What Airline Has The Best In-Flight Food?

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

The title speaks for itself really! I think the UK charter airlines have the best in-flight food! :ok:

BAe 146-100 :D

[Self Loathing Freight]

Isn't this more of a question of which airport catering group is the best? I have only seen Sky Chefs at Denver Int'l. Granted, I usually only fly United so I don't know if there are other catering groups who service the other airlines. Is it the norm to have multiple catering groups servicing an airport?

Now back to the question. Meal service, when it is offered, stinks on United, even in First Class. Combine that with me being a vegetarian, and I generally find it's best to BYOF.

That being said, I have had the best meals on international flights out of Denver. Mexicana had a great vegetarian meal in First and Lufthansa also was pretty tasty in business. But these are both gimmes because of the class of service.

SLF

[PAXboy]

Well, it ain't Lufthansa! Mainstream food in Eco and Biz leaves a lot to be desired. No attempt at considering the palate of non-German taste buds!

For 18 months, I was working in Munich and used LH a great deal. On one occasion, the chap next to me had requested a veg meal and the crew did not have it. They plonked a regular heaped plate of meat in front of him and were surprised when he protested loudly and was very upset that they should have placed it in front of him. The CC really had no idea why he was upset. The Germans find vegetarianism a curiosity.

I have done long haul with LH in both Y and C - makes no diff to the food, perhaps one has to be in F for that. :{

[Departures Beckham]

SLF: Also being a vegetarian I have experimented with different meals. I've done the vegetarian, vegan and fruit meal; but have found the best meal to be Asian Vegetarian meal (AVML). Maybe it's just my like of curry, but this always seems to be the best veggie option for me. Try it!

[Self Loathing Freight]

Thanks DB. Meals are now quite few and far between on domestic US flights. I'll look into the Asian veg meals on my next flight that offers a meal.:ok:

SLF

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

The meals are also good in South Africa, when I was on JNB-AMS with KLM we had a really nice curry!

BAe 146-100

[rsoman]

DB
Do nott experiement with AVML and hope to get lucky if you ever fly SQ or other far east carriers.. AVML as per officialdom is "Vegetarain Meal Asian Style" and atleast as per SQ, "Asia" has a lot besides India. SQ was having a big problems with lots of complaints from South Indian passengers headed for long haul US (SFO/LAX) who found they had to sit through a 14 hour flight unable to eat anything as SQs definition of "Asian Style" was Oriental rather than Indian. To SQs credit they got around the problem by modifying a SPML code. And making all the travel agents aware of the same! Good example of the extent to which an airline which cares for its passengers will go to satisfy their requirements!
(By the way I have never flown in SQ, but I worked in travel industry in India when they implemented this and ws naturally very impressed).

My favorite meal - SFML (Sea Food Meal) in MH.
Worst - Vegetarain Breakfast in Indian Airlines (although they have improved since then),


Cheers

[radeng]

Business Class Transatlantic. Hard to choose westbound between BA and AA, while in economy, BA win. Eastbound, in Business Class, BA have bacon butties for breakfast!!!!! (or did DFW - LGW the other week) That's a winner.

Business class in Europe: I prefer BA to Finnair or SAS.

[Thread Bear]

Best I've had was on Cathay, except on one occasion they let themselves down on a longhaul to Vancouver from HK and all we got was the instant noodles in a cup/just add water. But besides that episode they are my favourite.

[pzu]

All Business Class

bmi (UK) - used to be OK but now YUK;

LH (Europe) - fair

LH (Africa) - APPALLING and in both cases they can't make TEA

EK (to UK) Good and yes they can make Tea;

[answer=42]

Among Yoorpean airlines, it has to be AF Business class longhaul. No doubt.

CX, Thai, Singapore, M-Rats all are very good. Can't really rank them.

any USA airline. Forget it. But CC cheerfulness makes up for :hmm: food quality.

Many developing country airlines serve pretty good food.

BA longhaul gives probably the healthiest option; shorthaul allday breakfast probably the least healthy. But why?

answer=42

[Slim20]

Once i got bumped up to Business Class on Swissair (RIP). The meal was so classy i didn't know what it was or how to eat it, so i just ate the lot in stages.

Eventually someone nearby pointed out that the chewy bits I'd eaten were actually plate decorations made of wax.

