Airline food has been the butt of jokes for as long as I can remember, but I have actually had a couple of pretty good meals on planes.
The best overall: Last spring I ended up sitting in first class on a Delta domestic flight. I had a very good beef short rib for dinner.
Best in economy class: Back in 2010 my employer at the time sent me to India. On the Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Bangalore we had a choice of a Western style chicken dish, or a vegetarian Indian meal. I chose the Indian food, and it was surprisingly tasty. Although I think my Indian seatmate might have preferred his spicier.
Worst: Also on a Delta domestic flight, incidentally. Maybe 10 years ago I purchased a turkey sandwich onboard. Generally I think the quality of food on planes has improved since they started charging for it, but this sandwich was not good. It was a smoothed, slightly soggy, not very fresh sandwich wrapped in cellophane. I didn’t finish it.
The best thing I’ve ever eaten on a plane? I’m gonna go with the pretzels. By the time the drink/snack cart comes around, my edibles have kicked in and I’m craving a snack. The shortbread cookies are ok, but then I have to deal with crumbs. So, pretzels is my final answer.
I’m a weirdo because I’ve always enjoyed the food on a plane. I think the best I’ve had was filet mignon on American Airlines from Chicago to Sacramento when we were bumped up to first class when they bumped us off our regular flight (plus we got the whole flight refunded to boot! Not vouchers – an actual check.)
That was actually similar to how I ended up in first class in the story I mentioned in the OP. I missed my connecting flight from Minneapolis to Sacramento, and the only thing available on the next flight was in first class. I didn’t get any sort of refund, but I had paid for the original flight with miles so it was still a pretty good deal.
I didn’t miss my flight – we were there, and we even called to confirm a day or two ahead, like the ticket said to (though nobody else really did this). This was c.2001. We booked and paid for a flight; we confirmed the reservation according to the rules of the ticket; we showed up to the airport on time and somehow were kicked off our flight, despite doing all the above. So, yeah, they gave us first class, a $50 voucher for dinner at the airport, plus checks for our tickets (since we booked them in Hungary, they were not able to look up the price we actually paid, so they gave us the max, which was about $100 each more than we paid.)
The worst thing was a burger. Why I picked a burger on an airplane is a mystery to me as there is no way that it was going to be remotely edible. I’ve had decent meals in first class, but nothing springs to mind.
I’ve actually had reasonably good burgers on planes before. Not amazing by any means, but I’ve found the burgers they sell on United, and Continental before the merger, to be not bad.
Although the worst food I’ve had on any form of transportation was a burger from the cafe car on Amtrak.
Damned if I can remember, but back in the day when airline travel could actually be pleasant, I do dimly recall some magnificent meals in business class. The main thing I remember is that there were many courses, and the presentation was beautiful.
I’ve also had many meals in economy class, and even though I can be picky about my food, I don’t think I’ve ever had anything I’d consider really bad. At worst, maybe “not very flavourful”.
I’ve never really understood why airline meals have been so maligned, as in my experience they vary from (at worst) ordinary and bland, right up to presentations and flavours that would befit a fine restaurant.
I don’t recall ever having had a bad meal on a flight, just bland and boring. Those went largely uneaten. The best meal I ever had aloft came about because I knew all the Anchorage ramp agents for Western Airlines because of my business. On a flight to the Lower 48, one of them walked through the plane before takeoff and spotted me. He returned a couple of minutes later with a First Class boarding pass and said “You don’t want to sit back here.” 2 people in FC and we had a dedicated flight attendant. Filet mignon and lots of free booze made the flight just fly by (sorry!). This was circa 1978.
In my experience I think Lufthansa has the best food in general. Echoing the post above mine, most airline meals are pretty boring and forgettable. But all the meals I’ve had on Lufthansa have been pretty good.
I’m far to poor (and cheap) to fly business class, so the only times I recall having actual meal service was to and from JFK to Ben Gurion as an international flight. The ‘best’ was the first meal, which I had pre-ordered as kosher, which was a reasonably well made shells and cheese with broccoli and an assortment of (somewhat overcooked and watery) steamed vegetables. But fine, certainly inoffensive enough.
