It’s remarkable how airlines in Europe, the Middle East and Asia can serve amazing meals on short flights, while U.S. airlines serve such lower quality food on flights that are much longer.
On American Airlines it takes a 900 mile flight to even get a meal.
Yet I received this from British Airways on the 216 mile flight from London to Paris last year.
I even received a choice of meals from Qatar Airways on a 200 mile Doha – Abu Dhabi flight.
However just because it’s a foreign airline in business class doesn’t mean that the food is going to be good, or filling. Kris Chari shared what Japan Airlines offered him as a first service in business class, during the first service on their morning Jakarta – Tokyo flight. They’d ordered a vegetarian meal, and they received… a banana.
Before takeoff today my flight attendant confirmed that I ordered VGML and that my breakfast was a banana, by which I mistakenly assumed she meant that breakfast included a banana. When she served the banana after takeoff I thought it was just an underwhelming appetizer, but it was in fact the entire meal service! It was a really good banana—one of the best I’ve had recently—but it still seems more appropriate as a snack.
Credit: Kris Chari
I have to say, though, that the presentation of the banana is excellent – very understated and Japanese.
Unlikely to be satisfied by just a banana, the passenger asked if it was possible to get anything else and they were offered “almonds and a couple watermelon cubes,” which they described as “great.”
On a short two and a half hour flight from Tokyo Narita to Shanghai, I’ve gotten a full meal. This one, for instance, was followed separately by an individual-sized container of Haagen Dazs ice cream.
Nonetheless, just because you’re flying a European or Asian airline in business class doesn’t mean all of the food is going to be impressive. Then again, ‘just a banana’ is probably better than the dreaded turkey sandwich American Airlines was serving throughout much of the past couple of years.
@ Gary — Glad to see the banana was served wih a spoon.
the real question was what was someone that didn’t order a special meal served.
It is entirely possible that JAL wasn’t willing to spend a bunch of money for an alternative breakfast when a banana would work.
So, does one dip the banana in the champagne? Asking for a friend
JL’s special meals are terrible – both in J and F.
Thats what they get for being vegetarians.
Monkey Business Class
I’ve come off a Qsuites 6 hour night flight hungry and glad to be heading to a good lounge. I was pretty surprised.
There’s a lot good about Asian-based airlines but I have consistently found on numerous carriers from the region that they do not have vegetarian options unless ypu order a special meal, which is invariably vegan and awful. I find it infuriating, when I’m paying for J tickets, and for that reason alone I prefer American carriers for these long hauls – they do a much, much better job of this.
I’d take a banana over some of the things I’ve been offered, and, with some regret, eaten.
Slightly off topic, I had a very nice yoghurt meal for breakfast on UA out of ORD a couple of days ago.
Besides the spoon, how does one eat a banana with chopsticks??
Man, that meal was just bananas!
This is probably a function of requesting the VGML. On my flight last year from JFK-HND in F, I was given a piece of different roasted vegetable for each “course”. If I stuck to that I would have been starving. Thankfully they had other things from the regular menu which I requested and they served me.
Why do you keep referring to Kris as “they”? Don’t you know how to write?
Seriously all the articles about airline food is bizarre. I never care about what they serve. If its decent i eat and if not I pull out my own snacks. I’m there for the transportation not the food.
Surprised the flight crew didn’t swing their butts over tray tables and squeeze out what the Airline feels their customers are worth.
That’s absurd. The funny thing is you’d get a proper meal in business on the low-cost Southeast Asia airlines. I was really impressed with Batik Air when I flew them in 2019. Garuda Indonesia on the other hand was pathetic. Especially their flagship lounge at Jakarta, which KLM uses for its fifth-freedom flights.
I’ve also flown business on the fifth-freedom Ethiopian Airlines flight between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. While no meal was served, I received a fully stocked amenity kit and was offered champagne (Lanson) before departure and then 3 refills on the 1-hour flight.
listening to people who can afford bussiness and 1st whine and complain about sub par food a when 95% of the people can only afford main cabin is like listening to millionaire ball players and billionaire team owners squabbling over money. jeez be thankful you even have the income to afford business/1st. if you want 5* food go to a restaurant on the ground before your flight, the plane is not where you go for good food. i would gladly trade fly ing 8-9 hrs with no service at all not even a entertainment scree. as long as i got from A to B safely and on time and had 32 in of seat pitch. nothing else matters to me. i am a grown man i can feed myself when i am hungry. thankfully i can afford main cabin and not limited to basic economy. but my job does pay me enough to even afford comfort plus let only business or 1st. if I could ever afford 1st i would be just glad i could stretch my legs out while flying. to hell with the food.
i like view from the wing articles. Better than most this airline online magazines. i did not mean to bash it so much. this one just struck a nerve is all.
I call bs on this post. Have taken this exact route – multiple times. The seats actually aren’t great but the catering is very good and service excellent. There is zero chance they’d just serve a banana.
Flew QF Melbourne to Sydney and received a nice meal. A one hour flight. Obviously it can be done. American carriers just choose not to, even on longer flights. .
Honestly, if you’re a special meal eater, it might be a good idea to carry some fallback food.
I used to order “salt free” meals — it really does make a difference to your blood pressure — but learned that, pretty much, that meant chicken and rice. Got old quickly when I flew a *lot*..
