I graduated college in 1996 and earned elite status with United Airlines for the first time in 1997. The very first time I was upgraded was on a Los Angeles – Washington Dulles flight and lunch was served in courses. I had an almond dusted shrimp plate as an appetizer followed by a steak for my entree and then dessert.
Come spring 2001 United was making cutbacks in their inflight catering spend and I remember the controversy among frequent flyers over their ‘gourmet’ cheeseburger being served at lunch. It was a good and substantive burger, not like what customers think of as an onboard burger today.
Prior to the US Airways merger here was an American Airlines dinner served onboard the 919 mile Washington National – Miami flight.
That was before meal service on American was US Airways-ed in September 2014. Things got so bad the airline started investing a little more in its meals less than a year later. I stopped eating inflight.
After several cuts to meal service, in 2018 United Airlines tried to eliminate meals altogether on flights under 4 hours outside of dinner hours. They rolled that back after just two weeks.
- Airlines want to spend less on food
- But what if they’re missing a real revenue opportunity?
A dozen years ago American introduced the ability to pre-order meals in first class. You’re just pre-selecting what they’d otherwise have onboard and assuring you get your meal choice. Then they added the ability to choose ‘special meals’ and those were higher quality than the rest of American’s domestic meal service. I recommended the Muslim meal, before they removed protein from them. (These meals were worth it even if ordering one meant the government would think you’re a terrorist.)
Airlines are scrounging for revenue, United raised first checked bag prices before the pandemic and isn’t doing anything more for customers in return. Why not look for opportunities to earn more money in ways that also add more value?
Airlines should offer paid buy on board in first class. Let you pre-order a premium meal for extra money. That way airlines can make more money off of customers who may be best-positioned to pay, a better strategy perhaps than higher checked bag fees for infrequent leisure flyers traveling in coach.
I’d happily spend for a meal that was actually good on a 3 hour flight. The only worry is that airlines would cut ‘included’ meals even further. And that’s certainly possible, but doesn’t have to be the case and really how much worse could they get? American Airlines serves $1 shelf-stable pasta in first class.
I’d rather have a good meal that cost me something than what’s served today without extra cost. And U.S. airport caterers are clearly capable of pulling off good food. The food served on many Asian airlines, and on some European ones, can be quite delicious – even when the flights are departing the U.S.
ANA Ramen
Singapore Airlines Lobster Thermidor
Etihad salmon biryani
Singapore Airlines Dim Sum
This is logistically possible. Twelve years ago Austrian Airlines introduced paid pre-order meals in coach from caterer DO & CO at the 15 euro price point.
Czech Airlines offers paid meals even in economy which myriad choices as well as paid premium wines, such as Moët and Chandon Imperial Brut Rosé champagne. airBaltic has a good looking paid premium meal selection program as well.
It should be:
- easier to do this in first class with fewer passengers to manage
- possible to invest more in food at a lower price since customers would opt for this instead of a first class meal — the airline generates revenue and saves cost at the same time.
Raising more money for airlines by delivering a better product to customers is a better and more sustainable business model in a competitive industry than trying to charge more for the same or lesser product.
Do you agree – should airlines make this change? Would you buy a premium meal in domestic first class?
Most of the time you don’t get a good menu of food choices on a plane at all
Food service on domestic flights is a complete anachronism and adds needless complication and expense to air travel. Long past time to get rid of it. Only the long hauls over 10 hours really need catering – otherwise just let passengers bring a snack.
Mak, I disagree. Food service even post-budget cutbacks is the highlight of domestic first class. Otherwise it’s just a Big Front Seat which I don’t even need because I’m slim and fit.
Yes I would buy a decent quality meal in First Class. The price would be a round-off error in the price of the flight.
I wouldn’t pay for a meal on a flight. In FC it should be included. Just go back to the early 2000s for good domestic meals.
I’ve gotten a good hot meal in Coach flying on a 1 hour RJ flight in Europe.
Really great meals on EK with 3 hour flights.
As the steak and chicken got tougher on US flights, I carried a sharp pocket knife to cut it. TSA fixed that and eliminate my options for a knife. The airlines felt bad and eliminated the food so I wouldn’t need a knife.
Fly Alaska instead. Their F meals are usually surprisingly good.
