3. September 2026
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Food I Had Onboard XXXII (July – August 2026)

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

While many people have one of their few flights for vacation (and thus push flight prices), I typically have just a few ones during that period. Thus, my 32nd edition of Food I Had Onboard, reviewing onboard services and meals, comes with a comparably long period of flights I had in July and August 2026. Hope you enjoy.

 

3rd July 2026, Lufthansa LH 73, Dusseldorf (DUS) – Frankfurt, Business Class

I am always amazed how crew manages running these short flights. My Friday morning service from Dusseldorf (DUS) to Frankfurt (FRA) just had an effective flight time of 30 minutes. Nonetheless, the crew was very professionally and gave a good service. Another wrap as a late morning snack – and I really liked it. This time, it was rather on the fruity side, even having some grapes in it. I really liked it and the fruit cake was a nice treat as well.

 

3rd July 2026, Lufthansa LH 470, Frankfurt (FRA) – Toronto (YYZ), Business Class

There were obviously some issues on the ground in Frankfurt, so that my flight to Toronto (YYZ) left the gate some 40 minutes late. The more I loved sitting in the lower deck front of the Boeing 747-400 cabin – the perspective is simply spectacular. Business class was not too full as well, so that the crew was very friendly, relaxed and attentive. And they were really fast as well. After some almonds with a welcome drink on the ground, I had the same amuse bouche I had at the Raleigh-Durham (RDU) flight I featured in the last episode. The buttermilk mousse is nice, but not overwhelming, but I liked the mocktail I went for very much.

The starter was lovely, featuring angula cream cheese (which works nicely as a dip) and truffeled artichike cream with tomato and avocado. It was an absolute treat – but the star of the meal is the new small loaf of bread to me. It’s simply that delicious! I could choose between three options as a starter as well. The smoked trout with sour cream, apples and onions, and chives was absolutely lovely. I had the Vitello Tonnato before (it’s great as well). The third one was vegetarian, smashed potatoe with horseradish cream.

As a main, I went for salmon with teriyaki sauce, beech mushroom, bok choi, edamame and miso rice. Again, the new Lufthansa meal concept hit my taste perfectly. Other options would have been a beef filet with cognac pepper sauce or a braised eggplant with curry sauce and vegetables. After I was not that happy with the cheese option last time, I went for the strawberry basil tartlet. It’s a really nice one – and I just had to go for a port and an espresso – what a lovely finale. Third option would have been fresh fruit. Remarkably, service was done 90 minutes after take-off. A great performance by the cabin crew. Before landing, I went for a poke bowl-alike salad, which was a nice treat.

 

6th July 2026, Lufthansa LH 471, Toronto (YYZ) – Frankfurt (FRA), Business Class

The flight back after Weird Al’s concert in Niagara Falls was a bit of messy on the ground. Delays in Frankfurt (FRA) outbound lead to a one hour delay, the ground services at boarding were chaotic and for whatever reason, my Star Alliance Gold number got lost on the ticket and could not be inserted. The flight was a much better experience, with a lovely crew and strong tailwinds leading to a significant reduction of the delay. On the food side, the meal started with beetroot hummus with goat cheese as an amuse bouche. Together with a nice ricotta-tomato salad, there was a choice of three starters. I went for the curry chicken with pineapple sauce, which was really nice. Other options would have been a lobster tail with mango salsa or carrot with soy sesame honey glaze.

For the main, Lufthansa opted one of my favorites, Käsespätzle (German traditional cheese pasta) as a vegetarian option. It needed some pepper and salt, but was really nice – even though the mushroom with it was a bit of strange to my traditional heart. Other options would have been a miso sea brass with rice and different vegetables or a beef tenderloin with asparagus and garlic potato. For dessert, I was even offered to have the cheese plate alongside the Dubai cheesecake. Not only because of the better crackers, the North America catered cheese felt better than the the option on the outbound. The sweet dish was lovely as well, so that I really enjoyed my meal before having a nap.

I woke up right in time for breakfast. Like on the Raleigh/Durham (RDU) flight four weeks ago, you could choose after take-off between different options. I went for some granola and bread items, together with a really nice berry smoothie. Both meals came with plenty of bread, so that I felt very well fed – and even better handled in regards of service – after that lovely flight.

