Inflight Food Service

Chicken or pasta? Airline food has long been the brunt of travelers' jokes and complaints. Yet getting 200 hot meals served at 30,000 feet is no small task.

From menu-planning to your seat

Airlines generally outsource food service to catering companies that specialize in preparing meals for flights. In fact, three companies dominate inflight food service catering: Dobbs International Services, LSG - Sky Chefs, and Caterair International. Caterers are awarded contracts and prepare the food in local kitchens, then deliver it to your awaiting plane. Preserving freshness is a particular challenge because your meal may have been prepared eight hours prior to the time it's served to you inflight.

More and more airlines are hiring world-class chefs to plan menus. In these cases, the chef will create the menus and may even provide some consulting to help catering and airline employees understand how the food should be prepared and served.

Special meals--A safe bet

Special meals are not just for those with health concerns or religious restrictions these days. Taking the time to order a special meal may result in a higher-quality (and probably healthier) culinary experience inflight. Meals and policies vary from airline to airline, but there's something for everyone. Special meals on most airlines include: Kosher, Muslim, Hindu, vegetarian (dairy, non-dairy), children's, toddlers', low-fat, low-salt, low-cholesterol, low-calorie, low-carbohydrate, diabetic, fruit, low-gluten, sulfite-free, seafood (cold, hot), soft and bland. Ask your EWA Travel Counselor for details on meals available. A 24-hour notice is usually required.

Guidelines for preparing the health-related special meals are usually based on the latest information and guidelines from the American Dietetic Association, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association and the American Cancer Society. United Airlines, working with Heart Smart Restaurants International, even provides nutritional analysis data on the tray when a special meal category meets the Heart Smart guidelines (for flights originating in North America only).

A couple of tips when ordering special meals:

Caught short?

Just as airlines bet on no-shows in over-selling a flight, they also bet on no-shows when estimating the number of meals needed. As a result, meal shortages are not uncommon. Industry-wide, it is estimated that meal shortages run about 0.8% per day, though this has been reduced from 1.2% in 1998.

According to a recent article in USA Today, most domestic airlines are increasing their food service expenditures, including meal counts. (However, many cut back in the 90s, so an increase may just mean getting back to what we've come to expect.) All in all, potential meal shortages are just one more reason to sit up front.

How do airlines stack up when it comes to meal expenditures? Here's the lineup on what airlines spent on food for domestic flights, per paying passenger, during the third quarter of 1999 (source: USA Today):

 
Midwest Express $9.83
American $6.10
United $4.73
Continental $4.18
Alaska $3.43
Delta $2.98
US Airways $2.76
TWA $2.70
Northwest $2.66
America West $1.46
Southwest $0.25
 

The FAA gets involved

The FAA regulates some aspects of inflight food service that have recently made headlines. One sticky area of the FAA rulebook has been the prohibition of service items or hot beverages held by passengers during take-offs and landings. This has long irritated airlines, which claim the rule puts them at a disadvantage with foreign carriers (which are not required to collect glasses from first class passengers before take-off). But economy class passengers, many of whom have tired of slow service and tiny meals, have begun carrying on their own coffee and food in droves.

Last year the FAA announced that passengers may indeed keep coffee cups brought onboard, though it suggests flight attendants ask passengers before taxiing whether they wish to discard any of these items. The agency is currently reviewing its policies regarding glassware.

Peanuts, the standard snack served with beverages, have also been under scrutiny by the FAA because of potential passenger allergies, which may prove fatal. In 1998, the FAA began requiring airlines to set aside three peanut-free rows if they receive an advance-request from a passenger. However, the allergy must be medically documented.

Will inflight food service of the future more closely resemble restaurant-quality dining? Unfortunately, the value passengers place on meals in selecting airlines is difficult to quantify, so airlines have very little hard data to motivate them. However, new food preparation technology and the continuing grumble of passengers' stomachs, will hopefully move airlines to continue to improve food quality in the air.