. VASP at the time were on the bones of their backsides financially and were desperately cutting corners. I returned via Rio and the domestic leg RIG-GRU was on a VASP 732 where the flight deck forgot or elected not to use flaps for take off. Took a long time, that, and I avoided LH and VASP forever after.

[PAXboy]

I recall an Xmas lunch on B Cal, almost at the end of their existence Dec 88 (27 years ago today) Banjul back to Gatters. It was a DC 10-30 and less than half full. Everyone was in party mood.

The inbound crew had gone straight to the beach so, immediately after rotation, we took a detour over the beach with a fairly strong wing down before up and away!

After food it was open house on the flight deck! :ok:

[Mr Mac]

PAXBoy
I had a similar experience coming out of Jeddah after my first Saudi stint in early 80,s on a DC10. We were asked before take off what we would like to drink when we had cleared Saudi airspace, and I ordered a G&T. After take-off and clearance of said airspace, a very large G&T arrived, and when I queried this, I was told by the Tartan clad stewardess " WE always serve double + when leaving the Kingdom". A very happy Mr Mac ensued, along with the rest of the cabin on this Christmas Eve flight.


cheer's
Mr Mac

[Phileas Fogg]

I think any in-flight service that suits the means of the times is memorable:

One day I had been up since around 4am driving to LHR for an SAS Scud-83 to ARN for then straight in to a business meeting in the then SAS Flight Academy before straight back out again on to another Scud back to LHR before an evening drive home.

By the time I was on my way back to LHR it was tea time, I hadn't eaten all day and I needed a drink except that I had my car parked at LHR. At the time SAS charged for catering, I didn't care because I was on business expenses, and I merrily tucked in to their seafood baguettes and low-alcohol beers ... I'll never forget something so simple that suited the purpose.

Another time, during an afternoon/evening, I had LCC'd MNL/HKG to catch the midnight 'Swiss' HKG/ZRH and onward to BHX. I had been slowly drinking all afternoon/evening as a sleep enhancer, I'd had a steak & Guinness dinner in HKG Airport to further enhance and within an hour of airborne I'd been served my in-flight dinner and 4 beers ... To this day I have no recollection what the meal was but it served the purpose, it put me to sleep and I awoke some hours later still with beers on my service tray.

[Non-Driver]

I think any in-flight service that suits the means of the times is memorable:

Fully agree, always thought meals on a short haul flight of 2hrs or less is pretty pointless. That said the most appropriate was a fine box of cheese on SAA JBG-CPT back in the early 90's. That flight also memorable for the somewhat weird last few rows on the A300 that sat higher than the majority of the Y cabin.

I used to travel LGW-IAH on a regular basis and my company had a weird travel policy where J class was not allowed on transatlantic but was everywhere else over 6 hours. Because the air miles were much better on CO than BA when you weren't paying fully-flex fares, I used them most of the time. In Y class they never changed the menu in over 5 years of doing the route. It was the most inedible liquid potato, gravy and meat that I ended up taking my own lunch on the westbound. The look on the CC faces when I declined their fine offer because I had my own was worth the additional expense. I did used to test them with "what exactly is it ?" when they offered "chicken or beef" and invariably they couldn't describe what it actually was.

On the odd occasion when I could get a J leg on special offer, the food in there was remarkably good.

[dixi188]

Went to Vancouver from Gatwick in 2006.
JMC westbound 1400 local dep, no food until about 5 hours into flight, getting quite hungry as breakfast was at 0900.
Thomas Cook eastbound 1600 local dep, so we had a good lunch in the terminal only to be served with dinner during first hour of flight and then breakfast before arrival.
How do you find out when food will be served on flights?

[Mr Oleo Strut]

A short last minute holiday to Toronto saw us boarding a Canadian National from Heathrow one November some years ago. Only about a third of the seats were occupied so we had three each and several blankets. But that was after the cabin staff had invited us to tuck into surplus fillet steaks and wine from first-class. We needed no second bidding, and when we woke we had fresh croissants and coffee for breakfast. Very pleasant.

[Lyneham Lad]

Air Anglia Piper Navaho, Norwich - Glasgow circa 1980. Once at altitude, pilot turns head, speaks over shoulder says "who is going to play Mother?", wafting flask of tea about. Biccies followed.

[BEagle]

10 years ago, I was fortunate enough to travel with Spanair in Business Class.

An excellent experience, well-dressed flight attendants would show you to your seat, then offer you a welcome drink, newspaper and headphones for the IFE system...