[edinv]

Executive first on Air Canada would get my vote for best food & service based on a recent experience. (June03 YYZ/LHR)
-Business Class in Lauda Air an AC * partner is also very good. (Dec 00 MEL/VIE) :D

[PAXboy]

Slim 20: Did you select your PPRuNe name after: "Eventually someone nearby pointed out that the chewy bits I'd eaten were actually plate decorations made of wax."??? Just wondering on the (ahem!) effect that would have had. No - don't tell us.

I agree, Swiss were fabbo. I did a short project in Geneva ans was on SR a number of times in biz, when they were introducing their organic meals - 1997, I think. All round the SR experience was tops.

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

PAXboy, did you fly on the 747 with Swissair.

http://www.airliners.net/photos/small/7/9/2/288297.jpg

BAe 146-100 :)

[PAXboy]

Sadly, No. I had been planning to use the SR mileage that I accrued from GVA to make an upgrade on one of my trips to JNB but times and base price for the upgradeable economy ticket - did not work out.

So I used mileage from LH and rode them down to JNB in Biz and it was nothing special. OK but not special. Then Swiss closed. What's the new Swiss like??

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

Were you on a 747-400 to JNB with LH.

Thanks :ok:
BAe 146-100

[Jordan D]

BA in Europe win any day .... BA Buisness win back from Asia (especially from BOM). In Economy, EK wins everytime. (I've not flown with many airlines). Worst on all counts is AF.

Jordan

[PAXboy]

BAe 146-100: No. I had expected that routing when I started the booking but it was November 2001 and LH (along with everyone else) was pulling North Atlantic routes.

They started running 340s from MUC on a number of long hauls and, by chance, I was on the inaugural flight MUC~JNB. The cabin was fine but not up to BA biz standards by any means. The food was average (just to get back on thread!) but the cabin service was of a very high standard indeed.

On the southbound, departing over the Alps in the early evening, with a setting sun was very beautiful.

I believe that the MUC originated routes have proved very successful for LH and the need to redeploy a/c post 9/11 has worked out and been a large element in developing MUC from just a regional hub with a few medium hauls to a full scale hub.

As I earnt all the LH mileage toodling in and out of MUC for 18 months, it was inevitable that I would have to go back through there to use them! :rolleyes:

[timguk]

Hi

Just come back from a charter flight with Air 2000, and they definately dont have good meals - dont know who their catering company is. All they provided on the way was some pasta sludge and a roll with a drink, and on the way back was beef stew. No starter type thing or pudding

With a charter flight on Monarch last year I went on, they provided a nicer hot meal, starter and dessert, and a roll and drink. Much better service.
I think the catering service for Monarch etc has the best food out of the UK charter airlines.

Tim

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

timguk, I flew with AMM last year and I didn't think the food was that bad. ;)

BAe 146-100

[AIRWAY]

Portugalia Airlines for me, with that tasty Portuguese food :ok: yummiii

[GwynM]

the best I've had in cattle class has to be Gulf Air over the past 10 years. I've done about 5 Uk-far east with them, and never had a bad meal. Even the wife, who doesn't like spicy food rates them higher than anyone else. :ok:

I assume the first / upper / business is better on most airlines though. One trip to Qatar with Qatar Air only served one meal in first, started just after takeoff and finished on the descent. About 14 courses I think.

The worst is, without a doubt, BA chicken mayo (white gloopy mess with chicken lumps) or equivalents on the all day deli flying back to LHR from ABZ. How can they be so consistently bad?:yuk:

[robmac]

BAE 146

I thought you faithfully promised me that you do not have thing about in-flight food, and here you are at it again.

Are you sure you don't want to be a chef instead of a pilot ?

robmac

[gofer]

Have to agree out of the over 50 airlines I've used AF hold up well on food, but so do BA long haul, and the CX, SQ, Thai you mentioned.

Now comfort is something else - that goes to BA in Business (only flat - flat beds) :D ;) :D

[slim_slag]

Best thing to do when flying economy long-haul out of LHR is pick up three of those water/sandwich/chocolate meal-deals from Boots.

That gives you 2-3 litres of water for the flight, some sandwiches to suppliment the in flight un-haute-cuisine, and some European chocolate for chintzy gifts at your destination.

Doesn't cost more than £5-10, well worth it.

I remember the days you used to get filet steak in BA economy long-haul. How times have changed.

Er, forgot, best food.

Well in economy class none are to write home about, but they all adequate. Which is the worst? As somebody above said it depends on where you are departing from, and your dietary constituition. I've only ever had two which I could not get past the first bite. That was on BA out of London and UA out of Taipei.

[Rod Eddington]

Flew Olympic economy class a few years back - food was excellent!

