2. April 2025
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Food I Had Onboard XXII (February 2025 – March 2025)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

22 – a repdigit and thus a small anniversary in my Food I Had Onboard series. I have to admit that some of the experiences I had were rather repetitive and thus might feel a bit of lame. However, there were also some really interesting ones.  Let’s take you on some culinary and service experiences while traveling I had during the last weeks.

 

16th February 2025, British Airways BA 935, Dusseldorf (DUS) – London (LHR), Business Class

Flying to the Jenn Bostic show in London, I had a daytrip to the British capital. The morning flight to London (LHR) was rather average. There was a choice between Full English breakfast and the vegetarian omelette. I went for the classic, which was a bit of dry and felt being a bit too heated. I also wondered why my plate did not come with a fruit salad, in contrast to the other passengers. Overall, the crew was fine, but also not too much more.

 

16th February 2025, British Airways BA 946, London (LHR) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Business Class

On the way back from London, I had a much better experience. The crew was already very welcoming at boarding. And their service was amazing, I was even offered a third can of Coke on the 55 minute flight. There was a choice between guacamole salad and a chicken one. I went for the poultry option. The dish might not look that welcoming, but it was really nice. The Do&Co chocolate mousse is a lovely dessert as well. An amazing flight in the business class cabin.

 

21st February 2025, Deutsche Bahn ICE 109, Cologne Main Station – Basel Bad Bf, First Class

The trip from Cologne to Basel was rather eventful. A dead train and signal issues caused major delays. Thus, I had more than an hour delay on my trip to Basel, heading on to Bern for the Swiss Floorball Cup Finals. The train staff was really lovely, though, giving as accurate information as they could. I went for the 6.90 EUR Bosna Style grilled sausage – unfortunately, the meal deal with the Austrian lemonade Almdudler was not available any more. The sausage was really lovely and – even in my meal sizes – comparably filling. Especially when you keep in mind that Deutsche Bahn is simply heating up food, a really nice experience.

 

26th February 2025, British Airways BA 939, Dusseldorf (DUS) – London (LHR), Economy Class

For my trip to Pittsburgh in February 2025, I just traveled on a World Traveller Plus, i.e. Premium Economy, ticket. This also implied that my shorter legs between Dusseldorf (DUS) and Heathrow (LHR) were served in economy class. Boarding went rather smoothly. We nonetheless had to wait a bit due to a slot time. The service in British Airways economy class is fine. Nutrition provided was a bottle of water and anf a cookie. I especially appreciate that the water is free, other drinks are for sale. The crew was very nice and professional as well. However, arriving at Heathrow, we had to wait quite some time in front of our gate position – the ground staff was not ready yet. That’s a typical London-Heathrow (LHR) thing, unfortunately.

 

26th February 2025, British Airways BA 171, London (LHR) – Pittsburgh, World Traveller Plus

Despite the ground delay, I had a some three our layover before boarding. Arriving at B Gates already, I still had to go to A gates and back later – what a waste of time. My first ever direct flight from Europe to Pittsburgh (PIT) started chaotic as the boarding process felt not too well organized. Finally boarding, the line was stopped twice in the jetbridge. The crew on board was very nice and welcoming, though. After the first drink service (having two cans of ginger ale), I even got a glass of champagne as a British Airways Executive Club Gold member.

The main meal service was provided some one hour after take-off, which I feel is a reasonable time. The starter and dessert, a beetroot tartare and a chocolate cake as well as some packed cheese and crisps, were fixed. For the main, you could opt between the “British” beef cheek, a butter chicken or a the vegetarian option, baked spinach and ricotta canneloni. I went for the Indian dish served with (burnt) cauliflower and coriander rice. All three courses, served on proper plates with proper cutlery, were really nice. I was not that much a fan of the beetroot starter, but that’s rather a matter of personal taste. The curry was tasty and even quite spicy and did not feel at all like a cheap economy meal on better tableware.

Some 90 minutes before landing, there was a light snack. You could choose between a chicken and a vegetarian pastry. I went for the vegetarian one, which was a tomato one. A nice bite, even though I felt a bit of hungry thereafter. Overall, the service was good. Despite there have been some drinks rounds (water and juice), I felt rather dried out at landing. One thing I really missed was having a water bottle at my seat – I feel that is a must at an eight hour flight in Premium Economy.