The breakfast though was some-sort of gawdawful egg-mcmuffin style breakfast ‘sandwich’ which was simultaneously too hot to eat on the outside and freezing cold in the center. Just no.
I flew a lot of business class, so I’ve had a lot of good things…but the best was likely the time a co-worker upgraded me to first class on Air Emirates (Dubai to Boston), and they basically spent the whole flight parading food past me. I remember a mezze plate, and maybe veal, but also passing on their “movie plate” which was sliders and popcorn. That was literally the only time I’ve ever flown first class, and it was kind of absurd. (I also passed on caviar and champagne)
For bad, I was business class to Thailand once on Air Japan and decided to try the “traditional menu” (which I can’t find duplicated online), thinking it would be something a bit different and a bit familiar. Instead, whatever it was was both unfamiliar and for whatever reason just did not work for me. It wasn’t anything obvious like sushi or soba, it was some other stuff…I couldn’t eat most of it. I’m generally pretty adventurous, so it may have just been my mood.
ETA: I see the Lufthansa comments above. Honestly, just the fact that they give you a hot roll and quality butter, and some kind of charcuterie, puts them way above almost anyone else.
Best in economy would have to have been Bibimbap on Asiana back when I was still traveling frequently to Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
Best in business/first would be the American Airlines food on the LAX-LHR business class leg of my trip to Rome earlier this year. The food was very good even if I don’t remember all the courses. I do recall that it ended with an ice cream sundae made to order as they came down the aisle, that and some great wines.
Worst is much harder to say. I’ve had plenty of bland, unexciting food, but nothing truly terrible. Maybe the worst would have been on a flight I took from Shenzhen to Beijing on some Chinese airline. It was not a flight where they commonly had non-Chinese on board I gather, and the language barrier was strong. I don’t know what I got or why, but it was gelatinous and uncomfortable to eat.
I don’t fly a lot, but the best thing I ever ate on a plane was the outrageously good brownie I had bought at Faneuil (sp?) Hall in Boston before my flight home to L.A.
It might not have been the best thing I’ve eaten on a plane that came from the airline, but I still remember a “picnic” lunch I got on a flight decades ago. It was cold fried chicken (quite good) with a vinegar-dressed corn salad, and a few other items. Tasty and a bit unusual. Oh, and the cream tea I got on Virgin from the UK to LAX was actually decent.
All my other airline meals fade into the same muddled mediocre memory. Nothing stands out as especially horrible.
Plane travel, barely within my memory, was once considered an elegant and refined thing one might dress up for. As a boy on my first flight (and my family flew very, very rarely), I remember eating filet steak served on silverware on an economy flight. The same airline had an observation deck where you could enjoy the view, a fancy option long discarded for cramming seats more closely.
Even now, airline food has to my mind always been okay. I have no horror stories, even if the pretzel or nut packages are laughably small or the breakfasts uninspiring. Even on the Canadian flights where you might pay an extra $10-20, there are some reasonably good options, with booze. My preference is for Indian or Japanese airlines since they serve typical foods which tend to be very tasty.
Most business or first class meals have been pretty good, on those rare occasions when I was up front in the plane. I’ve had good meals in coach on Korean Air and Delta. Most airline meals, when they now offer them, are at least all right.
Out of Athens on American, perhaps, I had a fish dish that concerned me because it seemed to be room temperature. By Heathrow I was in full food poisoning mode, not at all good with the (at that time) 2-hour Heathrow security check line with no restrooms.
I was recently on a Hawaiian Airlines flight where since the flight took off at 7am was a breakfast themed meal. It was a sausage roll which was literally just a single sausage put in what seemed like a hot dog bun glued together. It was the soggiest most bland thing I have ever eaten. Way too much bun, not enough sausage, and something that’s very bready is the last thing you want to eat on a plane.