Late last year, SAS said it would leave the Star Alliance group of airlines – but it didn’t say exactly when or how.
25.03.2024 - 13:35 / forbes.com / Airlines
Stereotypes of lackluster in-flight meals and subpar airport food used to be the norm— but things are radically changing for the better, depending on who you fly with and which airport you're passing through.
A recent Washington Post article talked of the terrors of airport food—the lack of choice, the endless queuing for sub-standard products to eat and drink and the sheer factory-produced nature of it all—it highlighted a Wake-Up Wrap from Dunkin’ where the eggs have 12 ingredients.
Some airports though are now well-known for having great food. A 2023 survey found in its analysis of the food offerings at the world's 100 busiest airports that Manchester Airport in the U.K. has an impressive 26 different vegetarian and vegan restaurant options and even better, Switzerland's Zürich Airport has 36 different vegetarian and vegan options. There is a huge spread in the cost between these busiest airports. Vietnam's Tan Son Nhat International Airport had the lowest average food cost in the study—an average dish costs $2.75—while in Japan's Kansai International Airport, the price of a main dish on average was $34.02.
Despite the challenge of preparing food for consumption in the air, compared to eating on the ground, things have vastly improved on airlines too. It can be a challenge to create something that we'll love—The Telegraph reports that we lose up to 30% of our tastebuds when traveling at altitude and the BBC adds that lack of humidity, lower air pressure, and the background noise can also change how the food tastes to us. Also, the strict rules required in these preparing and serving environments mean that it can be difficult to serve high quality sushi or succulent pinkish lamb and still meet regulations. Plus the recycled air and air conditioning dries food out fast.
It's not unusual for travelers to eat everything offered, regardless of quality. It probably has something to do with the fear of being delayed, hungry and stuck on a plane without food, that makes us eat everything. It's not dissimilar to the way that most of us tuck into a breakfast buffet at a hotel, because as The Telegraph describes it, we tend to act as collectors and maximisers when confronted with lots of food, and we tend to take it all, even when we don't want or need it.
The good news though is that plane food is of a higher quality than ever. Gate Gourmet sits near London Heathrow and prepares a staggering amount of food for airlines like Virgin Atlantic, Thai Airways, Delta, Japan Airlines and LATAM—20,000 meals every day. Every month it can produce as many as 210,700 fresh bread rolls, 42,000 yoghurts and places 10,000kg of fresh salad into pre-prepared meals.
The menus have also come a long way too. In December, Korean
Late last year, SAS said it would leave the Star Alliance group of airlines – but it didn’t say exactly when or how.
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Last year, my husband and I splurged on round-trip first-class tickets on Japan Airlines from San Francisco to Tokyo for $13,474 each. We reserved them in February for an October flight through American Express Travel. On the same day, I also bought business class tickets for a couple who was traveling with us at $8,429 apiece. In September, Amex notified me that we had been downgraded to business class for the return flight. JAL’s conditions state that we would receive “the difference between the normal fare amount of original class of service and for the normal fare of lower class of service.” To me that means that since the difference between our first class seats and our friends’ business seats was $5,045 each, we should be refunded about half of that — around $2,522 per person — for the second leg. But we got only $941 each. I contested this with Amex Travel, but they rejected our claim. Can you help?
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