Best Airline Meal
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.
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.
Paxing All Over The World
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!
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!
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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
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
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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.
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.
I think any in-flight service that suits the means of the times is memorable:
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.
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?
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?
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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.
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.
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
!
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
!
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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!
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.
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.
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Best drinkies
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
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
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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!
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!
KLM Schipol to Kuwait...
.....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
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