 

13th August 2026, KLM KL 1796 (operated by German Airways), Dusseldorf (DUS) – Amsterdam (AMS), Economy Class

Getting to the Faroe Islands is always a bit of messy. My day before the first Wenzel Nordic Cup match in handball started with the short hop from Dusseldorf (DUS) to Amsterdam (AMS). The German Airways crew was nice, the economy class breakfast snack was the good old coconut cookie, which is actually not too bad. A short, enjoyable flight before having some transfer time in the Dutch capital.

 

13th August 2026, KLM KL 1269, Amsterdam (AMS) – Copenhagen (CPH), Economy Class

The crew and service on that flight to Copenhagen (CPH) was actually really nice as well. Sitting next to two young ladies who chatted and laughed loud all the time killed my desire to sleep, though. I did not take a picture of the cheese sandwich, the KLM classic at that time of the day. Apart from that, it was a rather smooth flight.

 

13th August 2026, Atlantic Airways RC 453 (booked as KL 9537), Copenhagen (CPH) – Faroe Islands (FAE), Economy Class

Last, but not least there was my Atlantic Airways service to Faroe Islands Airport (FAE). A lot of connections had issues with fog around the only airport on the Faroe Islands (including Lech Poznan for an UEFA qualifier and THW Kiel for handball), but our service went rather smoothly. I still hate that you cannot have seat and food reservations on these KLM codeshares. This was especially bad as the crew was already sold out on sandwiches and wraps. Thus, I just had some water on that flight. Nonetheless, a great thanks to the cabin crew and especially the cockpit for this brave flight performance.

 

17th August 2026, Atlantic Airways RC 456 (booked as KL 9540), Faroe Islands (FAE) – Copenhagen (CPH), Economy Class

Going back home, I had the afternoon service to Copenhagen (CPH) on that Monday. The flight was rather full, but Atlantic does manage it rather nicely – Faroe Islands Airport (FAE) itself just runs out of capacity. more and more. I ran into Nioel Phillips in the terminal (who wanted to cross the Atlantic on turboprop planes – but failed as Icelandair brought out one of their Boeings). This time, I went for a sandwich (for a charge). Out of multiple option, I chose salmon, which was really delicious.

 

17th August 2026, KLM KL 1276, Copenhagen (CPH) – Amsterdam (AMS), Economy Class

The flight from Amsterdam (AMS) already had a slight delay, but it got even worse at the Danish capital. There must have been a minor bird strike on that leg, so that they had to do intensive checks of the aircraft before the flight. Overall, that resulted in a delay of roughly an hour and finally killed my connection in Amsterdam (AMS). The crew was really sweet and caring and even tried to let the short connection passengers unboard first. I missed the last bus to my Dusseldorf (DUS) flight by two minutes, resulting in an involuntary stay at the Steigenberger Amsterdam Airport. Shit happens – and actually the vegetarian spread sandwich was a nice one as well.

 

18th August 2026, KLM KL 1797, Amsterdam (AMS) – Dusseldorf (DUS), Economy Class

The next morning, I flew into Amsterdam (AMS). Nice that I fed myself up at the Steigenberger the night before (very nice service by the hotel, by the way). The flight to Dusseldorf (DUS) was that short (24 minutes!) that they did not have time for any service. No complain from my side, the crew was really nice, luggage was fast as well – so that I could start my day at work not that much later than expected.

 

23th August 2026, Deutsche Bahn ICE 611, Hamburg Main Station – Solingen, First Class

The weekend thereafter, my wife and I visited the summer party event of my employer in Hamburg. Hamburg Main Station was a nightmare att that time, as construction works between there and Hamburg-Altona made many trains terminate there, leading to several short-notice platform changes. This also applied to our train ride back home. The train crew was likely the most caring in regards of catering I ever had. Again, I was surprised how good the food onboard the Deutsche Bahn trains is, regarding that tthey can only warm up food. The bratwurst roll, Bosna style, was 6.90 EUR and a nice, tasty snack on that four hour trip. Unfortunately, they were not too well catered in regards of drinks – I still had some vouchers which would have nicely turned into one of their gin and tonics. Almdudler was a not that bad alternatrive, though.

 

28th August 2026, SAS SK 620 (operated by Cityjet), Dusseldorf (DUS) – Copenhagen (CPH), SAS Plus

Country music fan me just had to have a short trip to New York State, watching Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow and others at the Outlaw Festival at Bethel Woods. The first leg of my trip there was an SAS flight from Dusseldorf (DUS) to Copenhagen (CPH). Ground services went well, apart from severe delays at security, which is absolutlely understaffed in Dusseldorf nowadays. The flight was a nice Cityjet one hour service with a very nice crew. Unfortunately, they haven’t been catered, so that they only could service drinks and snacks at the SAS Plus / Business Class service. A Coke Zero, the lovey smoothie and some roasted almonds were not too bad, though.

