2. November 2026
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Food I Had Onboard XXXIII (September to October 2026)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

It’s time again to share some food and service experiences I had during my recent travels. It is already the 33rd time I share my Food I Had Onboard – with some interesting flights and a rail experience. Hope you enjoy words and pictures – maybe they are even mouthwatering here and there.

 

25th September 2026, Air Europa UX 1502, Frankfurt (FRA) – Madrid (MAD), Business Class

The flight to Madrid (MAD) Terminal 2 has been my first business class experience, so I was really curious about it. After a pre-flight drink, it took a bit longer until they finally served the business class meal. One factor for that was that there was a friend of colleague of the flight crew, which stayed in the galley most of the time – in my first row seat, I heard a lot of chatting from there. Once the meal arrived, I was really delighted by the presentation. Especially having the main dish in the small pot was a real treat.

The starter was a duck ham and brie salad, which has been especially nice due to the delicious kiwi vinaigrette. The warm entree was a chicken in sherry sauce, which was really nice as well. For dessert, the menu stated a caramel and vanilla panna cotta, where the Spanish wording flan de caramelo was definitely more suitable. Air Europa does not serve bread, but have a bag of crackers instead.

 

26th September 2026, Air Europa UX 1509, Madrid (MAD) – Frankfurt (FRA), Business Class

After this first Air Europa experience, I was really looking forward to the service on the inbound. I have to state, though that one member of the flight crew was not concentrated. I fell asleep before take-off and he did not see that I was not buckled up. For landing, there were bags and loose jackets in the first row – in case of an emergency, these items can become really dangerous.

Apart from these cabin-check issues, the business class service done by the charming purser was a real treat. After the pre-flight drink (water or orange juice), the pre-meal drink came with really nice olive crackers. This time, the starter was a picked roast beef salad – I liked the outbound one more. A really nice experience has been the confit artichoke with leek cream and prawns. However, it was very unhandy to eat and not that suitable for an inflight meal. The white chocolate mousse with strawberries, however, has been a lovely finale of the culinary experience.

 

10th October 2026, SAS SK 620 (operated by CityJet), Dusseldorf (DUS) – Copenhagen (CPH), SAS Plus / Business Class

Five weeks after going to Newark (EWR) with SAS Scandinavian Airlines, I took another Premium Class flight with the Nordics. This time, the flight from Düsseldorf (DUS) even had brakfast catering. The crew had a rather Nordic attitude (which means they are friendly and very attentive, but not heartwarming). Of course, we had to wait for a single passenger before bus boarding could go ahead. The flight was in time – and the breakfast platter had been a really nice treat. Fresh fruit, yogurt with berry compote and pumpkin seeds as well as a nice cold cut platter, including half an egg and some marinated prunes had been a really nice start of the day. The bread roll was warm as well – other airlines do significantly worse on a 55 minute minute flight.

 

10th October 2026, SAS SK 943, Copenhagen (CPH) – Chicago (ORD), Business Class

As I did not feel well the week before the flight, I went for the upgrade bid from Premium to Business Class – and succeeded. I was really curious how this flight in the front in the cabin will be alike, compared to my review. At least, the gate staff was better. I really love that SAS serves warmed cashews before the meal. Starters this time were either smoked duck with roasted leeks and parsley and pumpkin pesto or salmon and crab tatar. I liked the duck option I went for – and the bread with butter and a touch of pepper oil was as nice as the salad as well.

You could choose from three mains. I went for the beef with adobo sauce, crashed potatoe and vegetable. The meat was really nice, the rest a bit of soupy. Other options would have been a grilled chicken breast with biryani sauce or Chantarelle pilaf with bulgur. The cheese platter I had instead of a dessert was also a very fine option. A very popular option was the milk chocolate ice cream and the mango coconut cake – definitely would have given it a try as well. Alternatively, there was fresh fruit. While I loved the crew, the touch screen of my entertainment system went mad and changed movies and languages without interaction. Never had something similar on previous flights.