Should the passenger have expected better? Absolutely. But honestly, Japan has pretty catholic dietary tastes and I don’t see too much vegetarian in there. Might be wise to consider the home nation of the country when ordering this stuff. And, sorry, I can’t help myself, sometimes virtue signalling has a cost 🙂
All that said, the meal presented by @Gary is delightful. With what I assume are zensai at the top of the plate. Beautiful.
> on the 216 mile flight from to Paris
Lack of proofreading strikes again, eh?
It’s not just JAL but Asian airlines in general are notorious for serving underwhelming vegetarian meal even when flying in J with the exception of Singapore airline. I purposely avoid flying them even though their hard product is good.
This happened to me about ten years ago on SAS intra-Europe. I asked for a vegetarian meal and I got, literally, a single apple on a plate. It was a big LOL moment for a $600 one way ticket.
Tim isn’t always right but this time, he nailed it (with some splinters about JAL’s intentions)
A “vegetarian” or a vegan mean in Japan is probably like a meal with none of cheese, lard, gluten and potatoes in America.
♀️
@ Chi Hsuan, the vernacular of “they” is proper unless you are certain of their indicated Pronouns.
Gary, desn’t a 216 mile flight take like
30 minutes? How do the FA’s find the time?
At least it was a great banana and not the turkey sandwich of death…..
It’s generally well known that American airline companies have crap service.
Mike,
you do realize that the article is about Japan Airlines?
Secondary meals are almost always designed to be the same across all special-orders. We are vegetarian and order AVMLs, and have frequently received the “Still Life on Porcelain.” When paying thousands of dollars for a fight, I expect more than a single piece of fruit, and have said as much when the inevitable “how was your flight” email arrives. That said, FAs are always happy to help scrounge up something else if we’re hungry. Also, as another commenter noted, part of requiring a special meal is always packing some snacks just in case.
The airline’s passive/aggressive way of telling you that you’re too fat.
It must be the fancy seats that get meals like that. I fly coach and once ordered an underwhelming specialty meal on a cross Pacific flight. Never again and the food has been fine since.
When I was a graduated senior in high school, 1971, my family, four of us, flew New York to Los Angeles on a United. The entire flight was pretty empty. We were the only folks in coach or economy. They served a hot pastrami sandwich. My brother and I devoured several. They had enough for the entire number of seats! We were on our way to Australia via Pan Am which had “Trader Vic” service.
lol Monkey Ape Class
So this constitutes a story these days?
Eat before you get on a plane, when you take the bus, do they feed your pieholes, NO
This makes no sense. Many asian breakfast and in particular Chinese and korean do serve a much more elaborate breakfast that also happens to be vegetarian. Rice congee is very typical and many of the accompanied side dish is in fact vegetarian. In fact asians rarely eat bananas for breakfast. My previous jal business class(6 years ago) breakfast was far better than that and vegetarian.
So
You ordered the banana.
You were served the banana.
The part about the banana being part of a meal was your assumption.
And somehow the airline is at fault?
(Why offer just a banana? Well, some passengers prefer not to have a full meal on board, so a fruit snack might be welcome)
On all Emirates flights you are served well balanced meals, whether flying Economy or Business class. Very enjoyable. You get 2 meals in fact for each leg of your flight. There is a choice of 2-3 entrees. Served perfectly on your tray.
The meals contain an entree, bread/roll, cheese and crackers,, a salad type, a dessert, a piece of chocolate, a small water, and you receive your drink of choice. And condiments salt/pepper/butter/ salad dressing/ etc. This is no matter what class you are in. And….this is within the first 2 hours of your flight. Next coffee/tea or another drink? approximately 30 minutes later. And get this…..another entire meal 3-4 hours later. Real silverware. Real glasses no matter the class of service. In business class take this up 2 notches. Better type of meal choices. All the wine and spirits you want, continuously. Your own seat cubby. They give you pillows, blankets and headphones at each seat, but give you mattresses for your seat, better blankets and headphones in business class as well as Evian, Perrier, pepsi, and sprite at your business class side table. They give you socks and eye masks at your seat with a tolietry kit which includes toothbrush, tooth paste, etc. Your seat reclines to a full lying down position to sleep comfortably. There is also a lounge you can walk to to get drinks, pastry, chips, candy,
sandwiches,etc at any time, and you can just sit there to read, work or talk with others. And to top it all off …ALL of the cabin attendants are super nice, courteous, and will do anything for you…no matter what class you sit….I was so inmpressed with the service I changed my flight to get a business class seat on my 15 hour ride home. It was the BEST DECISION I made and I enjoyed the Filet mignon and Prawn dinners, the Henney, the chocolate cake, the champagne, the chips, the snacks and the mattress and headphones during nap time while looking up at the stars. EMIRATES HAS MY VOTE!!!
How many Kris’s are there? I’m confused.
Flew Singapore-Jakarta on Singapore yesterday & ate Hungarian goulash, which FA had advised me, correctly, was quite good. I usually would have taken the fried rice, but eat rice everyday as it is.
Airline passengers or Buslines passengers who do think should complain about meal or drink services? Airplanes get you there quicker while Buses get there when the get there!!
To all of you. Airlines are transportation business, not restaurants. Stop whining and comparing airlines food either bring your own snack or have a nice meal at a restaurant before boarding a plane. SHUT UP AND ENJOY THE RIDE.
Last month, I traveled from London to Cairo on British Airways for almost 5 hours with NO food or snacks and NO movies or music in a cramped tiny seat. All we got was a tiny, TINY plastic bottle of water.