A typical luncheon menu:

Hors d'Oeuvre
Marinated roast beef, smoked chicken breast and endive salad, accompanied with sun-dried tomatoes.

Main course
Noisette of lamb with pesto-crusted potato wedges and vegetables.

Assorted cheeses
Camembert and smoked Basil

Dessert
Orange cake

Coffee and tea

Drinks
Welcome drink
Soft drinks
Beer
Red and white wine
Cava
Spirits
Whisky

All that was served on the relatively short leg from Frankfurt to Madrid. What a wonderful time that was - as a LH Senator, my trip would have started with a 'fortified' coffee in the Star Alliance Gold lounge at Birmingham, then breakfast on the way to Frankfurt. Perhaps an hour at Frankfurt in the lounge with a G&T or two, then on to the Spanair flight.

All sadly missed now :( !

[WHBM]

the cabin staff had invited us to tuck into surplus fillet steaks and wine from first-class.
I'm reminded of Cathay Pacific HKG-LHR, in Y, right at the last couple of rows of the breakfast trolley's run. The crew said they had just run out of the breakfast dishes, but would go forward and raid the spares from C. All to the good, you might think, but the couple seated next to me not only whinged about how "they ought to load enough breakfasts", but while tucking in to the fine grub actually wrote up a complaint about it on the comment card :ugh:

[Mr Oleo Strut]

Yes, good old Cathy P, WHBM. They brought us back from HKG to LHR some time ago after a jaunt down under. Good flight, good service, in fact good everything including food even, in steerage. Going out by Alitalia LHR/Rome/BKK wasn't bad but not exceptional. After a few days in BKK we had to check in very, very early for the Alitalia Sydney flight and were starving. All we could find open at the airport (the old one, Don Muang) was a Thai version of KFC. Not to be recommended at 4am but we did it. We checked-in and sat waiting to board when Madame thought she heard our name called out in garbled fashion. She was right, and we were instructed to hand over our boarding cards. Expecting to be bumped off the flight we were quite resigned to that, but no! We were handed first-class upgrades and from that moment our lives changed and we were whisked off on a magic Italian carpet of impeccable service, comfort, food, and drink. We wished that flight could have lasted for days, and the memory of gently braised veal in mushroom, cream and garlic sauce made the Thai KFC early breakfast pale into insignificance. In fact it took several glasses of Spumante and Barolo or was it Lachryma Christi, or perhaps all of them, to erase the memory until the Tiramisu - the first we'd ever had - arrived. Happy days, indeed!

[TCU]

Its funny how the ordinary can sometimes make the greatest impression.

I've been lucky to have enjoyed a fantastic range of aerial catering, from the delights of BA001 at Mach 2, the finest grub that a J class seat can sometimes produce, right down to Dan-air spam rolls on 1970's school ski trips.

However the beef steak and gravy, ice cream and cold coca cola I was served as a teenager on a Pan Am 727 (in economy) between Orlando and JFK in 1980 is the one that immediately flicked up in my mind when I saw this thread. At the time I thought America truly was the land of wonder!

Having flown Delta transcon last year (also economy), boy have some things gone backwards in aviation.

[esa-aardvark]

Maybe 5 years ago. Some kind of issue (terrorist?), so not many passengers.
Flight 1/4 way around the world from ?? to ??. Don't remember the food,
but do remember the hostess (allowed to say that ?) parking her trolley next to
me, sitting on the floor and keeping me, my wife, and a German lady next seat
extremely well topped up all the way. Normally I don't plan to drink so much !
John

[Smeagol]

Best has to be Swissair Zurich to Kuwait, December 1985, First Class. Cannot remember the details but it was superb on real china with metal cutlery. Oh! and a copious amount of fine red wine and cognac to follow. I vaguely remember making the most of the alcohol as I was returning to a dry Kuwait for Christmas.

Worst - there are many - but the 'hot snack' served on the red eye from Bahrain/Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam 2000-04 must be well up there. It came in two forms, meat and vegetarian, tried both, could not tell the difference, both were disgusting!

[Rossian]

.....to visit our son and future D-i-L. One week after 9/11.
Captain announced that we were all ready to go, nobody else seemed to be flying and we were going direct in a straight line to Kuwait we'd be off 35 mins early. Then someone chickened out and got off. That left 34 of us in a 767. Never have we been so well looked after. It was almost a case of "what would you like? You can have it" So we did and it was all good.

The Ancient Mariner