There were snacks in the galley – and some 90 minutes before landing, the crew served the pre-landing meal. There was a Scandinavian open face sandwich and a pineapple salad, coming with a chocolate bar. Quite nice food, which even was surprisingly saturating. Overall, I was really please with SAS’ service on this flight.

 

11th October 2026, Delta DL 4305 (operated SkyWest), Rhinelander (RHI) – Minneapolis (MSP), Delta First

I did not expect too much on this short flight from Rheinelander (RHI) to Minneapolis (MSP). The goal was “doing”, i.e. flying to or from the Wisconsin airport. A drink and a snack, that’s what was realistic. There have even been two drinks, a pre-flight one as well as one during the flight. You could choose a snack from the typical snack basket, I went for a chocolate cookie. Regarding that the effective flight time of that service was less than 30 minutes, I really enjoyed this performance by Delta.

 

11th October 2026, Delta DL 4233 (operated by SkyWest), Minneapolis (MSP) – Rhinelander (RHI), Delta First

On the return to Rhinelander (RHI) the same day, I did not expect any thrills or surprises. Same short flight, same cabin class – what should go wrong or be different? The only difference was that operations on the ground were a bit of tricky as the flight crew arrived late. Thus, no pre-flight drinks in Delta First this time – and I went for pistachios this time on the short hop back to Rhinelander Airport (RHI).

 

18th October 2026, SAS SK 944, Chicago (ORD) – Copenhagen (CPH), SAS Plus

For the return, I stuck with SAS Plus / Premium Economy.  However, I did have a double seat at the bulkhead – which I was finally really lucky about. The seats were different from the experience a few weeks ago and I had absolutely no chance to have the table in the armrest folded down in front of me. By the way, the seat belt was ridiculously short as well. This felt being an older version of their Premium Economy cabin and finally a reason why I won’t book SAS on long-haul premium economy again.

There was no menu, the choice of the main for dinner was between a beef stew and vegetarian pasta. I went for the stew coming with mashed potatoes and some veggies. The presentation on the plastic plate and the foil bowl is terrible. However, the dish might have been not too bad if there would have been salt and pepper given. I also don’t like that much that you get a double drink round before the meal, i.e. the pre-meal drink with nuts and the in fact drink to the meal are served in one. The salad and the brownie were fine, I also liked the packed cheese and the crackers.

Like on my previous SAS Premium Economy experience, the airline delivered really well in breakfast, though. A nice platter of cold cuts and other cold items, one small bread roll (a second one would have been perfect), fruit and yogurt were a really nice combo. The drink side was weak, though. I got one glass of orange juice and no additional drink service apart from tea or coffee (not even water…). The crew was okay, I felt that they were a bit of harsh and loud here and there. The key issue stayed the big difference in hardware.

 

19th October 2026, SAS SK 1621 (operated by CityJet), Copenhagen (CPH) – Dusseldorf (DUS), SAS Plus / Business

SAS Business Class is nice on a relaxed flight – but when CityJet’s CRJ 900 is packed, it is a challenge. It simply feels too narrow, they should have a free neighboring seat here and I felt sorry for my neighbor as parts of my body likely wabbled over to his side of the chair (in which he would have not felt too comfy without me already…). No chance to fold down the table in the second row and thus I balanced the meal on my hand (and could not take a picture of it). A nice pea hummus, salmon tataki and a chocolate opera cake were a really nice snack on the short flight. The flight attendant was very friendly and attentive as well, compensating for the limitations of the cabin layout.

 

31st October 2026, Deutsche Bahn ICE 527, Cologne Trade Fair/Deutz – Würzburg Main, 1st Class

On the one hand, Köln Messe/Deutz (or: Cologne Trade Fair / Deutz in English) located East of River Rhine is having more and more long-distance connection. On the other hand, the services rather feel to fade The station does not even feature a proper bakery any more. . Thus, I had the French Brekfast for 7.90 EUR on my trip to Bamberg. Ordering the meal via the onboard WiFi went fast and the service was very friendly. Having two rolls, a croissants and some condiments is a really nice deal, I feel.

 

Food I Had Onboard

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

 

Spain – Travel Postings

Here are all my Travel postings related to Spain:

 

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