Ordering Airplane Food: My Thought Process & Approach

I always remember what a first class FA said to me 15 years ago. "Today's choices are a shrimp salad or a chicken enchilada. They look very different but they taste the same."

I appreciate all your reviews Ben and I've flown all over the world in business and a few places in first, but maybe 1% of the food has been memorable. Do it for the comfortable transport, not the food. Eating on planes is to avoid boredom almost always.

I strongly agree with your approach for domestic travel. I’m generally on Alaska or American and the salad/grain bowl/vegetarian option is almost always the best. I also try to be sensitive to a meal I can eat without risking making a mess on my shirt if we hit rough air or if limited elbow space makes it challenging to eat gracefully.

I also don’t understand the prevalence of burgers—they aren’t premium, they are messy, and they rarely look appealing when served on a plane in my opinion.

Austrian Airlines understands you don't want to spill on your shirt. When I flew them (short-haul eurobiz class) the cutlery package came with a clothespin so you could pin the napkin to your shirt and use it as a bib!

On US domestic flights, yes. On airlines like ANA and Cathay Pacific, the burgers in premium cabins are quite good.

Pre-order when offered to guarantee your meal choice and also, sometimes, get a bigger choice of options than if you wait until the flight e.g. Virgin upper class has a much bigger choice of options if ordered in advance. Also, long/slower cook meats with sauces/stews are always a great option and great when reheated; similar to why curries are great -> so choices such as cheaper cuts of beef - brisket, shin etc, lamb shanks, goat, chicken thighs, anything like that does well when reheated. I do have to give a shout out to Air France's biz class food - their dinner entree choices usually hit the mark every single time.

you're just flying the wrong airlines

Ironically, I prefer shake shack’s burgers on delta to the ones they serve in their restaurants. They’re less greasy and the flavors are just as good.

The AA grains bowl is now a cold salmon grains bowl, which I think is pretty decent, and prevents that reheated fish feeling.

Yeah... The United burger pictured in Ben's post is a portrait of sadness. Compared to the Etihad Asian veg main course, it's an entirely different universe.

Most airline napkins have a buttonhole cutout for that exact reason.

I will say the DL Shake Shack burgers are pretty decent, as far as domestic F meals go. That UA one though does look dreadful.

Agree that for many international F flights, but especially LH, all the appetizers and the desserts but skip the main is the way to go.

NH F on the other hand every dish is superb so the only thing to do is come hungry and try to eat everything.

Pasta over everything. Hard to mess up terribly and the carb load helps with crashing out.

No fish ever. Not a big fish eater on the ground though, tbh.

Exception for NH as noted below; I would trust them with any catering.

Burgers on CX are very good. Otherwise I'd be weary. I took the leap of faith years ago after about a month straight of Cantonese food. The F lounges at DXB also make a pretty good burger.

Domestically I try to go for sandwiches but this is on red-eyes or in a pinch. I would much rather have a snack on any domestic flight and get food on the ground, or bring it into F from the terminal (looking right at you, Tortas Frontera).

Ben, the ONLY thing that tastes the same on the ground as in the air is Tomato Juice, nothing else. There you can differ the Frequent Flyers from the not. Food is always different in the air, even caviar.

especially with the justification that pasta is, somehow, less nutritious than something else (which I think is nonsense).

I mostly rely on pre-flight lounge food and usually skip the airline food offering altogether. Anthony Bourdain was spot on in stating how awful airline food is and his preference was to order the fruit and cheese plate, if offered, as a last resort.
One unusually good airline meal of note was on recent travel on Air Canada from ARN to YYZ in Biz; an excellent restaurant quality Thai green curry was served, likely catered through Stockholm, nonetheless, amazingly good!

I typically avoid steaks on planes. It’s a gamble how cooked it can be, as most of the time it comes well done and dry.

@henare if pasta were that bad, Italians would be the fattest people on Earth. It reminds me of a time I was at a party with a French friend and his pregnant wife. She took a glass of wine from a server. Stupid, naive American me looked at him with eyebrows raised and he said "Eez ok, Santos, if pregnant women in France cannot have a glass of wine, no French people would exist."

My approach: is lobster on the menu? If not, go for the 2nd most expensive thing.

I know most food preferences are a matter of taste and therefore are a silly topic to atgue about, but still…
I’m going to vehemently argue that Emirates Arabic mezze is not a great dish. It is well below average and you can get afar better version of it in practically any Arab restaurant on the ground, including the emirates lounge itself
Similar to dishes rebar don’t heat well, there are those that chilling absolutely destroys, including most mezze items. Addd to that the sad excuse they serve to Arabic bread, and the dry falafels - it would be nearoffensive to call that a mezze

I ate everything on my JFK to HND NH F flight. It was all amazing!