I’m parked with *SFO/EWR, slightly revising the term “Food Service” to “Food & Beverage Service”. As for a direct response to Gary’s question, time and again I’ve seen these things evolve: If they did offer Pre-Paid meals in 1st Class, the existing meals that are bundled and included with the price of the flight would vanish.
What makes you think they wouldn’t start cutting back the paid meals and making them worse and worse, while keeping the prices the same. They did that when the food is included in the fare. So, why wouldn’t they do this with food purchased separately.
For Gawd’s sake, bring a pizza. That’s what the airlines should serve anyway, at least in First class.
In Second class (and lower) they should push a huge, gas fired pot of chile, spooning out copious amounts into disposable bowls complete with plastic spoons.
Want topping? Sure. We have cheese, chopped onions, tomato bits and croutons.
It’s followed by a full-size keg of Arrogant Bastard Beer and very (VERY) large paper cups. All of it included in the price.
@SFO/EWR “Food service even post-budget cutbacks is the highlight of domestic first class. Otherwise it’s just a Big Front Seat which I don’t even need because I’m slim and fit”
Comfort is all I want. I don’t need or want airplane food and I don’t understand why anybody does on a 5 hour flight. The worst meal on the ground is still better than the best in the air and a bag of chips better than anything any US airline will serve. Few want airplane food and fewer need it, but everybody will eat whatever junk is put in front of them despite the fact that they’ll be on the ground long before they’ll starve to death.
What did we sardines & cattle do to deserved to be treated this way by the US Airlines?
Meals that make K-rations & MRE’s look appetizing….
Remember when FF miles were worth something?
Remembers when airlines cared about customer service and competed on amenities instead of selling big banks billions of miles?
This is why I fly with Asian or Mid-east carriers if I can.
This is what happens when the bean counters and cost Accountants are running US airlines
Just set your expectations low and prepare to be disappointed.
At least if I’m driving 8-10 hours I can get a good meal along the way.
I never believed food and flying should go together. I mean, even restaurants have a hard time giving us real, wholesome, healthy food (even grocery stores!) So forget about airplanes and airports.
Why would you buy food from an airline?
They are having a hard time just providing flying bus service.
If you want to eat well or at least decent- BYO
J6 Mint Service is still very good. Just sayin…
A 5 hour flight is only a 5 hour food fast. You all should try going without food or drinks for at least 12 hours and give your body a break once in awhile, drinking only water. This will improve your health.
On AA I would like to pre-order FA’s who don’t exude the air that they would rather be anywhere else than serving pax.
Domestic flights are like riding a city bus. It gets you from point A to point B. nothing more.
At least on a bus you don’t have flight attendants with a bad attitude.
I’m with Mak. You’re paying for that garbage food whether you know it or not. It’s a significant expense, and the cost relative to quality for onboard food will always be high. In addition, that extra food weight requires more fuel. So if you’re not going to do it well then just don’t bother.
Besides, you don’t need to eat every 3 hours. I’d say around 5 hours is the cutoff when a meal should be served. Airlines are pretty transparent about whether a meal is served on a flight, so you can plan your meals accordingly. Less farting and belching passengers would also be a bonus.
@Gary: Inventory issues make this questionably viable. However, what would be a much simpler, less ambitious change would be to sell the first-class wine list in coach.
Imagine the complaints when a preordered and expensive extra charge vegan, low sodium, kosher, or halal meal doesn’t show up on a 5+ hour flight; the airlines have a hard enough time just delivering baggage.
Folks complain about bundled cable service, and unbundled airline service. Whatever you give them, they will find something not to like about it.
People seem to prefer discounts for not using something to extra fees for something added. They are effectively equivalent, just framed differently.
Judging from other responses, different people want different things. Some airlines could offer this while others don’t. Or, an airline could offer a bundled service that includes premium food for people who want it and doesn’t for people who don’t.
There is no reason why premium food couldn’t also be sold to us back in steerage if any of us wanted it.
You get nothing or hard tack for $15.99, or $25.99 for flights over 5 hours.
5 hours is about right. If the flight is 5 hours or more include one meal.
