Why is airline food so bad? | Hacker News Reader

Why is airline food so bad?

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34 pointsyitchelle99 comments

I think it depends.

Last year, I went from Frankfurt to SF with United and food was bad. The plane was old, service was sloppy, no seat-back entertainment etc, almost everything was bad.

Went SF to Zurich to Istanbul in return with Swiss and food was quite good for my taste, Swiss also served quality chocolate twice which was a nice surprise. Along with presents to kids (books, coloring book, crayons etc.) it was more than OK IMO. Last month, went Istanbul - Bangkok with Turkish Airlines[1] and upgraded to business in return flight. Food was delicious both in economy and business.

I don't know Swiss, but Turkish Airlines' profitability fluctuates quarter to quarter and I know that they're heavily subsidized by government for political reasons, so the food they serve might not be of reasonable quality for a company totally moved by market forces.

[1] I'm Turkish. I don't like Turkish Airlines for political reasons.

It does depend, and the article address the biggest varying factor - price.

United is a low cost airline, by American standards (united is an American airline), and thus you get a low cost meal with low cost seat entertainment. Swiss, is not a low cost airline and prides themselves on quality not quantity.

I love Turkish Airlines for the food.

They used to hand out Turkish Delight after take off. They didn't the last time I've flown with them though (October 2016, economy). Did they stop doing that altogether?

Airline food isn't bad, American airline food is bad.

Qantas has excellent food.

Air New Zealand usually does as well. I've had ok meals on US airlines flying to Europe but the quality seems to be declining.

For me, Turkish airlines have the best food and ameneties so far.

Not all airline food is bad. It is the worst in the States in my experience, but many of the Asian and Middle Eastern airlines serve food I'd gladly pay for at a restaurant.

I once got the western option on Japan Airlines. It was described as spaghetti with ketchup, a beef burger and a sausage. I assumed it was just a bad translation and it would be some kind of pasta con carne dish in a tomato sauce, but no it was literally as described.

Sounds like you had spaghetti napolitan. Japan has a few dishes which are hyperreal versions of American dishes.

My experience with asian airlines is that picking the western option is always doing yourself a disservice.

I had possibly the best Laksa in my life on a Cathay Pacific flight, a decent Bibimbap on Asiana, and Singapore Airline's Chinese food is always spicy and tasty.

Meanwhile I've never in my life had a airline omelette that I wouldn't have thrown out if I had made it at home.

One of the best airline meals I've had was with Korean Air: what you got was a bowl of plain steamed white rice, a bowl of vegetable soup, and a variety of cold pickles and sauces which you added to the rice (including a tube of really nice mild chili sauce which I've never been able to track down).

All of which, of course, worked fine on a plane --- there wasn't anything which could go... weird and crusty... the way a lot of airline food does. And it tasted good, too.

The worst meal I had was with Air 2000 in probably about 1990. It was a intra-European charter flight, from Glasgow to Cyprus, and the meal was hilarious. Everything that should have been dry was soggy, everything that should have been moist was dry. Teenage me was particularly impressed by the croissant, which was completely limp (and moist, and greasy).

It did come with a little pot of pink, though. I have a bit of a soft spot for airline pink, even though I have no idea what it was. You don't get it any more.

BTW, if you want to be able to eat on a plane without elbowing your neighbour in the ribs, take chopsticks.

>what you got was a bowl of plain steamed white rice, a bowl of vegetable soup, and a variety of cold pickles and sauces which you added to the rice (including a tube of really nice mild chili sauce which I've never been able to track down).

You most likely got Bibimbap, with Gochujang sauce (the chili sauce). Bibimbap is one of the Korean signature dishes, and Gochujang a staple ingredient of Korean food.

On flights to Korea with Korean Air, and other airlines, Bibimbap is pretty much guaranteed. I agree that it works very well.

That sounds plausible. I'll need to try and find Gochujang in my local asian supermarket.

I miss Korean food [sad face]...

I had a similar experience with Asiana airlines, except they offered one authentic Korean and one American style dish as the entree. My girlfriend got one and I got the other to share and compare. Both were awesome. Minus discovering the tiny pink squares are not watermelon. They were a form of beet, I think.

Often Radish

What's pink?

Blamange. I'm trying desperately to remember the bit, it was Doug Adams or someone, the gist was:

He glared balefully down at his pressed aluminium tray. Upon it sat a cube of pink. He didn't know what it was called, but it was coloured pink, it tasted pink (if indeed pink could be ascribed a behaviour), and it was, therefore, simply, pink.

I paraphrase grotesquely but I can't recall the source and google fails me.

