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Food I Had Onboard XVII (mid-May to mid-July 2024)

Florian Buechting Airports and Airlines, Just Blogging No Comments

Oh, I traveled too much the last weeks again. Time for another Food I Had Onboard posting – this time also featuring quite some rail travel (the next episode will have even more of that, I guess). Enjoy – or be disgusted – about my culinary and service experience on board of planes and trains.

 

15th May 2024, Air France AF 1107 (operated by Hop!), Dusseldorf (DUS) – Paris (CDG), Economy Class

Right after I returned from my trip from the World Floorball Championships in Lahti, I had to go on a business trip to Paris. I like the short Hop! service to the French capital from Dusseldorf. Unfortunately, I did not make a snap of the cookie, but it is finally the same you find in other Food I Had Onboard postings anyway. Nice crew, smooth flight. Only the waiting time for luggage at CDG Terminal 2G was a bit longer than I expected.

17th May 2024, Air France AF 1405 (operated by Hop!), Paris (CDG) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Economy Class

After three intense days, I headed back from Paris to Germany. I was quite surprised that Hop!, Air France’s regional carrier, even served a sandwich on this short service. Good work by the nice crew and effective ground services as well. A very relaxed trip to France and back.

 

18th May 2024, KLM KL1796 (operated by German Airways), Dusseldorf (DUS) – Amsterdam (AMS), Business Class (op-up)

Right on the next day, I was back in an Air France / KLM plane again, this time heading with my wife to Norway. We had economy tickets, but finally, three of our four legs have been operationally upgraded to Business Class. I never experienced such a high quoata of op-ups in my Lufthansa days. The flight is short and the good, old KLM snack back contained a smoothie and a cookie – which was absolutely nice for the short 30 minute hopper.

 

18th May 2024, KLM KL 1163, Amsterdam (AMS) – Bergen (BGO), Economy Class

The flight to Bergen (BGO) was in fact the only one in which we stayed in the originally booked economy class. The crew was very attentive and nice. The food? You guess it: the good, old cheese sandwich. But somehow, I looked forward to it.

 

21st May 2024, KLM KL 1198, Oslo (OSL) – Amsterdam (AMS), Business Class (op-up)

Even though ground staff told us that we will be upgraded to business class, but cannot receive a meal due to lack of catering volume, we did get the KLM “bento” box in the breakfast edition. A nice variety of cold cuts, an egg, cheese salad, fruit, yogurt and cereals as well as the KLM smoothie. The crew was lovely. For whatever reason, they did not ask me for a second drink, which I would have appreciated. I had to drink a bit more in the KLM Crown Lounge Schengen in Amsterdam (AMS) then.

 

21st May 2024, KLM KL 1801 (operated by German Airways), Amsterdam (AMS) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Business Class (op-up)

This time, the magical paper slip with the seat change and upgrade was given to us right at the boarding gates. The KLM snack bag contained a bottle of water and a cheese roll with cheese – just what was expected. While I typically love the German Airways flights, for the comfort of the seats and the nice service, the crew felt rude. Especially the purser did not feel to be comfortable. We had some waiting time for luggage later (about an hour) due to thunderstorms in Dusseldorf, which is of course absolutely acceptable. Some other passengers rather wanted to have the ground staff roasted by lightning for having their suitcases a bit earlier – I just don’t get these rude and disrespectful attitude.

 

28th May 2024, Deutsche Bahn / German Rail ICE 517 Cologne Main Station – Munich Main Station, First Class

As several reasons lead to train delays around Cologne, Frankfurt and Southern Germany, there was an estimated delay of one hour. Thus, I decided to go for a meal on the ICE train and used the first class at seat service. My meal of choice was the lentil stew, which was actually really delicious and also fine in regards of the price (12.90 EUR). A bit of weird: if you order online, it happens that the booking system declares your order as cancelled – but nonetheless, you get it. Very friendly staff onboard and a good meal.

 

8th June 2024, Deutsche Bahn / German Rail ICE 275 Mannheim Main Station – Basel SBB, First Class

As the high speed rail route between Cologne and Frankfurt was already shut down since the day before. I had to take some other train connection than expected. Starting my travel to the Rock of Ages shows in Zurich started one hour earlier than planned, at 5:48, in Cologne and lead to being one hour later than expected in Mannheim. Thus, I felt it might not be too bad to have some breakfast in the ICE train. The French breakfast, consisting of a croissant and two bread rolls, was not at all bad regarding the price and that it is served at the seat (6.90 EUR). I added the apple and cinnamon porridge, which was additional 4.60 EUR, to that. Great and fast service, even though the ICE portal order did not work that time.

 

13th June 2024, Eurowings EW 9756, Dusseldorf (DUS) – Vienna (VIE), Business Class

Eurowings changed the schedule some six weeks before the flight, so that my departure was about one hour earlier than expected. Except the hassle caused by that (e.g. parking booking), the flight was another really nice experience with Lufthansa’s low cost carrier. Especially in their BizClass, I really love the service. Unfortunately, the did not have the salami platter, but the sandwich was good (as always…). Great crew, who even asked for another drink on this relatively short flight.