Cheers
Rod:ok:

[Jordan D]

Got to disagree Gofer ... AF out of CDG & BOM was really very poor in economy ... worst I've ever had, along with BA out of Rome.

Jordan

[Globaliser]

slim_slag: Best thing to do when flying economy long-haul out of LHR is pick up three of those water/sandwich/chocolate meal-deals from Boots.Best thing to do when flying economy from LHR is to ask if there's curry on the menu. For perfectly sound structural reasons to do with the labour force at airline catering companies at LHR, the curries tend to be excellent.

[Curious Pax]

bmi longhaul economy meals are pretty good (or at least were MAN-IAD-MAN in April '02). BA aren't too bad in economy, but had as nice a steak as I've ever had in their Business class LHR-YYZ in Jan '03. Shame the BA miles ran out after that trip!

[BEagle]

European short haul with LH, if you're in economy and the flight is around an hour, you can experience the joys of the infamous Lufthansakäsebrötchen (cheese bun). Sometimes it's smoked salmon or ham, or it could be some unidentifiable flying object which bears little resemblance to chicken or turkey... On LHR-MUC which is a bit longer, you get quite a tasty small salad. But in Business Class the food is really quite fine. On LHR-FRA last week it was very good; the sweet was someting like a Schwarzwald Kirschtorte in what I thought was a waxed container about the size of a demi-tasse coffee cup. But it wasn't - it was actually entirely made of white chocolate - trotters in the trough for yours truly!!!

[PAXboy]

the infamous Lufthansakäsebrötchen Oh what sweet memories ..... :yuk:

18 months of LHR ~ MUC in Y. Even when I was 'Silver', I was not upgraded even once. :*

[Charley B]

I also think AIR 2000 food has gone from very good (a few years ago) to poor now ---used to have a little menu and sweets on take off etc-- now just bland and basic!!
Flew JMC last Oct to Cyprus( now TCX) and food was very good !BA food when we went to Jamaica in 1999 wasalso very good--have not ever had a prob with GB Airways theirs is good as well!

[Flip Flop Flyer]

As long as your impression of what is delicious is radically different from mine, this thread doesn't really make sense. People do have different taste, witnessed by the fact that hardly anyone outside the UK finds curries even remotely interesting. Apart from Indians perhaps.

Someone here said that AF was by far the best, and only a few lines further down another contributor claims AF is the worst you could ever have. Other contributors are quick to point out that food onboard all US carriers is crap. Well, I've flown UAL BRU-IAD-MIA and back and frankly found the food to be pretty much up to standard for C-class airline catering. In fact, the sandwhich thing they served MIA-IAD was outright delicious. To my taste buds anyway ....

Furthermore, unless you've had the displeasure of flying all airlines in the world, how would you know which serves the best food?

But just to contravene myself completly I'll add a bit to the pot:

All this is from C-class

Europe - For variety SK. BA sucks. OA manages to serve hot breakkie on a 45 minute flight, and that's rather impressive. LH is dull, but OS usually serves a rather nice plate on + 1.5 hour flights. AZ was a disappointment, but still quite allright. FI (which is Icelandair by the way) was by far the best I've ever had, and the wine list very impressive.

Intercont. - As stated above, I found UA quite good. Not as good as SA though, but that might be because of the Pinotage that followed the food. SR used to be very good, haven't flown them in a while. TG is nice, if you fancy asian food which I don't so really not to my liking. AF is very, very good in my opinion but then again I quite fancy french cuisine.

Domestic US
Only ever tried UA, and that was quite good. Flew AA to PTY from MIA on monkey where you couldn't say anything bad about the food ... they didn't serve any :D

Intra-Asia
Don't like asian food. Some people find do and praise TG, SQ and CX.

Never had a memorable meal onboard a charter. That includes DM, OY and NB ..... and I belive that's about all the carriers I can remember having pax'd on.

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

Charley B, yes I agree. Most of the UK charter airlines had menu's after take off and sweets were given when you boarded the aircraft. I don't think any of them do that anymore :(.

BAe 146-100

[PAXboy]

Having just 'enjoyed' BA long haul in Y ... I was on a 772 EWR~LHR, daylight dep at 08:00.

Brunch was "Chicken or Egg?" ... I managed not to ask the hostie which came first. :E

I chose chicken and it was fine. BUT the 'refreshment' before landing was something that LH could take pride in. I ate the ham and ignored the hard, tastless roll.