I actually love the big pot of chilli rolling down the aisle idea. Must have 2 pots though, one vegan. No other food preferences are accomodated. If oyu don’t like what is being served bring your own.
If there was a Pret A Mange in every airport at multiple locations that would solve everything.
Don’t forget for a flight of 5 hours, I am already at the airport a good 2, 2 1/2 hours before flight time, sometime 3 depending on the airport, so I will want a meal on a 5 hour or 5 hour+ flight, but I don’t need anything more than one meal and a snack if it is transatlantic.
Oh yeah. A buy-on-board snack box of prepackaged commercial snacks is going to go over really well for people who pay thousand$ for a 1st or b-class seat.
I think the problem for you Gary is that you value food on airplanes more than most people. If domestic airlines could command a revenue premium by serving better food, they would. I think there is enough history to show they can’t.
Or the could use Do&Co. Heck, I’d prefer Pret and Manger.
Except for Alaska, the US carriers have bad food and service, domestic and international. I do avoid them for international because of that.
Better that the free first class upgrade ones on domestic US airlines should pay for premium cabin food while the regular paid first class passengers get better food included as part of being the premium fare passengers.
EU carriers routinely serve excellent meals on intra-EU flights, showing it can be done. Even on short flights
Seeing people say they don’t need or want food on the plane reminds me of the person who said they preferred the food on UA TATLs to the food on AF because the AF meals were “too fancy”. People have different tastes.
No problem with todays on board food though it’s gotten a little tougher
However I always carry my chainsaw onboard which can through any airline wood or rubber entree
This guy does nothing but bash American Airlines, literally every single article. What a loser.
‘Then they added the ability to choose ‘special meals’ and those were higher quality than the rest of American’s domestic meal service. I recommended the Muslim meal, before they removed protein from them. (These meals were worth it even if ordering one meant the government would think you’re a terrorist.)’
How does one report this Gary Leff for racism as well as incessant American Airlines bashing? Can you make such comments about any other group? It’s been pretty cool to talk trash about muslims recently I guess, just eye opening that the average person is so racist. I shouldn’t be surprised, 90% of humanity is racist, just a different flavor for different times.
Think of the children! Flying with my kids always involved food plans. Domestic flights can be delayed. Kids get cranky and the food they were happy with a day ago is now something they will not touch. So I learned to always carry something palatable. And now they’re grown and for myself (or others) I still bring good stuff. And yes if even if I’m not hungry, it is a survival back up plan. Domestic airline catering is a expensive waste.
I have given up on USA airlines as far as food, even on cross country flights. I’m not sure I would trust any food served by them unless it was packaged like potato chips are. I will continue to enjoy reasonable meals on Asian airlines.
WowGary, what a solution.
Don’t improve things, just charge more!!
I see a bunch of people recommending touristy stuff which is great! The museums are lovely, I think the parks are really something unique about London, try Hampstead… It’s pretty busy but really nice and cute too. I give u a break!
I prefer to avoid relying on airlines for food but it is unfortunately a necessity sometimes when you have a transcon or Hawaii trip that spans mealtime or worse a short connection that requires an OJ dash through the airport.
I have repeatedly suggested that airlines offer Subway sandwiches and salads thru BOB but for some reason airline execs would rather offer crap catering and junk food boxes that nobody really wants.
Rather than hold the airlines accountable, let’s just make pax pay for more things. No thought put into this one
Simple rule – never eat on planes. Not worth the calories for subpar food, even in international F. Just not worth it.
I liked the soup they served on Hughes Airwest.
I forget what kind it was, but I remember liking it.
@ Older Woman “Pret A Mange ” is an unintentionally accurate description of most airline food.
The relatively few times I have flown on US airlines, transcon and transpac in F or J, I have been amazed at how the caterers have consistently tried-too-hard and produced bizzare food combinations and concoctions which are unappertizing if not inedible.
I am certain no-one would choose this rubbish on the ground, so why would they like it at 35000 feet?
Fly AirFrance business (even not First class) and you’ll have a real high standard meal and service.
In the minority. I don’t like to eat on planes, even long haul. All I want is free flowing water and snack.
It isn’t a food issue, I suspect. It is the preparation. I was on a UA flight out of CHC and pre-ordered the standard J chicken dish. It was just fine. It seems the supplier at CHC is good, and the FA doing the reheating was spot on. That’s all it takes.
First class meals today have become what used to provided free to coach class years ago. When flying Delta coach LAX to ATL in 1998 I received a full steak meal including salad, bread, side and desert.
You are paying for premium service, and that includes a meal. Before Covid, the food was much better than now. The airlines were thrilled that they did not have to cater to their customers and keeping the price the same. They never returned to pre Covid service. Ever since deregulation, no one really cares about service anymore. You never hear or read any advertisement where an airline would brag about their offerings. If they offered meals for sale in first, they would be very expensive, and the quality would not change. No one in the airlines care.
I have been using the Factor meal service at home, and it reminds me of what a passable first class meal used to be. It doesn’t look like much in its microwavable plastic, but when plated, it can be presented quite elegantly.
My point is that airlines could co-brand with one of those meal services, which would improve their food quality, and potentially provide some leverage from a business standpoint.
I think it’s coming anyway. We heard Delta talking about unbundling First Class similar to Qatar & Co. Once that is in place – we will see more options. I usually don’t eat the provided food anymore. Most of it doesn’t have any nutritional value and/or is bad for my health.
@Asif – Muslim isn’t a race, it’s a belief system. “Racism” therefore isn’t applicable. The word you are looking for is bigotry, but I seriously doubt Gary intended his comments in such a manner. Also, AA SUCKS and fully deserves to be bashed.
“How does one report this Gary Leff for racism as well as incessant American Airlines bashing? Can you make such comments about any other group? It’s been pretty cool to talk trash about muslims recently I guess, just eye opening that the average person is so racist”
Uh, Gary is pretty clearly not “bashing” Muslims. He’s making a reference to the fact that Muslims are often the *targets* of bigotry.
If a tiny airline like Czech or Air Baltic can do it, so can Delta or American. I’d rather have the meal Air France serves in business-class on a 1-hour flight between London and Paris than the meal served on a the 3-hour Delta domestic first-class flight.
If they did something like this, it would likely start off fine and eventually, through cost-cutting measures, devolve into paying for the same meal they serve for free today.
The issue is that if you did pre order BOB in first and had to switch flights due to irregular ops then it’s doubtful you’re meal would follow you. Then you’re forced to file for a refund.
The best idea is not to show up to the flight really hungry if you can help it.
“First Class Food On Airlines Is Terrible” – this is false. FC meals are quite good, on non-US carriers. US airlines don’t have FC and their biz offerings are subpar. But they didn’t used to be.
The American people are paying for front row seats and sitting in the bleachers on every deal. AeroMexico has better service and food between Reynosa and Mexico City a 500 mile flight than any American carrier.
The last real meal that I had on a flight was years ago with American Airlines from Houston to San Jose, (Economy seating). Speaking of Houston. If anyone happens to be in the city. Visit the 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Hobby Airport located in the old terminal building. You will be amazed to see how well passengers were treated in those days. It really was the Golden Age of Aviation.
Asif is off-base. Señor Leff wasn’t defending the idea of using special meal orders to profile and harass Muslim passengers. He was indicating that it could be done. Some Muslim passengers actually defaulted to ordering KSML because they were concerned the government would flag them as a Muslim extremist based on MSML orders.
I would not want to pay for a “first class” meal. I too have been flying all my life and do miss the good Ole days, but I do enjoy the selections available on AA and always preorder my meal. . If people are unhappy with the meal they can always eat in the terminal or bring their own and decline the airlines offerings.
As a frequent but not “elite” member of the community I find it a bit pretentious to complain about first class when those of us subsidizing your seats get a packet of stale pretzels and half a water.
I would pay for better options… I’m already paying more $$$ in the airport restaurants/bars because of this very reason because the food is so much better. I still will get the meal- in case it might be good- which to be fair does sometimes happen but usually not.
I do Agree with @Gary that having a paid offering which has value is smart (instead of charging for something that is already free). Also, 1st class passengers are more price insensitive as a rule, and obviously those who always pay for their travel (I’m now one of them as generally- but not always- you can usually get a 1st class upgrade for about $150-$200 more per out/in segment, or use a 1st class certificate) do make up about 50% of the seats in my experience, though it varies on short flights (much less), vs. longer flights (more people buying ahead of time).
Personally, I think the real opportunity is to exploit the traveler who is stuck in the donut hole of 1st vs. Private Jet. It’s amazing to me that the cost difference between 1st and Private is still thousands of dollars- ONE WAY. If AA or others would invest in different security lines and true concierge service (literally preboarding via a tarmac shuttle), then they would be on too something, IMO.
@View from the tail – more often than not the subsidy is working the other way around
Unless food quality were to improve in airline food domestically I would not pre-pay for a meal in first class. I agree with others that on foreign carries, even on short flights 1 hour and 25 minutes the food is far superior than what you get in the USA. I’d say the same applies for lounge food domestically as well.
@View from the tail – I picked a random route: ORD-LAX round trip, nonstop, in October on Tuesdays. The highest coach fare is $263 to get regular (non basic) Y plus a checked bag each way. The lowest F fare is $883. A row of 6 Ys pays ($263×6) $1578, and a row of F pays ($883×6) $3532. So, F pays more than two rows of Y, but don’t get twice the pitch.
The airlines do such a horrible job with food I think they should totally eliminate food in all classes and let people bring their own…even on international flights. Food handling at the catering services is abysmal, as indicated by the recent stale food on the international Delta flight that had to divert to JFK. I haven’t eaten airline food for 20 years and have survived just fine (and most of my travel has been business class international flights across the Pacific or first class domestic). Flight attendants tell me that 80% of staff don’t eat airline food either.
It’s not that US Airlines can’t provide true first class dining, they simply don’t want to. I remember flying AA first class from Miami to Paris in1999. The meal service included a caviar cart, a made to-order salad cart PRIOR to the main meal service. The arrival meal included made-to-order eggs for breakfast. Today’s AA looks nothing like the incredible “doing what we do best” AA did. Sad
Thanks for bringing this up.
After over 50 years of air travel, I have now decided to stop eating airplane food on domestic “first” class.
The last times, when I had pre-ordered a chicken containing dish, the chicken actually smelled like old meat with an extra touch of chemicals, probably from the tons of antibiotics the chicken they use get fed.
This is disgusting to a degree I cannot believe. There is no limit of price-gourging, lack of integrity, and recklessness. Next time I’ll take hard boiled eggs with onions from home and I’ll funk up the cabin as a revenge measure !! 😉
I pre paid for dinner on an Iceland Air flight from the USA to Scotland.
The app 25$ meal was tiny, was not very tasty and one leg it was not even heated up all the way (it was supposedly lasagna).. it was the same on the way back except it was properly heated.
Like my wife said, get stuffed at the airport before you leave. It’s expensive but at least it’s general good food
I’ll never buy a meal from an airline again
This is just the top us airlines. Jetblue for example are always good to great. I just took a 11pm red eye from CA to nyc and they still served a good meal. No business models for those 3 us airlines will be good long term. It will just eventually become a line item they can cut in service and quality but raise the price.
With hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, I think airlines should be able to serve first class meals without any extra charges. The first class and business fares are ample enough to enable the carrier to up the meal ante on their own without fleecing the customers more than they already are. I usually fly business class internationally and the food is pretty good even on the US airlines.
I cannot agree with the blanket statement that “first class meals are terrible.” I’ve had Crew Meals, with mystery meat, that I would put into the category, and definitely Economy meals, more mystery meat, but First Class meals . . . probably the worst was adequate. A friend once said to me, “this is the worst fish I’ve ever had.” I told him that’s because it was chicken.
Don’t forget to order a delicious meal when flying with LOT Polish airlines in Economy ( 10 to 12€, choose the Polish one)
I disagree on a couple of fronts.
First off, current airline food in first class is not uniformly awful. Yesterday my wife and I flew PDX-DFW on American and she had a vegetarian pasta with a sort of cheesy bechamel sauce. She loved it. I had a sort of madras curry chicken with very flavorful rice that was quite good. Both came with salads, warm bread, and dessert. We were extremely pleased.
Secondly I think that especially in first class, airlines really do have an obligation to serve you food, and not some awful gruel out of a Charles Dickens novel either but enjoyable food. We’re paying extra for the experience and that absolutely includes meals.