The World’s Best Airline Food

The top 10 best rated airlines for good in-flight meals in 2010:

Cathay Pacific – This Hong Kong airline is always highly-ranked for just about everything, and its meals are no different. Every Cathay Pacific plane is outfitted with toaster ovens and rice cookers, so things are all prepared fresh, and they keep a rolling stock of fresh fruits and snacks available throughout every flight to keep your tummy happy.  They also serve a selection of excellent wine vintages and champagne…

Singapore Airlines – This airline has been lauded for its customer service and neatly-dressed flight attendants, but the food is also stellar. They have employed a panel of international chefs (including British star Gordon Ramsay) and wine consultants to create their menu, and even in economy class, you’re treated to meals like sautéed prawns with steamed asparagus and Singapore noodles.

Turkish Airlines – From choices like their fresh Mediterranean salad to the Hindu meals served on flights to India to the fresh cheeses and choice wines – you won’t go hungry on a Turkish Airlines flight.

Emirates – Your stomach will thank you for flying with this Dubai-based airline, which offers entrees such as smoked tuna and lamb marinated in Arabic spices and served over fresh broccoli. For a snack, they’ll bring you cheese and crackers and for dessert a special sticky date pudding. And this is all in economy class. Furthermore, the wine list on board any Emirates flight is a surprising mix of French, New Zealand and Australian vintages.

Malaysia Airlines – This airline employs a specially-trained chef to create all of their menu options and they have won several culinary awards, including a Skytrax Signature Dish award for their Satay and the Favourite Airline Food award from Smart Travel Asia. Among their offerings? Black pepper lamb shank, North Atlantic baked cod and an Australian cheese plate.

Air France – Is it any surprise that the French national airline would be good for food? Their on-board culinary excellence ranges from steaks to traditional French meals, all served with a fresh bread basket. If you are a premium economy passenger, you are also treated to a 24-hour tea buffet of deliciousness that includes mini-sandwiches and Häagen-Dazs ice cream!

Thai Airways – If there is any airline you want to fly first-class, it is Thai Airways, which offers you a choice of 22 different meals, which can be chosen through an online ordering system prior to your departure. Economy passengers are not left out either, with choices like Shrimp in Thai dressing with asparagus tips or Beef Rendang with white rice and peas.

Japan Airlines – How about sushi on your flight? Japan Airlines’ Executive menu (shown above) features dishes like tuna or squid sashimi, braised bamboo shoots, Soba noodles, while their economy class garlic tomato chicken or Soba noodles aren’t too shabby either. And everyone gets complimentary mineral water and free-flowing snacks on long-haul flights.

British Airways – A typical economy class meal on a long haul BA flight consists of a fresh Greek salad with feta cheese and chicken with boiled carrots, potatoes and vegetables. But the real stars are the “Club” class meals, which feature fresher ingredients and silver service, as well as access to a full-service snack-bar stocked with mini-sandwiches, wraps, salads and even on-request hot meals.

Virgin Atlantic/America – Virgin America has been consistently voted as one of the best airline meals in the U.S., and its international partner, Virgin Atlantic, offers a similar amount of quality with their airline meals. How about a bagel with raspberry cream cheese, a tapas plate or a turkey Caprese sandwich? A Champagne cocktail or a Hornitos margarita? Not only that, but you can order all of your meals from a touch screen at your seat!

Top 10 Airport Lounges:

Treat yourself to one of these executive airport lounges and relax in 1st class comfort:

The Wing; Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong International Airport

Zen is the word at this 43,000-square-foot, wood-and-granite, open-air facility overlooking the terminal. Spread out at the 80-foot, aptly named Long Bar, or dine at one of four restaurants, including the Haven (strictly for first-class passengers) and a Japanese noodle bar. The Spa offers a complete line of services, but nothing tops the private cabanas, complete with personal showers, beds and oversized tubs. True road warriors, however, can spend their time on the wireless Web from anywhere in The Wing.