Also, the sachet with the plastic 'cutlery' and napkin ... no longer has sugar in it. So you have to call the hostie back. ALSO, they no longer supply a moist paper thingy in a foil sachet to wipe your hands and face. Gee - I bet that's saving them a bundle. :hmm:

Fortunately, I had a left over one from the last time I was in LH Biz. Since that was over 2.5 years, I thought it might have dried out, but there are some things the Germans do very well!!! The towel was as fresh and useful as you might want. Vorsprung durch ...

[BEagle]

I was also pleasantly surprised to have the use of real metal cutlery on a recent business class flight. Shock horror! So much better than the damn plastic things. Shan't say which airline it was with (not LH) in case some ne'er do well is reading this....

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

KLM on long-haul use metal cutlery in economy.

BAe 146-100

[cb9002]

Swiss gets my vote for best food - the meal was good (same sort of standard as BA world traveller) and they also gave out cheeses after the meal, and swiss chocolate! The coffee was the best I've had on board, too.

Worst food on board was continental. Asked for vegetarian and got... mixed lettuce with cheese cubes. I'm not keen on the US airlines coffee in general - like gas station coffee (slightly brownish water).

[Jack Point]

The sausage and mash at excel airways takes some beating. tasty, simple and with a pudding and cheese. Even the pilots eat them.

Jack

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

The sausage and mash I had at AMM last year was nice as well :ok:.

BAe 146-100

[Jordan D]

I have to say the cheap plastic I've had on BA is actually quite good, and cuts through the meat very well ...

Jordan

[christep]

Which just goes to prove how stupid this all is since the reason that metal knives have been taken out is so that people can't cut flesh. Unless of course BA has found some special plastic which is sharp on cow flesh but blunt on human flesh.

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

I find KLM long haul is excellent, great value for money. Plus they have good food and service :ok:.

BAe 146-100

[PAXboy]

christep: Unless of course BA has found some special plastic which is sharp on cow flesh but blunt on human flesh.

Well put! Last year on VS, I kept one of the plastic forks and tested it against other forks. My destination was my sister in Pretoria and ALL the standard dinner forks in her kitchen were blunter than the plastic. We should use the plastic forks on the porky backsides of the dumbo politicians that make us use them.

It would be interesting to know if the carriers are pleased about using disposables once again. No washing and no theiving means they might be saving money??? Not that I ever thieved name branded metal cutlery, of course ... but if I had, then the SR would be the most handsome set in my kitchen and would be just right for a TV dinner. :rolleyes:

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

In KLM Economy you receive:

- An assortment of hot and cold non-alcoholic beverages.

- Choice of vegetarian or non-vegetarian roll on flights under 170 minutes.

- Lunch / breakfast box and a warm snack on flights over 170 minutes.

I think that is pretty good :ok:.

BAe 146-100

[A/T less]

the best i've ever had was on domestic U.S. short haul on Southwest.

just kidding

[TAF Oscar]

Check out this wonderful Dutch site to answer all your questions:

www.airlinemeals.net

Enjoy...

TAF:O

[DavidLucas2002]

Cyprus Airways A330-200 done a nice meal, it was actually hot than warm!! Very good services unlike Britanina, GO and Ryan air charge some thing like £4 for a sandwitch and like £2.50 for a soft drink.

Cyprus Airways offers the following special meal choices on flights where meals are served:

Vegetarian, Asian Baby Low Calorie High Fibre Fruit Platter
Vegetarian, non dairy Children Low Protein Hindu Sea Food
Vegetarian, Lacto Gluten Free Low Sodium Kosher Diabetic
Vegetarian, Raw Low Fat Low Purin Moslem Medical *
Fasting Low Cholesterol Non Lactose Oriental


* meals for persons with allergies, special medical conditions etc

[BAe 146-100]

Hi,

CY sound excellent, they are going to operate the A330 to MAN soon.

BAe 146-100

[Jordan D]

Very good services unlike Britanina, GO and Ryan air charge some thing like £4 for a sandwitch and like £2.50 for a soft drink.

So the tip is when at STN/LTN go to the nearest Boots, pick up a meal deal from there, and be content!

Jordan

[PAXboy]

Fine about a Meal Deal of sarnie/drink/chocco but please don't bring a 'Casey Burger' as one pax did. They were just across the aisle from me and scoffed this nauseating mess during loading and push back. I was astounded that the crew allowed them to do it. Not least, as it was a full fare airline! That said, perhaps the pax in question had travelled in Y with LH before and knew about their food. :rolleyes: