I Wish Buy On Board Really Looked Like This

by Gary Leff

Austrian Airlines has introduced per-order paid meals in coach from Vienna-based caterer DO & CO, the company which caters Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal and Lounges in Frankfurt (and First Class Lounge at New York JFK).

My favorite thing about the First Class Terminal — besides the Mercedes or Porsche ride across the tarmac to the plane,, of course — is the wiener schnitzel.

Now, at the fifteen euro price point and served within the constraints of onboard catering, subject to the reheating skill of flight attendants, and packaged to be provided at 30,000 feet I’m not sure what the implementation will ultimately be like.

But the pictures sure look good.

The menu is available on international flights to and from Vienna, except for Budapest, Prague, and Zagreb. And some will consider it a downgrade, as the

À la carte Menu is served on European flights instead of the standard meal and on long-haul flights instead of the warm main meal.

But whether or not this is a positive or negative development depends, to me, on the actual implementation and quality of the meal.

Paid meals can be ordered online up to 36 hours prior to flight, or for flights departing Vienna in person at the à la carte desk up to one hour prior to flight time.

DO & CO’s schnitzel sets the bar for me (as someone utterly uneducated in the genre), but I do crave it, and when I’m in New York I scratch the itch at Schnitzel and Things, a food truck that’s become a store front.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. Suprisingly the meals on Austrian Airways really do look and taste that good – I have flown many times between China/US and Vienna, and also on Continental European flights.

  3. I have to say that food on Austrian in business class is excellent, especially on their JFK-VIE flight. I would say even better than Singapore.

  6. I love the blog and great pics,but man it is always shocking to me that this is how some people travel…Im a definitely a bit jealous. Please do not take this comment with any kind of malice. Im just always amazed and whats out there.

  7. The best BOB program I have experienced was on Air Asia. The choices are endless and the food was very good.

    http://www.airasia.com/my/en/flightinfo/inflightservices.page

    And it is cheap, mine meal was only $4 for PNH-KUL. However, the flying experience on Air Asia is a different story.

    I am curious how Austrian will compare [with a better caterer probably] once this new program goes in effect though!

  8. @aznprzn all you need to travel like this is a couple good credit card signup bonuses!

    i flew austrian NYC->VIE->TLV in C and gotta say that catering is definitely top notch

  11. @raf,

    Yeah thanks to many good blogs including this one, I have accumulated quite a bit of miles/points and just booked my parents (who are Chinese) to fly to CLE->SFO->HKG in biz class. They did brag to their friends and told them our son booked us to fly “cheen dow fay-gay”. Which means in Cantonese front of the plane. I sounded it out phonetically. So thanks G-man and many others.

  12. I was about to say, on Austrian, they really do look and taste like that 🙂 They’re a floating restaurant. My J-class meal from VIE-IAD was some of the best food I’ve ever had — and it was on a plane. 100% recommended 😀

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