10. September 2025
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Food I Had Onboard XXV (July 2025)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

I don’t have that many flights during the summer season. Thus, the frequency of my Food I had Onboard posts is getting a bit slower. I finally gathered some (positive and negative) service and food adventures as of July and August 2025. Here is my 25th posting about that overall – hope you enjoy it!

 

6th July 2025, Deutsche Bahn ICE 207, Bremen – Cologne, 1st Class

Returning from the German Under 15 Floorball Nationals, I just needed a bite on the way back home. I initially aimed going for their new Chicken Tikka Masala, but then went for a smaller bite. The Banh Mì sandwich, together with a drink (beer or Spezi, a coke and orange lemonade mix, which I took) costs 10.50 EUR. I really liked the sandwich, which is a pulled pork one with carrots and sprouts. The drink service was quick, the sandwich in time as well and the waiter bringing the food to my table, very kind as well – a really good experience.

 

8th July 2025, Eurowings EW 80, Cologne/Bonn (CGN) – Munich (MUC), BizClass

For a trip to my job’s Munich office, I chose to go for the short Tuesday morning business class hop with Eurowings. I really appreciate the option to simply go for any menu item you like in Eurowings’ BizClass. On that flight I opted for the pulled turkey sandwich, which was really nice. I also love their lemon and mint water drink. Besides that, I had a small chocolate bar with puffed rice. The crew was really nice and I had a very enjoyable trip.

 

10th July 2025, Eurowings EW 85 (operated by Smartwings), Munich (MUC) – Cologne/Bonn (CGN), BizClass

I was really curious about the return from Munich (MUC) – my first time having a Smartwings-operated Eurowings flight. After having had food in the lounge before, I just felt like a cookie, a snack and a drink. The Smartwings crew (who obviously did not speak German) were very nice and charming. Definitely a very good flight experience.

 

18th July 2025, Lufthansa LH 1993, Cologne/Bonn (CGN) – Munich (MUC), Business Class

6.05 to Munich (MUC) – the first leg of my trip to Vienna (VIE) was definitely an early one. I really liked the rather traditional German breakfast platter. Especially the cheese had really good quality. There was also a small chocolate afterwards, which I almost missed – I slept most of the time of the flight. Very nice crew. though.

 

18th July 2025, Austrian Airlines OS 112, Munich (MUC) – Vienna (VIE), Business Class

I had a nominal one tour transfer in Munich (MUC). From being in the terminal to boarding my flight to Vienna (VIE), it was some 30 minutes transfer, which worked out absolutely relaxed. Austrian just has a lovely touch on treating the people. The breakfast platter was a bit of similar to the flight before. However, I loved the bread selection including a (warm and) fluffy brioche bun. I really liked the meal and the crew. There was a Lindt chocolate after breakfast as well.

 

20th July 2025, Austrian Airlines OS 195, Vienna (VIE) – Cologne/Bonn (CGN), Business Class

For the return from Vienna, I had a direct flight back home to Cologne/Bonn (CGN). The Austrian crew was lovely. The meal was a meatball with potato mash, some veggies and a delicious sauce. A really tasty dish, coming with a tiramisu-alike dessert. Especially regarding the rather short flight time, a really nice performance by the Austrians.

 

26th July 2025, KLM KL 1796 (operated by German Airways), Dusseldorf (DUS) – Amsterdam (AMS), Business Class (op-up)

Holiday season typically means that the flights are full and business class is not that well booked. Good time for high tier status flyers – my day trip to London started with an operational upgrade to business class. The typical breakfast bag in the front of the cabin just contains a large chocolate cookie and a smoothie. What I saw on this trip was that the water supply was very unsteady: while water was provided in major bottles in the business class in the second leg of my trip, neither of the three other ones had water in business class. The morning flight crew was nice.

 

26th July 2025, KLM KL 981 (operated by German Airways), Amsterdam (AMS) – London City (LCY), Economy Class

I was surprised that German Airways also did the second flight of my day. No upgrade this time and the coconut cookie with water, KLM’s morning classic in the economy. The crew did not feel friendly – something I have very rarely at German Airways services. On top of that, they had issues with the plane-pushing staff in Amsterdam (AMS) that day. Thus, the flight had a bit of delay on the ground, but could catch up some of it, at least.

 

26th July 2025, KLM KL 1012 (operated by KLM Cityhopper), London (LHR) – Amsterdam (AMS), Business Class (op-up)

My way back home started with another operational upgrade. My KLM Cityhopper service – this time not by the Germans – was one row further to the front than expected. Already on the outbound flight to London City Airport (LCY), I was surprised that KLM serves one of their small meal boxes. This one contained a couscous salad with tomato sauce, hummus and falafel, which was quite nice. In addition, there were cashew nuts and two macarons. The box was really nice, the service was bad. The crew was friendly, but terribly slow. A key reason was that they did not work as a team. The purser cared about business class.

However, when his two colleagues had completed the whole economy cabin, he was still in the second row. One reason for that was that he was really talkative. The two colleagues did not support him serving the boxes or taking drink orders. Sitting in the fourth row, I got my box when were were in the descent already. As the flight was delayed at departure in the summer heat by roughly 45 minutes due to operation issues in Heathrow, a small glass of drink was definitely not sufficient as well.

 

26th July 2025, KLM KL 1805 (operated by German Airways), Amsterdam (AMS) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Economy Class

My fourth flight of the day was in fact operated by the same plane I had flown with in the morning already. There was no business class customer, but two people were seated to the front row – it felt like one of them did not feel well. The service was the water bottle and cheese crackers. The crew was fine. Again, there were delays (no pushers available), but the flight was in Dusseldorf (DUS) in time, so I felt that it was fine.

 

16th August 2025, British Airways BA 943, Dusseldorf (DUS) – London (LHR), Business Class

Quite some delays on my anniversary flight weekend (this one should feature my 1,500th flight overall). Boarding the short British Airways service from Dusseldorf (DUS) to Heathrow (LHR) went very smoothly – especially regarding it was summer holiday season. However, we had a technical issue, the mechanics had to get into the plane. They solved it within 70 minutes, which I felt was quite fine. However, that also meant we lost our slot in Heathrow – which lead to another hour of delay. The crew was awesome though and even handled the rather rude customers with a lot of professionalism.

On the breakfast side, I had the choice of a typical Full English Breakfast and a mushroom quiche. I went for the latter and it was really enjoyable. Drink services worked well, too. Despite that I missed my ongoing flight to Helsinki (HEL), I was really happy with that one.

 

16th August 2025, British Airways 185, London (LHR) – Newark (EWR), Business Class

My trip was expected to continue to Helsinki and then to JFK Airport by Finnair. However, the delay in Dusseldorf (DUS) was so massive that I was rebooked on a direct service to Newark (EWR). Somehow, good luck – the app already showed me a flight the next morning.While the crew felt really nice at boarding, they absolutely bothered me during dining. From take off until the table was cleared was almost 2:30 hours. Yeah, it is a daytime flight, but people want to sleep work, whatever. The more it bothered me as “my” flight attendant felt being especially keen on chatting with a colleague all the time instead of getting the meal service done.

The food as such was quite nice, though. I loved the tuna tonnato (what a strange wording…), which I preferred over an beetroot and apple tartare and the roasted artichoke soup. My entree choice, a grilled Scottish salmon, which came with grainy mustard mash, vegetables and lemon pepper sauce, was lovely as well. The alternatives would have been a pasta dish with truffle cream or a chicken breast with roasted potatoes and vegetables. Spontaneously, I went for cheese as a dessert. Cabin’s favorite felt to have been the warm sticky toffee pudding. My second choice would have been the strawberry vanilla panna cotta. The drink service was really bad and did not get better throughout the flight. I did not get a single refill during the entire meal. Not sure why the flight attended treated me in a that biased way, he was that attentive to other guests.

Some 80 minutes before landing, afternoon tea was served. You have to say that the crew put out the second meal out of the fridge far too late. The sandwiches were chilly, the clotted cream rather felt like very firm cream cheese, just taken out of a fridge. Again, I struggled with the flight attendant. First of all, there was vegetarian and a meat option. I did not even get the chance to choose and just the meat and fish one. Furthermore, I did not get a drink at all (again, in contrasts to other guests). An absolutely disgusting behavior. I did not feel like escalating it, but I might report that to BA’s customer service.

17th August 2025, Finnair AY 16, New York (JFK) – Helsinki (HEL), Business Class

That’s the way to do it! On the way back to Europe, I finally ended up in the Finnair Airbus A330, which I had also originally booked for the outbound. There was a quick warm snack service right after take-off. You had a choice between a vegetable quiche (which I took) and a traditional Quiche Lorraine. Both were served with green salad and passion fruit mousse (which was lovely). Less than 60 minutes after take-off, the table was cleaned, my seat was in the sleeping position and I had a good nap en route to the Nordics.

Breakfast service began roughly 90 minutes before landing. There were cold cuts, a fruit platter and bread for all options. On top, you could go for a spinach frittata with bacon, scrambled egg with potato wedges or blueberry pancakes with vanilla sauce, which I took. The vanilla sauce was not as creamy as stated in the menu, the warming made it rather sticky, but it was a good meal. The crew on the whole flight was absolutely awesome. I indeed feel that Finnair’s long haul business is absolutely underrated. It was my 1,500th flight overall (since I do statistics) – and I loved it!

 

18th August 2025, Finnair AY 1633, Helsinki (HEL) – London (LHR), Business Class

The next leg took me to Heathrow (LHR). As the flight was scheduled to be serviced by a Finnair Airbus A350, I looked forward to another great experience. The crew was not that heartwarming than on the flight before, but a very kind one – with a bit of a Nordic touch. There was no pre-flight drink, but some 30 minutes after take-off, they served a pre-meal drink with some pretzels. The main meal was served more or less right thereafter. The starter was some really nice fish. For the entree (no choice here), there was chicken with some mashed peas and carrots, which was really nice. As it was a Helsinki flight, they also had Finnish rye bread, which I absolutely love.

Initially, I was a bit disappointed that there was no dessert, but when they cleaned the table, the crew also served a warm cinnamon bun, which was a lovely finish. In total, the service took 70 minutes from take-off. Regarding the distance, a good experience.

 

18th August 2025, British Airways BA 942, London (LHR) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Business Class

This flight was the perfect proof that British Airways and Heathrow (LHR) Terminal 5 just feels to be the deadly combination this summer. The transfer from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 went very smoothly, thereafter, it was simply a terrible experience. Despite coming from the priority lane, I was forced to get into the (obviously) lamest line at the hand luggage check, so that I finally was in there for about 25 minute. If my flight to Dusseldorf (DUS) wouldn’t have been delayed, I would have to rush straight to the gate, despite a 90 minute transfer time. However, the plane had issues finding a parking gate, which lead to additional chaos. At boarding time, the boarding gate (A20) was announced. I had to rush across the terminal.

The British Airway app already showed weird messages – and when the pilots and crew came back (!) from the plane, it was clear that something had to be wrong. Very simply, this was not the right plane at the gate. We were asked to head to gate A13, where there were further delays. On top, there was a minor technical (vacuum pumps of all three toilets), so that the total delay was about 60 minutes – even though the incoming plane was 15 minutes early. Finally, we flew (rather quickly) to Dusseldorf (DUS). There was a choice of a salad and a Charcuterie board. It was really nice and the crew did a good performance. Really sad for them that they have to work under these chaotic conditions.

 

Finnair at Flyctory.com

Here are all Flyctory.com postings related to the Finnish airline Finnair:

 

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