I did not have that much traveling during the last weeks – but as some major trips are ahead, I felt it is time to close my eighteenth posting of my Food I Had Onboard series. Here are my impressions about meals in flights – and trains, reflecting my experience from late July 2024 until mid of September the same year.
26th July 2024, Air France AF 1107 (operated by Hop!), Dusseldorf (DUS) – Paris (CDG), Economy Class
Yeah, it is a bit of useless to fly from Western Germany to Paris. However, plane tickets have been released far before rail tickets and thus we went for this route to the Olympic Games. The breakfast service was nice, Hop! also offers juice to the economy class cookie.
28th July 2024, Air France AF 1106 (operated by Hop!), Paris (CDG) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Economy Class
Sandwich time on Hop! again. I feel that their service was pretty charming. Honestly, I was quite exhausted from all the sports hopping in France on that trip, so that I rather felt like relaxing and sleeping. However, I just have that thing that I wake up when there is food around. Good job by the Air France subsidiary.
30th August 2024,Deusche Bahn ICE 1557, Frankfurt Hbf – Dresden-Neustadt, First Class
Working in Germany’s high speed rail network, I just felt like having a bite. Deutsche Bahn had just introduced their new menu – and it contained one of my favorite dishes, a Bavarian style meat loaf (Fleischkäse) in a roll. Unfortunately, they don’t have sweet mustard, just spicy one. The at seat service had a bit of trouble booking and food and invoicing it – but that was indeed the only negative experience. I really liked this one.
31st August 2024, Czech Rail RJ 265, Dresden Hbf – Berlin Hbf, Business Class
I heard from so many fellow rail travelers that they love Czech rail and their service. The trip from Dresden to Berlin was in fact my first one in their Railjet (I just had the Austrian so far). The Business Class (top class above the First Class) is a real treat. And I just had to try out their famous food (I did not have a bit after breakfast that day anyway).
5th September 2024, SAS SK 620 (operated by Cityjet), Dusseldorf (DUS) – Copenhagen (CPH), SAS Plus
Fartoe Islands, my happy place. This time, I flew with SAS, with the typical transfer in Copenhagen Airport (CPH). The very early morning flight was (as usual) operated by Cityjet in a Canadair machine. The SAS Plus somewhat-like-their-business class was not too crowded, so that I was happy to have a full two-seat row. The breakfast service was nice – I would have loved to have a second bread roll, maybe. But I liked their service and the combination of the bread, a yogurt with cereals and the lovely smoothie. The crew was very nice, I also had some still water (a full bottle) to drink, which I really appreciated.
5th September 2024, SAS SK 1777, Copenhagen (CPH) – Vagar (FAE), SAS Plus
On the longer flight to Faroe Islands Airport (FAE), SAS served a chicken salad in SAS Plus. It was surprisingly filling. The bread in the box felt a bit too crunchy to me, though. I really liked to have that small box of chocolates later in the flight as well. However, the flight attendant who served me, somehow did not like communicating in English. She offered my neighbor obviously more than I got (speaking a Scandinavian language, I cannot distinguish too well between them, but I do understand quite a lot). A surprising downside of their service, which is typically quite good.
8th September 2024, SAS SK 1778, Vagar (FAE) – Copenhagen (CPH), SAS Plus
I felt quite sad leaving the islands again after three nights. They are such a happy place to me. The Sunday SAS service to Copenhagen (CPH) is surprisingly early, leaving the airport at 10:00 already. Likely, this is allowing them to offer more connections after the weekend. The SAS lunch boxes feel all kind of similar, even though it was a beet pastrami salad this time. I really liked the sides, though. The potatoes and the sauces next to it were fine. I don’t get used to the rye crispbread, though. I liked to have chocolates after the meal (no picture this time). No additional round of drinks, apart from tea or coffee.
8th September 2024, SAS SK 1621 (operated by Cityjet), Copenhagen (CPH) – Dusseldorf (DUS), SAS Plus
The short flight from Copenhagen (CPH) to Dusseldorf (DUS) gave me a culinary meeting with a well-known dish. It was the chicken box again.The Cityjet crew did a good job and even took a chocolate round thereafter. Glad to say farewell from the crispbread for a while – we simply won’t become good friends.
14th September 2024, KLM KL1796 (operated by German Airways), Dusseldorf (DUS) – Amsterdam (AMS), Business Class (op-up)
While check-in and security at Dusseldorf Airport (DUS) was rather smooth, the gate agent for my flight to Amsterdam (AMS) definitely did not have his best day. That lead to a some 25 minute delay at departure and a bit of trouble of a short connection in the Netherlands. I profited from a packed flight again and was upgraded to business class. The cheese roll was a bit of dry, but overall really nice. I like the small ultra-short-haul KLM snack bags, which also contained a bottle of water and a dinner mint.
14th September 2024, KLM KL 953 (operated by KLM Cityhopper), Amsterdam (AMS) – Newcastle (NCL), Economy Class
No upgrade on the way to Newcastle on this KLM Cityhopper service. Thus, the second breakfast was “just” the KLM-typical coconut cookie, which was actually quite nice and came with a Coke for me as a drink (there was a wider selection of drinks on this about one hour service). The crew was absolutely nice, really great and very friendly service by them.
15th September 2024, Air France AF 1059 (operated by Hop!), Newcastle (NCL) – Paris (CDG), Economy Class
The next morning I headed back home. The first flight was a Hop! service to Paris (CDG). The crew was very friendly and apart from a wider choice of drinks, there was also the choice of two different sandwiches. As I had so many cheese sandwiches with the French-Dutch airline, I went for the sweet roll with hm. Not really special, but a nice treat on the 75 minute service.
15th September 2024, Air France AF 1006 (operated by Hop!), Paris (CDG) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Business class (op-up)
Another flight, another op-up. The operational upgrade quota on Air France and KLM since I became Flying Blue Platinum member is impressing. Hop! is doing an amazing business class service. The (cold) salmon steak with basil and a sweet potato cream, served with a black rice salad was absolutely awesome for a fifty minutes flight. The dish was served with a bread roll, two slices of cheese and a lemon tartlet. Very friendly crew as well – great performance by the French airline.
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