"Anyone want some of this" --- he prodded a dish vaguely, not sure of what was in it --- "stuff?"

The others shook their heads. The dish contained something shiny and wobbly and pink with a cherry on it, and in some strange way it managed to look like something you wouldn't eat even if it was pushed onto your plate after a week's starvation diet.

"What does it taste like?" said Masklin, after Gurder had chewed a mouthful.

"Tastes like pink," said Gurder.

(Little dishes of strange wobbly stuff tasting like pink turn up in nearly every meal on all airplanes. No one knows why. There's probably some sort of special religious reason.)

-- Terry Pratchett, Wings

thank you

I haven't read that in twenty-five years - it evidently stuck somewhere up in the mental attic. I think I keep the Adams and Pratchett piles next to each other, under T for Turtles and Towels.

Thank you.

I was missing the cultural reference.

It is only in the States, exactly. Asian plane food rocks. French and german airlines are also quite good.

Chinese airlines can be a mixed bag, especially on domestic flights, but even international ones. Surprisingly, or not, Aeroflot is actually ok.

What I didn't see mentioned in that article but has come up on other sources regarding airline food[1] is that the altitude also negatively affects your sense of smell and thus taste since so much of our perceived taste is actually smell.

[1] http://www.channel4.com/programmes/hestons-mission-impossibl... (Episode 3 - British Airways)

Yes, in (1) they describe detailed process that goes into a menu. Also, I get so stressed during all travel it definitely has much more effect.

1.BBC Two - A Very British Airline http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01yyh99

I often take my own food into a plane for the prolonged flights and it tastes ok, didn't notice any difference from eating on the ground.

It's difficult to respond to anecdote but I do think it's worth mentioning that the effect can alter depending on the specific flavours - some are affected more than others. I also expect there's some physiological aspects in play as well (eg some peoples nasal cavities might close up more than others). So it's possible you might be accidentally eating the right foods or just less susceptible than most.

The noise also messes with your taste buds: http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/05/planes-savory-tomato...

So basically, airline food is:

* Overcooked

* Reheated

* Eaten at high altitude which affects the flavour

* Eaten in a loud environment which affects the flavour

Given all that, I'd say it's really not that bad!

I usually fly on Air France cross Atlantic and the food is always horrible. With air Canada it's slightly better. But once I took a flight on emirate airlines in Asia, in one way I was in economic class and the food was really good, on my way back I was upgraded to First class and I was literally eating in a Michelin stared restaurant. The food was cooked in the plane, the menu is varied and you have real dishes and forks and knifes. The food was so tasty. So my conclusion it's just another way for air companies to save money, period!!

Praise to Emirate Airlines. My best flight experience was with them. I can confirm that their food in the economy class was pretty good, in comparison to other airlines they were serving the real meal.

I've flown 4 flights with Emirates and the food was remarkably good. I was also impressed and surprised with the metal cutlery too (which was chilled for some reason)

(I know that HN discourages "me too..." posts but in this context I think it's pretty valid)

> I was also impressed and surprised with the metal cutlery too (which was chilled for some reason)

I wonder if it was just stored in a place that isn't heated. The atmosphere gets pretty cold up there.

I swear to god, Air France bakes all their "bread" for the year during whatever month wheat is cheapest. Half the food they serve you is brick-like rolls with frozen butter or cheese-product.

One trick I learned from a million-miler was to preorder the vegetarian option. It usually arrives first as part of "special meal" handling and usually tastes great. Also much less chance of illness. I haven't had a bad airline meal since 1999 due to that advice...

This is worthwhile. Often the vegetation option is some Indian curry with rice (dal, chickpea, etc), or something else simple that stands up to reheating a bit better than average.

This works for me as well. If there's no option to preorder, usually there's a pasta option that's passable.

Downside: You are not going to get op-ups.

One time the person booking the flight for me thought it would be funny to choose a Halal meal. Jokes on them, it was spicy and delicious. Got funny looks when I ordered a beer to go along with it though.

I think the basic problem is simply that the food is "free". People choose flights on the basis of schedules and routes, and won't actually pay more for a better meal. Given the volumes of food involved, and the competition in the industry, shaving a few dollars or cents off each meal is always going to be an attractive option for airlines.

If it were like on the ground, where you could choose nothing for $0, something cheap but edible for $10, of something nice for $30, then the quality would probably be rather better.

I agree. I am price sensitive on flights but would love an option to pay an extra amount for decent food. As it is food quality is something I take into account when selecting an airline.

