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Food I Had Onboard VIII (April 2023 til Mid-May 2023)

Florian Buechting Airports and Airlines, Just Blogging No Comments

Oops, I did it again. Just within about a month, I feel that I had a nice volume of flights, which so that I can give you a new episode of my Food I had onboard. Enjoy all the dishes that fed me between early April and mid May 2023 .

 

7th April 2023, Croatia Airlines OU 417, Frankfurt (FRA) – Zagreb (ZAG), Economy

The ground service in Frankfurt (FRA) was a mess. Croatia Airlines recently moved away from Lufthansa doing their check-in process. I am sure they save 20 Euro each day by doing it themselves – for the sake that people are unhappy as the check-in just opened 1:50 hours before departure. Even though there were surprisingly short queues despite Easter holidays, the plane just had to run into a delay. The in-cabin service with Croatia was great the whole weekend, though. For the slightly longer than one hour service to Zagreb (ZAG), you got a large cup of water and Krekerli – I fell in love with these olive oil crackers. Nice one.

 

7th April 2023, Croatia Airlines OU 668, Zagreb (ZAG) – Dubrovnik (DBV), Economy

As this flight has been operated with a Dash-8 turboprop, the flight time from Zagreb to Dubrovnik was not that much shorter than the flight from Frankfurt. We were lucky that this service had been slightly delayed by some 20 minutes – otherwise we would have likely missed the connection. Nice cabin crew and effective service in the Dash – for that flight, there was water only – Krekerli are not a domestic flight feature of the Croatian Miles & More partner airline.

 

10th April 2023, Croatia Airlines OU 667, Dubrovnik (DBV) – Zagreb (ZAG), Economy

Nothing too thrilling on the way back. I was quite surprised about the modern airport of Dubrovnik (DBV). Best Croatia ground staff on the whole trip and the cabin on the trip was nice as well. Dubrovnik (DBV) has a rather historic online check-in (you don’t check in with the airline…) – and a horde of 14 Dutch people just had screenshots of the far too small bar codes of their non-printed boarding passes. A lot of extra work at boarding – I just don’t understand why the travel group even made fun and jokes about the situation. The flight was fine. Water service again until feeding yourself again at the Primeclass Lounge in Zagreb (ZAG).

 

10th April 2023, Croatia Airlines OU 417, Zagreb (ZAG) – Frankfurt (FRA), Economy

A bit of trouble before departure, as for this flight we had paid for a blocked middle seat. We made a Swiss girl happy as she was moved to Business Class due to that (better don’t comment on why they don’t move two Miles & More Senator / Gold customers… But hey… What does that matter…). The crew was really kind – and the purser felt to enjoy the opportunity to pamper the additional passenger. The economy class food was in line with the outbound: water and Krekerli – I would have been really disappointed about any alternative.

 

14th April 2023, British Airways BA 3270 (operated by BA Cityflyer), Dusseldorf (DUS) – London City (LCY), Economy

Even though that was “just” a BA Cityflyer Economy flight, I just love their service from Dusseldorf (DUS) to London City (LCY). An orange juice and a yoghurt-granola bar is absolutely fine for the short flight. Friendly crew and good seating in the E195.

 

15th April 2023, British Airways BA 3271 (operated by BA Cityflyer), London City (LCY) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Economy

Some water and a snack (for me: some chips – but there were also biscuits) – that’s absolutely sensible service on a one hour European flight. Similar as the day before, some really nice performance by the crew.

 

29th April 2023, Icelandair FI 521, Frankfurt (FRA) – Keflavik (KEF), Business Class

Flying Icelandair’s Boeing 737 MAX Saga Premium Class at the beginning of our Ring Road Trip was a real treat. Having water at the seat (and they even more bottles twice thereafter) to a pre-meal drink with cheese sticks and a beautiful cold meal on this 3:30 hours flight lead to a really relaxed atmosphere. The crew was amazing and showed lovely Icelandic hospitality. Bad luck I had to drive in Iceland thereafter – the drink menu featured a Gin Library – and the one choice I took was amazing.

The food was really nice. They served a winter salad of barley and roasted pumpkin with piri-piri chicken breast, followed by dulce de leche (caramel cream). In addition, you could have a bite of a selection of sweet and salty snacks any time you wanted.