 

16th June 2024, Eurowings EW 9753 (operated by Eurowings Europe), Vienna (VIE) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Business Class

As I said before, I really do love flying Eurowings in their business class product. However, having an evening flight from Vienna was quite a pain. The former contract lounge does no longer exist – and the lounge given, the Austrian Business Lounge in the non-Schengen area, was already closed. Thus, there was a lot of stress and hassle and I was quite exhausted before the flight.

I did check out the pasta with tomato sauce Eurowings used to serve in October 2023. This time, they had another version of that dish. Not only that the quality of this one was worse, the tomato sauce bowl was way too full, so that it was really difficult to eat it without spilling you. The crew was nice, but in contrast to the outbound flight, they did not ask if you need another drink or something. The Eurowings Europe crew was a bit limited in German, but things worked out well. Thus, still a nice inflight experience – I just would try to avoid Eurowings from Vienna (VIE) on a late night service after the airport experience.

 

28th June 2024, Deutsche Bahn / German Rail ICE 1949 Cologne – Braunschweig, First Class

Heading to the German Athletics Nationals 2024, I was en route with Deutsche Bahn again. The train caught quite some delays right before it arrived in Cologne, but the trip overall was enjoyable. After a while, they opened the ordering via the online platform. As I was in urgent need for a snack but did not want to leave my camera equipment unattended, I ordered one of the special meals for the UEFA Euro 2024 (European Soccer Championships), a bratwurst (grilled sausage) in a bread roll with an apple spritzer, for 9.60 EUR. Regarding that they are just able to warm food in their kitchen, the food was really nice, I was really positive about it.

 

13th July 2024, British Airways BA 393, Brussels (BRU) – London (LHR), Economy Class

The first leg on my flight to Boston (BOS) was the short hop from Brussels (BRU) to London Heathrow. The packed service gave me 45 minute inflight experience in the economy class. The crew was quite nice. I even got (unintentionally) two packages of cookies, which was quite nice. Nothing to complain about.

 

13th July 2024, British Airways BA 213, London (LHR) – Boston (BOS), Business Class (op-up)

Despite I had the “SSSS” security screening, I was lucky to have another op-up on my flight from Heathrow (LHR) to Boston (BOS). The A380 Club World cabin by British Airways still comes with the traditional layout with people facing each other, but it is still a huge upgrade to the Premium Economy I booked. The flight had an almost one hour delay due to technical reasons. After a pre-flight champagne, I slowed down my alcoholic consumption and went for Coke Zero and ginger ale for the nuts and the meal.

I went for the poached prawn salad as a starter, which came with crushed avocado and horrseradish ketchup and was actually quite nice. Other options would have been buffalo mozzarella with grilled courgette and a red pepper soup. I struggled a bit with the grilled cod I chose for the main, which came with coco bean mousseline and buttered spring vegetables. Other options would have been the British stuffed chicken or a ricotta mezzaluna. I finished the main with a lovely cheeseboard (Red Fox Leicester, Wensleydale Blue and Plasir de Roy Brie). The alternatives would have been a warm chocolate, walnut and orange cake or strawberries with cream. I struggled a bit that it took the crew a while to kick off the lunch service, but thereafter, they were really fast so that meal was finished some 1:30 hrs after take-off. Nice and attentive service as well.

As the pre-landing snack, you had the choice of a Original Reuben ciabatta or a grilled portobello mushroom panini. I went for the ciabatta, which was actually really nice.

 

22nd July 2024, British Airways BA 1540 (operated by American Airlines as AA 108), Boston (BOS) – London (LHR), Premium Economy

After quite chaotic moments at Boston Airport (BOS), still due to the Crowdstrike issues, and a visit to the Admirals Club in Boston, I was back in the American Airlines B777 Premium Economy. I had a rough time sleeping, majorly as the lady sitting behind me watched a movie and laughed extremely loud. The large screen right on the bulkhead in front of the seat was very bothering, but the crew refused to switch it off. Thus, it was time for a sleeping mask and earplugs.

The food was the worst thing about the flight, though. The crew asked me whether I want chicken or pasta, finding out later that the alternative to the chicken I chose was in fact beef. The chicken was a balsamico chicken, which was a good argument to become vegan. It was just not tasty at all, the vegetables were weak and the block of rice next to it was not better. The salad was a pure leaf salad, the cheesecake was at most average and the tiny cheddar was in fact the most basic processed one you can imagine. I really liked the crackers, though. Yeah, it is an upgraded economy and not a downgraded business class, but I really hated myself for waking up whenever there is food around me. At least the crew was quick, tables were cleaned some one hour after departure.

 

23rd July 2024, British Airways BA 394, London (LHR) – Brussels (BRU), Economy Class

The flight was a bit delayed and boarding was quite chaotic. The main reason was that too many people absolutely exceeded their hand luggage restrictions. I ask myself why I am choosing airlines and camera luggage which makes my stuff be in line with the rules and several passengers come with too many items, suitcases from which you can already tell they are too large etc. I was sleepy and just chilled during the short hop. The catering was in line with the inbound, water and popcorn or cookies.

Remarkably, the family sitting in front of me (6A to 6D, if BA reads it) let one of their kids climb on the chair during a rather turbulent approach and she was standing in front of her seat during the whole taxiing to the parking position. Guys, it is damned dangerous – for your kid as well as for you or for other passengers. The crew has no chance to see that from their jump seats. Maybe they should have CCTV and monitors on their positions? What do you think?

 

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