Agree 100% Mike. I long ago stopped expecting (and ordering) the Mezze on EK. I don't understand it. Should be such a simple win.

You should do a post about laundry after gym on long trips, groceries you buy to have at the hotel, how to pack on a carry on for a multiple days trip.

We like to carry a powdered functional food replacement ( sealed & labeled to make an 8oz beverage ).
For the kids, should add water, juice, milk and ice and you have what they thought was a " milkshake " for years. A complete nutritional meal should something else not appeal.

Pasta can be good or bad. There's quite a difference between Italian pasta and American pasta (and then there's everything in between). A good pasta dish isn't actually a carb load 🙂

But what if one is only wearing a polo or non-button down shirt ?
A clothespin seems like a better idea ...

We overweight, diabetic Americans demand our constitutionally guaranteed grease laden 'boigas' !!

Indeed .. Isn't there the expression of 'eating with one's eyes' ?
... lol
I look for quality food in a restaurant, not in a flying metal tube !

The Ribs and Mac n cheese in domestic first on AA used to slap especially when you were a few Jack n Cokes deep.

Last time I ordered ahead of a flight was on SQ, SIN to IST last summer. Business. Chicken pie and sauteed spinach. Yum. I thought. The chicken pie was a 5" x 3" x 1" rectangular hard thing, and completely tasteless. I actually had to look up, what I had ordered, because the taste of that thing definitely did not give it away. And the 'sauteed spinach' was full of sand.

I agree with most of what you said, but I had that Delta Shakeshack burger the other day and thought it was quite good. It reheated pretty well and wasn't too far off from what I had on the ground a few days before.

Please do not order anything in BA Business Class! they absolutely suck. Turkish & Qatar Business out of SFO yuck!
Best Food Only If the Flight originates in Asia !

JAL’s First class food is where it’s at.

There's a... balance between "doing something well" and "trying to stand out" in airline cuisine. Logistically and costwise and creativity.

How I approach it is "how well will the airline be able to execute the dish?" Something that "sounds creative" and gives me a laugh probably won't be executed well (Lufthansa trying to serve sushi on their F menu on a flight to the US springs to mind) And I look at things like... the nationality of the airline and also where the flight originates from since the airline will probably try to cater to their own country's people and also have SOME kind of familiarity with cooking their own food. I usually try to go for some kind of food I don't typically get on a typical day-to-day basis. Why bother getting a less-well-cooked version of a dish that one typically orders or makes on the ground? I also take into account like... what sort of dish do I feel like eating at that time of the day/flight? Then it's also personal preference of likes/dislikes, plus what how is the dish prepared/what side dishes accompany it?

Oh, and a big plus for me is pre-ordering dishes or at least being able to see the menu before the flight.

Interesting that everyone has their own ideas and preferences. I do agree with the idea of what will reheat well and what would taste better up that high.

I usually go for a "least processed" food, of course how to assess this is another problem. I avoid gravy and sauces as much as possible.

The quality of the food differs tremendously depending on where the flight is originating. On flights from North America to Europe (not just USA, CDN as well) there is hardly anything worth eating.

ANA flights have often excellent tasting fish, and SQ Barramundi normally isn't bad either.

Try kosher meal.
You figuratively can't go wrong.

As long as Benny is in charge, even shooting at a neutral mediator is kosher.

Fly airlines that care about their passengers.

My latest Japan Airlines economy class meal was designed in collaboration with Kikunoi Akasaka, the Michelin 2 star Tokyo branch of a Michelin 3 star Kyoto legend.

Japan Airlines serves actually good food in all classes. I have had brilliant meals in first class, but I have even been served a perfectly poached egg for the second meal in economy.

Lowkey, I'm glad you posted this one, because sometimes on your reviews, you will order something that clearly will not taste the best on a plane, compared to the other options you have, and I think it can kinda taint your review of food on planes, because the option you're picking is not exactly the best option due to your dietary preferences and wonkiness LMAO

Wait. There is a thought process & ordering process for airplane food?
LOL ..
and all this time I just ordered from the menu or BTC, or just ate at the lounge.

The only times I thought about what to order was last month on SQ SUITES & First Class.
On all my flights (6 in total), I preordered the lobster (thermidor) from BTC & only ate one time.
The rest of the time, I asked the IFM or Chief steward to let the junior cabin crew have my meals.

My husband is vegetarian AND needs gluten free food. It seems to be impossible to pre-order. If I order a gluten free meal, it comes with meat or prawns! There’s no facility in the ‘special meals’ section to explain his needs. Any suggestions?

I second that burgers on Cathay are really good. Have had it several times ex-HKG and also from various outstations.

Don’t agree. Do&Co which BA have out of LHR is quite good. Agree though with ANYTHING out of a flight originating in the USA… generally highly processed and disgusting!

I usually tell the flight attendant to bring me anything and make someone else happy.