 

28th February 2025, Contour Airlines LF 3401, Parkersburg (PKB) – Beckley (BKW), Economy Class

On my short flight from Parkersburg (PKB) to Beckley (BKW), there was just a drink service. I went for a Coke. The flight was a bit of bumpy, so that the airline reduced their snack service on this flight.

 

 

28th February 2025, Contour Airlines LF 2402, Beckley (BKW) – Parkersburg (PKB), Economy Class

The flight back to Northern West Virginia was smoother – and thus, I did not only have a ginger ale, but also could grab a snack from their snack basket. I went for some pretzels – which is a quite nice thing, regarding the flight is just some 30 minutes.

 

2nd March 2025, British Airways BA 170, Pittsburgh (PIT) – London (LHR), Business Class (op-up)

I was rather lucky with that one. The flight was rather full and thus I got an operational upgrade to Business Class. The (not that) good, old Club World cabin, no Club Suites on the Dreamliner, but still a decent upgrade in regards to comfort. Especially as the flight was rather short (just some 6:30hrs net flight time), I appreciated that the dinner service was really quick. I favored the sesame seared tuna and ginger marinated prawn over the roasted tomato soup, which was a nice choice.

My main was the barbecue chicken breast with smoky macaroni cheese, broccolini and barbecue sauce, which was nice, but not that special. The chicken was slightly dry. I did like, what I would call Mac & Cheese, though. The alternatives would have been a coconut braised beef with peas, chili and rice, or the vegetarian mascarpone and mushroom ravioli. I just had to go for the Rocky Road brownie in favor of apple toffee pudding or the cheeseboard and enjoyed the port to it.

Due to the rather brief time between the meals, I went for the lighter fresh fruit salad in favor of an ham and cheese omelette for breakfast. The sides to that were a Greek yogurt with granola and a really nice strawberry vanilla muffin. I managed to sleep most of the time of the remaining flight, but the crew was really lovely and attentive – a good experience with British Airways!

 

3rd March 2025, British Airways BA 940, London (LHR) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Economy Class

There were technical issues with the original plane. I felt that British Airways did the aircraft change well, but the handling thereafter has been a mess. There was just water, we were not given food, even though the delay was over three hours (BA later declined to accept that, I will write a post about that later). Thus, while the cabin was very nice, the overall experience with that short hop back home was definitely on the poor side.

 

10th March 2025, Deutsche Bahn ICE 650, Berlin East Station – Cologne Main Station, First Class

I really felt I needed a bite after the tough Country To Country 2025 Berlin coverage. As Deutsche Bahn just had released a new menu, I went for one of their new options, the cheeseburger with fries and a Spezi drink (which is thought to be similar to a mixture of coke and orange lemonade). They cannot grill in German trains, so regarding it is just heated up food, I really liked the burger. The fries are fine, but not too special. I would have loved to have some more of them, even though the meal as such was rather filling. The total of the menu was 16.90 EUR, ordering it to the seat by the in-train WiFi worked very fine and was also very quick.

 

12th March 2025, KLM KL 1796 (operated by German Airways), Dusseldorf (DUS) – Amsterdam (AMS), Economy Class

The days in Berlin the weekend before were still killing me. I slept most of the time. I somehow always wake up for food. This time it was the typical water and cookie thing. I had it so often in here so that I don’t feature it.

 

12th March 2025 KLM KL 1269 (operated by KLM Cityhopper), Amsterdam (AMS) – Copenhagen (CPH), Economy Class

Similarly to the other flight on that day, I was sleeping most of the time. I did not miss the cheese sandwich, though – another dish in which KLM is very predictable. The cabin crew was very charming, though, and gave a good service.

 

12th March 2025, Atlantic Airways RC 453, Copenhagen (CPH) – Vagar (FAE), Economy Class

You only get a drink – water, tea or coffee – for free at the Faroese airline. As I was also cramped on a middle seat (the KLM codeshares just don’t allow seat reservation), I did not take a picture of my cup of water – sorry.

 

13th March 2025, Atlantic Airways RC 470, Vagar (FAE) – Billund (BLL), Economy Class

No picture on this one as well. I just had water, as I typically grab some food at Vagar Airport (FAE) before the flight. The flight was more relaxed and exciting, though. First of all, it went to Billund (BLL) – due to the handball match before, the flights via Copenhagen (CPH) were extremely expansive. That flight was quite fine, I also had an aisle seat as I used the check in machine the day before already.