Clubhouse; Virgin Atlantic, San Francisco International Airport
Shortly after SFO’s International Terminal opened its doors last year, Virgin’s $3.2 million Clubhouse followed suit. Most striking are the multicolored, floor-to-ceiling windows with sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay and the city’s skyline. A rotating digital-art exhibit showcases local artists, and in an extension of the Upper Class “Freedom” menu, where you’re free to eat whatever and whenever you want, the Clubhouse serves light snacks and entrees at any time of the day or night.

Terraces Lounge; British Airways, JFK International Airport
Dubbed “an air travel environment for the 21st century,” Terraces is indeed more backyard than board room, with trickling water fountains, the sounds of birds chirping, fully reclining lounge chairs under white umbrellas, and–no joke–the subtle scent of cut grass. A Molton Brown Travel Spa has hydrotherapy showers, reflexology treatments and specially designed pre- and post-flight massages.

Silver Kris; Singapore Airlines, Singapore Changi Airport
Service-conscious Singapore’s 30,000-square-foot lounge accommodates 200 first-class and 450 business-class passengers. Tropical plants and aquariums abound, walls are covered with works by local artists, and 42-inch plasma screens show news and sports continuously.

Extra Travel Tip
No time for down time? London’s Heathrow recently opened the “Island,” a pay-as-you-go airport lounge in Terminal 3. Open daily from 5 AM to 2 PM, admission is $36 per person and allows access to one of 29 showers, steam cleaning and shoe shining, satellite television, and Internet connections.

President’s Club; Continental Airlines, Ronald Reagan National Airport, Washington D.C.
Back when National Airport was first built in the 1940s, the space that is now occupied by the President’s Club was the airport’s dining hall, a place where senators, generals and other VIPs would have dinner and watch as the world’s first airliners skimmed in and off the runway. Over the years, the space has been everything from administrative offices to a disco in the 1970s, but now it has been returned to its proper use: the care and feeding of important people. And boy does it ever. After a $3 million renovation, this sleek, wood-paneled club today is reminiscent of a first-class lounge on a Cunard ocean liner. The super-sleek décor is a mix of vintage aviation tchotchkes and other retro touches, including soft leather chairs and sofas, that make this as pleasant a place to kill a few hours as can be found in the capital. There is also a small bar, a separate TV area and a section of cubbies with desks, as well as a private conference room.

Smoker’s Lounge; Swissair, Zurich International Airport
Not that Swissair’s other lounges aren’t worth the trip, but the airline’s Smoker’s Lounge wins out for its Cuban-style cigar bar where you can go Bacchic with cigars, whiskey and cognac, all sold at duty-free prices.

Star Alliance Lounge; Zurich International Airport
The first of what Star Alliance members hope will be many such lounges–namely, in Brussels, Buenos Aires, Manila and Los Angeles–opened in August. Premium passengers flying Lufthansa, SAS, Thai Airways, Austrian Airlines and others can use the facility, which was designed by Toronto architects Kuwabara, Payne, McKenna and Blumberg, and offers a dedicated check-in and sales counter.

VIP Lounge; LanChile, Santiago International Airport

Charging ahead of its South American competitors, LanChile opened a new lounge last month to rival any other on the continent. At 7,500 square feet, the lounge is not huge but it’s comfortable, with ample work space, baths and showers, and a good selection of Chilean wines.

Golden Lounge; Malaysian Airlines, Kuala Lumpur International Airport
The only airport in the world with a glass-enclosed rain forest in the middle of it, Kuala Lumpur’s home airline lounge has a literal river running through it, along with a gym, bedrooms, a computer-games corner and a nursery with babysitting services.

SAS Lounge; Copenhagen International Airport
Bright, open and airy, SAS’ two-tiered Copenhagen lounge makes use of local Scandinavian design and materials, including blonde birch, maple, oak, limestone, wool and leather. In a nod to Scandinavian culture, Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson designed the giant kaleidoscope sculpture suspended from the ceiling, and the airline published Scandinavian Words, a series of 18 short novels, many only now translated into English, for the lounge library.

Not all economy seats are created equal. Can you get a good seat experience for decent shut-eye? By doing a little bit of digging you’ll find out enough info to help you make a flight in economy a pleasant experience, instead of an unbearable one. One piece of good advice is that you should really be aware of what one or two inches of leg room can do — it makes the difference between being able to open your laptop all the way or being able to cross your legs comfortably.

