On a very recent flight from Burlington, Vermnont to Philadelphia, PA to Los Angeles (LAX) a total of 12 hours at airports & cramped planes, I found myself asking this question over and over, like an annoying broken Simon Says Doll. “Are the Airline Food Police punishing us?”
This Morselist almost always plans ahead and packs a healthier meal for plane rides, especially long ones.
OR plans accordingly if there are extended layovers. Yesterday, there was a scheduled 2-hour layover in
Philadelphia and knowing there were some decent food choices at that particular airport, I planned to buy lunch during the layover. Well….due to unexpected delays, snow, de-icing the plane and over 40 minutes on the tarmac, once the plane finally landed, “Ladies & Gentlemen, I’m embarrassed to report, we have NO employees here to taxi our plane to the gate so those of you making tight connections…I’m extremely sorry and well, good luck!”
What?!! The thought of being stuck at an airport ALL day was NOT a good one, but almost worse, was being stuck on a cramped flight for over 6 hours with NO food! or NO REAL FOOD! After about 12 minutes, we were finally taxied in and I hurried off the plane making my way from gate B6 to B13 as I heard my name being summoned over the intercom, “Last call…we are CLOSING the gate!”
“Wait! I’m here! I’m here!”
“Hurry up. We’re closing the doors!”
As if it were my fault the connecting plane was LATE!
“Is there food on this flight? I was planning on getting food here, but obviously, that’s not happening.”
“We have an array of meals and snacks available for purchase on this fight. Now hurry up before they leave you behind.”
I ambled through the tight aisle consciously doing my best to avoid smacking passengers with my bags while holding my bladder. I had been stuck on the previous super small plane for a few hours.
Minutes later, I settled in my seat and opened the menu from the back seat pocket in front of me.
To my horror, I read my choices:
- M&M Pretzel balls
- M&M candies
- Mint Milano Cookies
- Shortbread Cookies
- Chips Ahoy
- Trail Mix with M&M’s
- a “healthy” breakfast plate of 2 blueberry muffins, sugary yogurt & fruit (where are the complex carbs & protein?)
- a NY Sub: pastrami, salami, pepperoni, turkey ham (there’s an attempt),
- cheese on a thick WHITE roll (and we question why America has an obesity epidemic?)
Finally: a decent choice, albeit pricey for what it is: a small bag of LATE JULY Organic Multigrain Gluten-Free NON-GMO Snack Chips with a tiny side of salsa for $3.00. SOLD! The chips were GREAT!
Admittedly, I would have preferred more of a meal, but I was happy to find a new brand of healthier chips and the company’s motto & mission is appealing. They donate 10% of profits to Summer Camp Scholarships and are a family-owned & operated company. I have already written to them.
Yea: Late July!
Boo: Airline Food Police!
We need to demand more snack choices like Late July on the Airlines.
Have you had good or bad experiences with food on your flights?
What types of menu options would you like to see offered on flights 4 hours or longer?
Please share your thoughts and ideas on how we can encourage airlines to provide passengers with tastier-healthier options.
p.s. a side note: I usually only drink water on flights and bring my own eco-friendly stainless steel bottle for the flight attendants to refill. This flight, after my 2nd refill, the flight attendant got annoyed and said, “We don’t have an endless supply of water here. How about a soda?” Unbelievable! 
Hi, I like your blog.
Great story! I’ll have to try Late July next time I’m in need of a good plane snack!
One of my qualms w/ airplane food is they are usually wasteful with packaging for the free snacks! They give you two small bags of peanuts/pretzels…if they’re going to insist on a double portion, why not just buy one larger bag and use less packaging? (This is surface area/math 101.) Nevermind biodegradable packaging — they can work on that — but at least avoid unnecessary waste!