 

13th March 2025, KLM KL 1298, Billund (BLL) – Amsterdam (AMS), Economy Class

There were some KLM IT issues on that day. Luckily, my flight was not that much impacted by it and we just had a rather minor delay, compared to the Billund flight beforehand (which was a couple of hours late). This time, there was a full drink service – and Stroopwafels, a nice snack.

 

13th March 2025, KLM KL 1805 (operated by German Airways), Amsterdam (AMS) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Economy Class

The short hop in the front of the cabin by German Airways is always rather delightful. This time, there was water and pizza crackers (all stuff, you have seen in previous postings), so I did not go for a picture here.

 

24th March 2025, Air France AF 1507 (operated by Hop!), Dusseldorf (DUS) – Paris (CDG), Business Class

Time for another run to Krakow – I shared my experience of my 12 flight mileage run in January 2025 with you. The culinary experience at that trip was rather monotonous, so I hoped for better. The first, short flight with Air France took me from Dusseldorf (DUS) to Paris (CDG). The flight felt a bit of delayed. The flight attendant in business class was not the nicest one I had with the French. One of these kind of people who just speak English if they really have to.

Food was great though, a poached egg with piperade and rice. Apaprt from the two slices of cheese, there was also the lemon tartlet I already had on previous flights. Bad performance on Paris ground as well, when the same flight attendant stated that we had to wait as we arrived too early and ground staff was not ready. Hmm, we were even a bit too late…

 

24th March 2025, Air France AF 1140, Paris (CDG) – Amsterdam (AMS), Business Class

I really like the A220 in Air France Business Class, especially on the left, two seated side. Due to the free neighbor seat, you have the short aisle for your own. The crew was lovely this time – I also had a bit too much champagne on that flight. The main was a Parisian style with herb sauce, bulgur wheet cucumber and egg mimosa, which was really lovely. Apart from the cheese, there was a good, old friend on the dessert side. I like the crunchy vanilla cream puff, though – and I really enjoy the whole flight.

 

24th March 2025, KLM KL 1329 (operated by KLM Cityhopper), Amsterdam (AMS) – Krakow (KRK), Business Class

Last, but not least on that day, it was time for the KLM Cityhopper flight to Krakow (KRK). There was a slight delay on the ground. The more, the service was charming and lovely. The main dish in the meal box was a roasted kohlrabi salad with pearl onions, falafel and beetroot hummus, which was really nice. The condiments were nuts and raisins as well as three macarons. However, you know that meal from my January post already. Later, business class was also given one of KLM’s smoothies, which I absolutely appreciate as well. Well done!

 

27th March 2025, KLM KL 1324 (operated by KLM Cityhopper), Krakow (KRK) – Amsterdam (AMS), Business Class

On the culinary side, the three flights back home on that Thursday somehow felt to fit to the wording Time to meet old friends again. The first one was this Provence-style potato salad, coming with filled peppers and macarons. I featured that “lunch box” in my January post already. The crew was awesome, I really loved the purser on this flight. Again, there has been a smoothie after the meal and very attentive service.

27th March 2025, Air France AF 1741, Amsterdam (AMS) – Paris (CDG), Business Class

The flight to Paris (CDG) had a bit of delay. First of all, due to a delay already on the incoming flight. However, the ground handling felt slow. On top of that, the check in gate had some technical issues. The gate agents had to use a loudspeaker as you typically have them in smaller concerts. On top of that, one of the gates with barcode reader was obviously quite broken. The meal? Another old friend. The poached egg had been part of my Monday flights nutrition already. A nice meal, but you just cannot state that KLM and Air France are creative and surprising in that regard. The crew was very friendly, though. I really enjoyed the short flight in Air France’s Airbus A320.

 

27 March 2025, Air France AF 1006 (operated by Hop!), Paris (CDG) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Business Class

After I had the poached egg again on the flight to Paris, I am sure you can guess by flight-from-Paris meal as well. The salmon is a really nice one, but I somehow felt glad that I would not run into it again the following days. My next Air France flight is scheduled for May currently. The flight attendant for the business class section in the not too well booked Embraer was a really awesome person. I absolutely loved her friendly and attentive service.

 

Flyctory.com in Krakow

Here are all my posts related to the Polish city of Krakow:

 

Deutsche Bahn

Here are all my postings related to the German National Rail, Deutsche Bahn:

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