For instance, seat pitch and width can vary greatly between airline carriers and aircraft type. Seat pitch is the distance from any point on one seat to the exact same point on the seat in front or behind it. And while it is not the exact equivalent of “legroom”, it does give a very good approximation of how much seat room you should expect. The Bottom Line: the more seat pitch the better!

1. Virgin America – Where JetBlue attempts to woo its patrons with extra leg room and some satellite audio and video content, Virgin has opted for a sensory barrage. Stepping into what is seemingly a “purple palace” in the sky with fully-equipped mood lighting, the brand new fleet of aircrafts at Virgin America provide passengers with some of the latest technology for in-flight entertainment and productivity. The Airbus A320 features comfortable leather seats in coach class, and a comfortable pitch of 32” and width of 19.7”.

2. Emirates – Emirates is relatively generous to their coach passengers in terms of legroom. Coach passengers flying the A330 can expect their seats to have a pitch of 32”, while flying the B777 aircraft will up the ante to 33”-34”. Seat width remains approximately 17.5” on either type of aircraft.

3. Singapore Airlines – Singapore Airline were the first airline in the world to put into service the Airbus A380. The A380 has 32” seat pitch and 19” width. The Singapore Airbus A340-500 used on long haul flight between New York and Singapore is even more spacious than the bigger A380 with 37” of seat pitch and 20” seat width.

4. JetBlue – JetBlue has recently reconfigured their fleet of A320 aircrafts which has helped to increase the seat pitch in coach. Passengers can now expect to have a coach seat with a 34”-36” pitch, and for an additional $10, passengers can request an “Even More Legroom” seat, which increases the pitch to an impressive 38” – these seats are limited, and you must call a JetBlue agent to book one of these seats.

5. Virgin Atlantic – Flying Virgin Atlantic offers two choices for economy passengers: Economy, and Premium Economy. Economy passengers can expect their seats to have a pitch of about 31”, while Premium Economy customers can expect a tad bit more leg room and a wider seat at 21”, compared to 17.5”. Economy seats also feature seatback TVs, video on-demand, and some seats feature video game consoles with up to 35 different games.

6. Qantas – Qantas provides ample legroom for economy passengers on both their domestic and international flights. The B747 fleet provides 32” pitch seating, and a width of 17.25”. Qantas recently began offering International Premium Economy seating for select flights, and these seats offer a wider 19.5” seat and footrest. Each seat also has its own personal fold-out 8.4” touch-screen monitor built-in to the armrest for watching movies on-demand.

7. Cathay Pacific – Cathay’s fleet of B-777s offer a seat pitch of 32”, and a width of 18.5”. Flying coach class aboard their larger A340-600 aircrafts, from Hong Kong to New York nonstop, offers a marginally slimmer seat width at 17.75”. These long flights offer economy passengers an innovative view from the nose of the plane via a nose-wheel cam that broadcasts a signal to the TV screens on-board.

8. British Airways – On the British Airways Boeing 747-400 the World Traveller (economy) class has 31″ of pitch, and a seat width of 17.5”. Each British Airways aircraft also features 4-5 rows of World Traveler Plus economy seating with larger 38” pitch, 18.5” width, and slightly greater reclining capabilities.

9. Japan Airlines – Japan Airlines offers both an Economy and a Premium Economy choice for seating. The economy seats offer a spacious 34” of pitch and a 17” width, while the Premium Economy seats offer an increased 38” of pitch and 18.9” width. Premium Economy seating is available on JLA’s Boeing 777-300ER aircraft (a total of 46 seats per plane). These seats also offer an incredible 120-degrees of recline.

10. United Airlines – United offers two choices to its economy passengers; Economy and Economy Plus. Economy passengers can expect differing amounts of leg room depending upon the specific aircraft. All aircraft seats have a seat pitch of 31” except for: the A319 (31”-33”), the A320 (31”-33”), the A321 (32”), and the A330-300 (32”-34”). Economy Plus seating adds an additional 4” of legroom, and this seating option is available to Premier or high status members of United’s Mileage Plus frequent flier program, or to full-fare/unrestricted economy passengers.