I listened to a documentary a little while ago about British airlines and the trend and pressure on their supply companies to hit a budget of £1 per meal per passenger.

At that price it's no wonder we get fed crap.

That's a really good idea, but I wonder about the logistics of it: how do you ensure the right customer gets her meal? People swap seats all the time, so seat assignment doesn't work. Require ID or your plane ticket to get your pricey meal? That's a pain. I dunno.

Tiger Air is an asian low-cost carrier where if you want food you have to pay for it off the menu. I enjoyed the meal. They also have simple stuff like cup noodles. http://www.tigerair.com/_content/lang/default/travel_info/Du...

I think some airlines have that option. I seem to remember Virgin America in 2011 had inflight touch-screens where you could order meals (for a price) and have it brought to your seat on demand. Air Berlin also had an option to pre-order a meal on your flight for extra cost - it wasn't amazing, but I was happy with it.

On flights where the meal has been free (Singapore & Qantas), I've also been happy with the food provided.

It's been a while since I've been on a non-European carrier that fed you anything for free. The last few times I've flown American or United or US Air, even long, cross-country flights, the only sustenance available has been these little shoeboxes with some crackers, nuts, beef jerky and what-not that they sell for some exorbitant price.

Thai Airways food, even economy class, has been consistently good the from 6 flights I've flown with them in the past two months. Good curries with rice :)

Curries can use cheaper cuts of meat that are great for long cooking times and rice reheats really well. I often do the same for my work lunches.

I was going to say something along these lines, but with pretty much every airline I've been on.

Aeroflot, Icelandair, KVM, Lufthansa, Condor, Delta, all of the inflight food was acceptable. It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible either.

I didn't start flying international flights with meals until very recently (last 4 years), but I've never been dismissive of the meal offerings. If there was some change recently, it seems like it's that the airlines have figured out the best options for foods that are easy to store/move and have acceptable taste. Usually this seems to be rice+meat in sauce or vegetarian pasta with a few side dishes (salad, bread + cheese, etc), and for me this is fine. I don't relish the idea of trying to have a full meal on the tiny seat tray anyways, I'd rather just kill time with a book or sleep

Interestingly Thai Airways served some kind of chicken curry burrito for the recent flight I took from Bangkok to Northern Thailand, which was only an hour flight. I was surprised--it wasn't a full meal but way more than the stereotypical peanuts.

Also I'd like to note that all these meals were included (or free in a way) which probably makes them taste much better.

And on that, a friend of mine recently flew on American Airlines from London to New York and had to buy a meal, which I thought was strange

I agree, on Thai airways, the food is excellent. Singapore airlines too, I've had incredible meals (not just for airline food).

I am also traveling in asia too, brother! Cheers to a fellow world-traveler! Aren't we lucky we get to live such exciting and fulfilling lives? Good on ya, kinda gentlesir!

Hey! Just now saw your message. Yes very much enjoying it here. :)

I think the trick to good airline food in economy is to specify a dietary restriction. I have been doing this for a while now and the end result is that you typically get slightly better food and you definitely get it faster no matter where in the plan you sit.

Also it turns out that you can have asian style food on most routes in the world even if it's typically not offered otherwise.

(Experience comes from mostly Lufhansa, Austrian and Swiss flights)

I once witnessed airline not having food with dietary restriction in stock. They said sorry to the guy, but he was starving entire 11h+ flight

Never happened to me. When they don't have my preferred meal selection they usually offer me vegan or vegetarian food.

Vegan suits everyone, and it simplifies things for the airline and the cabin crew. On a flight from New York I requested a vegetarian meal. The passenger next to me was Muslim, and he requested a halal meal. We compared what we got,and they were both the same. If there were any Jewish or Hindu passengers on the flight that's what they'd have got too. And if they simply ran out of meat dishes, they would just apologize and offer the vegan dish instead.

The first rule of ordering a special meal is bring your own food just in case they don't have it. The cabin crew can usually scrounge up something if necessary as well.

My wife and I use this trick as well. We still laugh at the slightly confused look and comment from a male Lufthansa flight attendant. When serving our food before everyone else, he looked down at the label and asked "Hindu?". Lufthansa has some of the best airline food I've had.

I've had pretty decent food quite many times on airplane. I don't think there are therefore any specific reasons why the food has to be "bad". If the food is bad, then bad choices have been made somewhere. One typical issue seems to be to try too hard. Keep it simple chef. Pasta bolognese, meatballs with rice etc. I'm not expecting culinary experience in coach, I just want to get something to eat.

Agreed, I recently flew a few trans-Pacific hops on non-American carriers in business class and service and food was excellent.

