The lowly in-flight meal rarely springs to mind when reminiscing about holiday highlights. But, will we look back at the dry bread rolls, plastic meats and the stickiest of sticky rice with fonder memories?
For some time now, airline passengers have seen services that were traditionally included in the price of their ticket slowly become benefits available only at an additional cost.
Well now, according to reports, passengers could soon expect to also pay food, that most vital of luxuries, when flying with long-haul with British Airways.
Food for thought
Coming just three months after British Airways scrapped short-haul onboard meals in favour of chargeable Marks & Spencer food, the airline’s Chairman, Alex Cruz, has hinted they could roll out the same policy for their long-haul routes.
Though any change is someway off, the announcement got me thinking about my last holiday. Having found an amazing deal in the BA summer sale, we were lucky enough to fly with the airline to the Thai island of Koh Samui.
Catching an interconnecting flight at Singapore on the way out and Bangkok on the journey back, the longest we were in the air for was 16 hours. This is surely where BA’s plans could experience turbulence as and when they are unveiled to customers.
We ‘enjoyed’ two on-board meals while airborne. Looking at the price of the ‘M&S on board’ menu range, my partner and I would’ve had to dip into our holiday spending money quite considerably to prevent us going hungry during the flight.
Do you eat in-flight food?
Sometimes - depends what's being served (39%, 358 Votes)
Yes - I enjoy it (31%, 283 Votes)
No - I don't like it (16%, 144 Votes)
Yes - but I don't like it (15%, 136 Votes)
Total Voters: 921
Loading ...The illusion of choice
Like me, the frugal among you be well-versed in filling your bags with snacks pre-flight, but unless you’re prepared to lug multiple carrier bags onto the plane and picnic with your wilted salad in the aisles, you’re likely to go hungry for quite some time on a flight lasting any longer than four hours.
Should we be expected to choose between forking out for an M&S sarnie or risk breaking carry-on regulations by raiding the departure lounge food stalls? Can airlines really take away our long-established right to enjoy congealed scrambled eggs and a lukewarm fish curry?