 

28th August 2026, SAS SK 909, Copenhagen (CPH) – Newark (EWR), Business Class

Good times, bad times. As I felt terribly exhausted, I was really happy that my upgrade bid from SAS’s Plus / Premium Economy service to Business went through and that I even got a single seat with the major armrest on the right – which is very convenient for working. Short before boarding, I was called by the ground staff and told that they had to move me, due to technical issues with the seat. They lied to me – there was somebody else sitting on that seat during the flight. I am fine being asked whether I want to be reseated, but I don’t like being fooled – a complaint to SAS will be sent out. seat 8H, which I got instead, had the storage area on the left – which is especially worse to me when I am working on pictures.

The flight crew was not too pleasing on the ground – at least they inspired me to a new post. There was a pre-flight drink, but no nuts or other snack. For more than an hour after take-off, the seat belt signs were still on due to turbulences, which again reduced my work time. Thus, the service started about 100 minutes after take-off with some really nicely warmed cashews and a pre-meal drink. For the starter, you could choose between bressaola with roasted petter dip or a tuna tartare Vadouvan, which was my favorite option.

However, sitting in the rear of the cabin only left the dried meat for me. The accompanying salad with a spicy lemon dressing was really nice. There were three entree options, a slow-cooked beef with osso buco sauce and polenta, a grilled chicken breast with thyme tarango, barley bulgur and roasted fennel and cheese ravioli with sage and lemon brown butter. Not too inspiring. As I don’t like polenta too much, I wanted to go for the chicken. When the crew member stated that chicken was gone, I was a bit of terrified, but they found one more for me. However, the dish was awful in my point of view. Thereafter, the was a cheese board and a dessert. The toptions were mango coconut cake, ice cream popsicles, or fresh fruit. The mango option in the menu turned out being strawberry. I was able to have both, having an espresso and a port with it – which has been a lovely finale. Especially the chesse board was really good.

90 minutes before landing, there was a pre-landing meal (or snack…), which consisted of a Scandinavian open face shrimp sandwich and fruit. Funny that they cut the small grapes for the fruit platter. The snack was definitely one of the culinary highlights of the trip.

 

30th August 2026, SAS SK 910, Newark (EWR) – Copenhagen (CPH), SAS Plus

I did not go for an upgrade on the return and looked forward to explore the SAS Plus Premium Economy Class product. A good decision, as the business class cabin was packed, the economy class quite full – but there was a surprisingly low number of passengers in the premium economy cabin so that I had a triple seat on my own. The presentation of the food, with plastic caps and foil around the hot deal, felt a lot more like an economy meal than a somehow premium product.

This feeling was increased by the typical chicken or pasta choice – there was no menu beforehand. I went for the vegetarian pasta with spinach and broccoli, which was okay. The bread roll was warmed up. The bulgur (?) salad was okay, but the ham on it worked well with the bread roll. I absolutely liked the carrot cake and that there was a somehow proper piece of cheese coming with it.

You have to say that the meal might look limited, but it was at least quite an upgrade to the service offered in the rear or the cabin. The crew was quite nice as well and offered a nice service, including some pre-dinner cashews. While I struggled with dinner, SAS did a really nice breakfast platter served some 90 minutes before landing. The bread roll felt a bit of hard, but the yogurt with some cereals, the cold cut platter and the fruit was a really nice snack before landing.

 

31st August 2026, SAS SK 1629 (operated by SAS Link), Copenhagen (CPH) – Dusseldorf (DUS), SAS Plus / Business

The SAS Plus booking lead to business class service on the short flight from Copenhagen (CPH) to Dusseldorf (DUS) again. The flight from Newark (EWR) was early, which was very convenient. I had to more or less cross the entire airport to get to my Dusseldorf (DUS) gate. The flight was packed, with six business class passengers in the front. In the Embraer plane by SAS Link, I was even able to fold down the table in front of me. Again, SAS served a really nice breakfast regarding the rather short 70 minutes flight. It consisted of a nice cold cut platter, watermelon blocks, a bread roll (a second one would have been appreciated) and some fruity yogurt. The flight attendant was absolutely lovely, so that my trip to the United States ended with a really nice experience.

 

Food I Had Onboard

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

 

Airports on Flyctory.com

Here are all other airport-related postings:

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