Don't expect filet mignon to be thrown in on Big Mac priced tickets with any carrier though.

I found that the one of the best ways to combat jetlag (at last on transatlantic long-haul flights) is to completely forgo eating on the plane. Instead, just drink a lot of water.

In fact, I usually try to have my last meal in the origin timezone at least 16 hours before the first breakfast in the destination timezone. I fly quite regularly from CET to PST and back, and this scheme has worked well for me.

I wouldn't mind if airlines stopped serving free food, thus giving me a choice of not eating at all for a reduced total price of the flight.

The whole ritual seems rooted in the old maritime traditions, while the rest of the experience including the travel time and the seating position, are different and modern.

I don't understand why airlines need to try to serve full meals in the first place. Even on a twelve hour flight why can't people just eat before boarding and after getting there? You certainly don't need to eat two meals on a short eight hour overnight flight. And the drinks service in economy on a 45 minute domestic flight really is a waste of everyone's time.

In first when it's tractable it's a great way to pass the time. In economy I usually turn it down.

The entertainment system is also a waste of time and space. If I wanted to watch some movie or listen to an NPR programme I could download it to my iPad before I boarded.

A meal before and after a 10 hour flight wouldn't work for me. Not even for an overnight flight. I tend to need to eat frequently otherwise I get light headed. I'm not even a large person - just have a faster metabolism than most I guess.

snacks and you 'd be fine.

Thank you for your expert judgement on my physiology but if it was as easy as that then I wouldn't have needed to make my former post.

Some people can survive on one meal a day. Others, like me, need multiple. Trust me when I say my appetite is an unavoidable inconvenience.

I flew a ten hour flight from Europe to LAX on Norwegian and no meals were served (you could buy food though). First time I've been on a flight that long with optional food.

How was the experience on Norwegian otherwise?

I've been seeing wildly low prices from them ($283 RT LAX to Oslo) for instance and been wondering about quality.

Long and uncomfortable, so about what I'd expect for an international economy class flight. Nothing out of the ordinary.

It's not uncommon for people to be in a rush to or from a flight, so having no food whatsoever wouldn't work for a lot of people. Leaving quality aside, eating on the plane is rather time efficient considering all the other tasks and stress involved in a long trip.

That's quite a lot of 'my way works for me, why not for everybody, I don't understand' so I'll try to explain.

> Even on a twelve hour flight why can't people just eat before boarding

Even then some people would get hungry again after a couple of hours, and our instincts made feeling hungry rather unpleasant. So we want to eat. Granted if I knew a plane wouldn't serve me any food I wouldn't bother and just take my own. To avoid not having ay food for twelve hours.

> You certainly don't need to eat two meals on a short eight hour overnight flight.

Same argument: when not a sleep it's not really uncommon to get hungry within that timestamp.

> The entertainment system is also a waste of time and space

Not everyone has an iPad or bothers to carry it. Watching whatever movie, no matter how crappy, together with others can be a nice way to make time pass.

It's not about you feeling hungry, or you needing entertainment, it's all about the Airline not having problematic passengers.

By providing stodgy food, they are hoping that the passengers will get docile and sleep (especially on overnight flights) - also eating the food every x hours gives bored passengers something to do. A busy passenger is a passenger that won't annoy others.

Likewise the entertainment options, it's all there to keep you in your seat and disengaged from the plane (and other people) around you.

If the airlines could get away with doping everyone during the flight[1], they would.

[1] The Passenger Spaceplane en-route to The Fhloston Paradise, Fifth Element.

I'd be ok with doping everyone, and then waking them up at the end. Flying blows.

definitely, Fifth Element style. Of course there's the pesky problem of deep vein thrombosis...

I tend to agree that it's not about having problematic passengers. The routing of service food, consuming food, clearing up helps break down long journeys.

I personally haven't experienced bad airline food. I'm not fussy and quite enjoy the experience.

> Even on a twelve hour flight why can't people just eat > before boarding and after getting there

I'm not paying airport food prices, which means accounting for security and transport it could be 12+ hours between meals.

Spoken like someone that has never traveled with a child.

Kids don't really care for NPR programs. and they won't care for what movie you picked in the iPad, even if they're the ones that picked it out themselves. The seat back entertainment systems are great for kids.

Haven't found this explanation yet so I'm putting it out there: I think the reason the food is bad (on purpose) in the economy class is simple price discrimination. You want people with deeper pockets to pay higher prices for the same flight. Passengers have a varying willingness to pay and the most effective way to discriminate between them is if they themselves can choose into which category (economy, business, 1st class) they belong. Narrow spaces and bad food in the economy class are simply one way to make richer passengers pay more for the same flight - I don't think the production of better tasting food would have a significant impact on airline profits.

