Posts in the category "Food":

Taking an international flight this summer? You won’t be alone.

In its annual summer forecast, Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade association for most U.S. airlines, noted that airline ticket prices are not keeping pace with the inflation rate and predicted full flights on international routes this summer.

“Customers are benefiting from record airline operational performance and greater access to the global economy while fares continue to trail the price of other services,” said A4A President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio.

In its forecast, A4A predicted that from June through August, U.S. airlines will carry an average of 2.24 million travelers globally every day.

“Of the 206.2 million total passengers expected to travel on U.S. airlines this summer, 26.8 million will be traveling on international flights. This estimate surpasses last summer’s record of 26.3 million passengers flown on international flights. Domestically, 179.4 million passengers are expected to fly this summer, comparable to summer 2011.”

Wherever you go, you’ll have to eat.  And the folks at Hotels.com were nice enough to put together this infographic showing the price of a club sandwich around the world.

Categories: Air Travel, Food
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Great airport souvenirs usually show up on Stuck at the Airport on Sunday, in the occasional Souvenir Sunday feature, but I make exceptions when it comes to chocolate.

(Photo courtesy San Antonio International Airport)

These jalapeno and red chile-flavored chocolate bars were spotted at San Antonio International Airport, which joins the city in celebrating Fiesta.

In addition to this chocolate, airport spokesperson Rich Johnson says that in honor of the citywide party and cultural event, “There are lots of cool, cultural items in our shops, including piñatas, clothing, cascarones (egg shells filled with confetti) and other items.”

There’s also a food-related celebration on some KLM airplanes.

From now through June, the sandwiches served on the European routes flown by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will sport festive wrapping paper designed by students from an art and design school in the Netherlands.

Students were asked to come up with designs that were “culinary, surprising, inspirational and energetic,” and, after polling Facebook fans and experts, three winners were chosen.

The designs will be featured through June on packaging in KLM’s “Delicious” economy-class flight product line, which includes snacks, meals, sandwiches and hot towels.

Artwork by Silvie Buenen, Tom van der Pijl and Agnes Loonstra; images courtesy KLM.

Categories: Air Travel, Food, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, Uncategorized
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Frontier Airlines, which adopted Midwest Airline’s sweet-smelling tradition of serving complimentary warm chocolate chip cookies to all passengers, has decided to nix that amenity at the end of April. The reason: “offering a free perishable snack did not align with our low-cost business model,” said an airline spokesperson.

What will be served instead? Elite frequent fliers – and anyone who has paid a fare above economy class – will get complimentary packaged goldfish crackers or animal crackers. Hungry economy class passengers can snack on those items as well – if they’re willing to pay $1 a package.

Another change in the pipeline: Allegiant Air – which already charges a per-segment website booking fee and adds charges for seat assignments, beverages, priority boarding, and other services – plans to begin charging $35 for each carry-on bag as of Wednesday. The new fee hadn’t been added to this long list of fees as of early Tuesday morning, but airline spokespeople have confirmed the new fee to various news outlets.

Categories: Airline policies, Carry-ons, Food, Free Stuff
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In January, Singapore Airlines invited me to visit the building near San Francisco International Airport where the airline catering company called the Flying Food Group prepares meals for flights heading from San Francisco to Seoul, Hong Kong and, I believe, Singapore.

The occasion: the dishes on the menu for the three month cycle beginning in March were being presented for review.

This wasn’t just an “Oh, that looks nice,” session. As usual, Singapore Airlines had given the Flying Food Group a menu drawn from the airline’s library of more than 15,000 thousand menus and now the catering company was being tested on everything from preparation and taste to the plating and the weight – down to the gram – of each item.

Every airline has a slightly different method for how it tackles this task, but at Singapore Airlines signing off on the quarterly menu involves a day (or two) of tasting, photographing and discussing the details of each and every dish. And once a dish is approved, it is photographed for the “plating guide” given to crew members so they can make sure the meal served on board the airplane looks exactly like the dish that was approved on the ground.

Making food on the ground that will look and taste great in the air is a challenge – and a science. Especially when the cooking process involves cooking the food 60% through, then dropping the temperature to just above freezing before loading it onto carts with dry ice and sending it off to the planes.

The airline spends about $500 million a year on food and views it as passenger sustenance, of course, but also as in-flight entertainment. “When you operate the world’s longest duration flight [From New York to Singapore is about a 19 hour flight] it’s a necessity,” said James Boyd, an airline spokesperson. He also said the airline knows meal time on an airplane is an opportunity to create “credible service interacting moments,” something I can attest to as I recently flew just about around the world on Singapore Airlines: JFK – FRANFURT – SINGAPORE-TOKYO-LOS ANGELES.

As I said, each airline meal program is a bit different and on Sunday, the New York Times published a very detailed article on the subject. In Mile High Grub: Can Airline Food be Tasty?, Jad Mouawad outlines how airlines such as Lufthansa, Air France, Korean Air, Emirates Airlines and, yes, Singapore Airlines approach the task.

Categories: Food
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Do these cards look familiar?

When Alaska Airlines served meals to all passengers, these card would be tucked under a plate on the meal tray.

But in a memo sent to its frequent fliers Wednesday, the airline announced that the prayer cards it has been providing to passengers on meal trays for the past 30 years will be discontinued as of Feb. 1.

“A former marketing executive borrowed the idea from another airline and introduced the cards to our passengers in the late 1970s to differentiate our service,” the memo written by the company’s chairman and president explained.

For my story on msnbc.com, airline spokesperson Bobbie Egan told me that over the years the airline has received letters and e-mails from customers for and against the card. Last fall the company decided to stop distributing the cards because, Egan said, “We believe it’s the right thing to do in order to respect the diverse religious beliefs and cultural attitudes of all our customers and employees.”

Meal tray service in the coach class ended six years ago, so the prayer cards have been provided only to passengers in the first class cabin. MVP Gold flier Roz Schatman gets the cards on her meal tray quite often. “In the spirit of diversity, I find them offensive,” she said.

The Alaska Airline statement said that while some passengers enjoyed the cards, reactions like Schatman’s were not unusual.

“…[W]e’ve heard from many of you who believe religion is inappropriate on an airplane, and some are offended when we hand out the cards. Religious beliefs are deeply personal and sharing them with others is an individual choice.”

“It always seemed odd to me,” said George Hobica of the consumer travel website Airfarewatchdog.com. “Flying on a wing and prayer? I don’t think those two go together.”

What do you think? Would you be pleased or perturbed to get a prayer card with your meal on an airline?

Categories: Airlines, First Class, Food
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