 

7th May 2023, Icelandair FI 520, Keflavik (KEF) – Frankfurt (FRA), Business Class

The early morning Icelandair return flight came with a breakfast service. There was no menu this time and overall the service felt to be weaker and the crew less motivated than on the flight to Iceland. There were also less drink rounds and less presence of the crew – if you don’t count their acoustic presence chatting with each other in the galley. Another difference in this flight was that the crew used the overhead bin above our seats (1D and 1F). This was extremely bothering, as after take-off and before landing, crew members used the storage at least 15 times – on a 3:40 hr flight.

The breakfast was some sort of mushroom ragout, potatoes and an omelette roll with something like cheese. The overnight oats or chia pudding thing was very delicious. I was waiting for an additional bread roll or something the whole time – the bowl with cheese and pork cold cut just did not feel to make sense in this ensemble. Nonetheless, the breakfast at least had a creative touch, which I highly appreciated. Breakfast somehow feels to be the most boring catering on planes.

 

11th May 2023, British Airways BA 945, Dusseldorf (DUS) – London (LHR), Business Class

The evening flight from Dusseldorf (DUS) to Heathrow (LHR) was packed due to a previous flight cancellation. The ground handling, who desperately tried to persuade passengers to check in hand luggage, felt a bit of clumsy. But that’s it about the negative remarks. The crew was very friendly and despite the rather short flight time of 55 minutes, they easily did the service with a high level of hospitality.

For the cold dinner, I went for steamed vegetables on hummus, which had a nice level of spice. A really nice dish, which has been accompanied with a lovely cake-alike desert. On these kind of routes, BA simply feels to be the most reliable carrier to me.

 

12th May 2023, British Airways BA 800, London (LHR) – Keflavik (KEF), Business Class

The next morning, I headed on to Keflavik (KEF). Fun fact: while the screens in Heathrow’s BA First Class Lounge (correctly) state Keflavik as the destination, the airport screens showed Reykjavik – a very common issue to name Iceland’s largest one incorrectly. No issue about the food. Nice granola-yoghurt and fruit salad sides, good service. The composition of the Full English breakfast felt a bit of weird to me – quite a lot of scrambled eggs compared to the other parts of the meal. Nonetheless, a good experience.

 

12th May 2023, Icelandair FI212, Keflavik (KEF) – Copenhagen (CPH), Business Class

My original plan was to take the inaugural flight of Condor’s service to Akureyri (AEY) on Saturday night… But the German airline canceled the flight rather late notice and also did not want to act in line with the European passenger rights. As I did not want to no-show the British Airways service, I looked for a Friday afternoon or Saturday service back to Central Europe and finally went for this afternoon Saga Class flight to the Danish capital. Nice time to chill and relax in the Saga Lounge before the flight.

The onboard service felt a bit of weak, compared to the two flights with Icelandair before. The crew was charming, but dinner came rather late, about one hour after take-off (they had been really quick with pre-meal drinks, though). And why do you get a full can of Pepsi, but just a glass of ginger ale? The meal was cherry tomatoes with mozzarella and pesto as a starter and a Nordic sandwich. The bread was richly covered with roast beef, sauce, lettuce and onions. Absolutely delicious, but very hard to eat with the not-that-sharp cutlery you typically had on board. I just held it in my hand – which made the topping slide over the bread, but it was reasonable to eat as such. The Scandinavian marzipan cookie has been a treat as well as the typical chocolate they serve after the meal.

 

13th May 2023, DSB / Danish Rail IC 397, Copenhagen Main Station – Hamburg Main Station, First Class 

Riding the 1st Class Intercity train from Copenhagen to Hamburg was a rather mixed experience. One of the nice features: the small first class compartments have a small self-service buffet with coffee, tea, water… and cookies 🙂 So my rail trip makes it into my Food I Had Onboard posting. I like it… With a friendly smile.

I was absolutely stunned when after Odense, the train conductor came along with a basket of snacks. There were these Swedish crisp bread snacks as well as even oatmeal, which you could mix with the hot water provided to have tea. Another time the Danish train made me smile.

 

Food I Had Onboard

My bites and drinks on flights and trains are shown in Food I Had Onboard:

 

Icelandair on Flyctory.com

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