Air plane food is often criticised, and has long had a reputation – unfairly held or not – as being flavourless, boring and basic.
Several passengers have shared their poor experiences before, including Ryanair passenger Mike Crosby who paid £10.98 last month for a meal deal that included a coffee, a Snickers bar and a cheese and ham panini.
In the end, the 60-year-old was left appalled after being served a product he claimed looked ‘nothing like the photo’.
Alternatively, the Daily Mail’s Genie Harrison recently wrote how she ‘loves’ plane food – and even gets ‘excited’ for her reheated meal of cheesy pasta with a side of bread and butter.
Whether good or bad quality, she still manages to enjoy whatever meal is on offer, admitting, ‘there’s something almost ritualistic about tucking into tepid chicken, or slightly oily noodles, while drinking wine from a plastic cup’.
But there are some amazing meals to be consumed on planes, and several travel experts have revealed some of the best food they’ve eaten on a flight.
Depending on how you counted the meals, Thrifty Traveler editor Kyle Potter ‘vividly’ remembers being served between five to 13 courses on a first-class flight to Tokyo with Japan Airlines.
He told The Washington Post how he tucked into everything from soup, beef, seafood, egg custard with caviar and dumplings.
There are some amazing meals to be consumed on planes, and several travel experts have revealed some of the best food they’ve eaten on a flight
The travel expert was also served uni, which is the edible parts of a sea urchin.
He described how it was ‘nearly on par with some of the best uni I’ve ever had in Tokyo’.
Meanwhile, Madison Blancaflor, from The Points Guy, found herself still talking about a particularly delicious chicken soup ten months after her flight.
She flew from London to New York City with Virgin Atlantic and was served a winter vegetable soup in her upper class cabin seat.
The seemingly simple dish was served with vegetable crisps and chive oil, and managed to blow Madison away.
‘I would pay Virgin Atlantic if they would give me the recipe to the soup so I could make it at home,’ she gushed.
Physician and regular flyer Charmaine Lamsin enjoys the caviar service offered by Qatar Airways in first class.
So much that she has experienced it twice, in both 2024 and 2025.
Depending on how you counted the meals, Thrifty Traveler editor Kyle Potter ‘vividly’ remembers being served between five to 13 courses on a first-class flight to Tokyo with Japan Airlines (stock)
The luxurious appetiser course comes with all the sides and toppings she could desire.
‘It includes the accoutrements with blinis, diced red onion, eggs and chives and sour cream and lemon,’ Charmaine explained.
Despite it being small bites, she admitted she is often very full by the end of the elaborate plane meal.