I read once in a magazine in an airplane that the 0% humidity in cabin greatly altered the perceptions of food and wine. But of course that could have been an apologetic article to try to justify why everything tastes the same when flying.

Umami flavours are enhanced, that's why they serve so much tomato juice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami

This makes me wonder, what is the optimal humidity for food perception?

Because they can't have a proper kitchen on a plane and microwave food is crap.

Funny enough, I prefer the cold food for everything but breakfast when flying (an ice cold Danish is not how I want to be informed that it is 0800 local time)

Part of that is a lot of what the article mentioned (overcooked and soggy food is not what I consider good), but it is also just for peace of mind. I don't need to balance a lot of liquid filled tray compartments and I don't have to worry about the person next to me somehow flipping theirs (it happened before...). As long as they still have hot water and can reheat week old Starbucks then I am set.

What is airline food?

Seriously, last time I had food served to me on a plane was 5 years ago. I must be using the wrong airlines. Unless you count chips or a cheese and cracker plate you have to pay $9 for.

Cheaper airlines and short-hops don't bother with food any more. I flew recently with a European budget airline that nickle-and-dimed for everything including water.

Not really relevant but that was definitely the worst flight I've ever been on. Half-way through one of the flight attendants appeared to have a breakdown and burst into tears. A little later she was in the curtained area, and when someone opened it she screamed at the top of her lungs (not comforting). Furthermore, as the plane was coming in to land, the flight attendants were sitting in their seats sharing jokes about YouTube videos they'd recently watched of accidents when the landing gear gets stuck. They also made rude comments about bad passengers they'd had in the past (including stuff like "I'd have thrown the fat bitch out of the door").

Won't be flying with them again.

I usually fly British Airways, Germany to Canada, and found their food to be pretty decent even in economy class. Although, after a couple mini-wines it doesn't matter so much anymore.

Or it could be that loud noise affects how you perceive food.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3081285/Why-a...

Am I the only one who feels airline food is fine, and at some times delicious?

I've flown in countless airlines and I honestly don't remember a single meal where it was actually less than "I could eat food of this quality every day." (of course, the same meal every day regardless of quality will be pretty bad)

"So what's the deal with airplane food, amirite?"

Wait... is the beeb starting a stand-up career in the 90s?

Also, I've no idea why they bother with full meals. Just keep feeding people chips, cookies, nuts... the occasional scotch... I'm much happier with these than a wet pile of matter that you insist is beef bourguignon.

Yeah, it's awful. They don't really go into anything technical.

Don't forget your Gell-Mann amnesia when you click on the next BBC link [1]

[1] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/65213-briefly-stated-the-gel...

http://mentalfloss.com/article/59044/whats-deal-whats-deal-d...

I like full meals...

Never having flown on a private jet myself, what do they cook/serve at the high end of the market?

That must be completely on the whim of whoever pays the bill. It can be absolutely anything from a bag of chips to a Michelin-starred professional cook.

Some of the best airline food I've ever had was on Royal Jordanian, Emirates, Condor, Lufthansa..

seeing a pattern here?

I can't remember the last time that I had a decent in-flight meal on an American based carrier. The foreign flagged ones have been decent.

I always just buy or cook my own food prior to departing for the airport and bring it onto the plane. Considering how heinous many in-flight options are I'm surprised I don't see more people do it.

I am big, so I dislike having a seat tray in my lap for an hour or more. Nowadays I just skip the airline meal and pack a sandwich in my carry-on. Bad airline food is just not worth the 5$ savings.

Emirates prepare 38 million meals per year in one facility

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yex-WMaJTjg

Spicy Peperami x2, variety mini-cheeses, Pringles and/or salted peanuts, Lipton's ice tea. Done. Don't care what they serve me.

Always ask for special meals. I order the Asian vegetarian always and people look in horror at their food when they see mine arrive...

isn't it basically a microwave food unless business/1st class?

Why do they feel the need to serve full lunches anyway. Maybe its necessary for transocean flights, but i dislike food beyond snacks in shorter flights. Bad eating experience, smells etc. I didn't pay to fly on a packed moving restaurant. And the worst are people who drink a few glasses of wine.

>I didn't pay to fly on a packed moving restaurant.

I don't understand this line of thinking. Ultimately, you did pay for that. If you didn't want the inclusives there is usually a budget airline that let's you select every line item as required, and gives nothing for "free".

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