Xandrios

I havent seen the veal menu option been posted here so far, so here it goes;





This was GVA-ATH yesterday in C. Surprised to see the same menu/choices as on a previous C flight back in May. The other choice was chicken which I posted here.

The veal was okay, very tender but braised which was not what I expected. Somehow "grilled veal" translates to a medium-rare steak in my mind - which may be my mistake Anyway, the chicken choice is the better one imho.

BUT777

Have the exact same meal two days ago from Paris to Athens, but my veal was very dry, the chicken option indeed looks much nicer.

Concerto

Why can't the airlines provide proper catering like this? I have just come off an airberlin flight from ACE to DUS and I am glad I preordered Sansibar inflight meals for about 10 Euros each. The ordinary catering consisted of a dry bread roll (Laugenstange) or a sweet waffle. This, for a 4-hour flight. I do like airberlin and admire the concept of offering basic catering with the option to buy more, but if you don't preorder it the flights are woefully undercatered in terms of BOB. And the free offering is just, well, crap.

My question to you is, how long will Aegean's catering remain good quality before it is enhanced away? It reminds me of catering in the 1980s when I started this lark of flying.

Romanianflyer

As long as the company remains profitable, why would they step away from their superior catering that gets high remarks, is an integral part of their identity, and sets them apart from others?

Funny thing, in Romanian news I read today that Romanian customers are most satisfied with flights by TAROM, followed by Aegean on 2 and Turkish on 3. What they have in common? Still all good catering, even on short flights. Aegean is not totally alone, and as long as the public values their offering and chose them for their next flights, it will remain so.

In my opinion - but thats just an assumption - isn't it also hospitality and caring for your customers an integral part of the national mindset in these countries of said airlines? Throw in Air Serbia too, and it seems that all of Europe's superior catering comes from airlines from the Southeast.

DELLAS

Hit the nail on the head. From Serbia down through Greece,Turkey and onto the Middle East the food is the best IMHO. Maybe its a cultural thing.

KLouis

I guess there will not be many around, like me, who remember OA's catering in the '60s (at Onassis' times). They had the best food in the airline business, worldwide (!), served in 100% non-plastic dishes, providing 100% non-plastic cutlery in coach, golden cutlery in first!!! When the Greek Government took over the airline in the mid '70s OA started becoming the airline everybody remembers nowadays...

Romanianflyer

Maybe this is a bit OT, but out of sheer curiousity, do you might have some pictures yourself or from the internet depicting those glory days, KLouis?

djjaguar64

I remember those good ol' days, when everyone in first class drank tea with their pinkie in the air!! ^

KLouis

Unfortunately in those days I would not waste my expensive film to take pictures of my food (times, they are a changing... ) and the internet has lots of pictures of OA planes (e.g. Comet 4B) and models, not real FAs (here or here) in different uniforms, but not of what was served during the flights!

Concerto

I know things have been pushed a bit off topic here, my fault entirely. In truth I check into this thread on a semi regular basis, just to see how awful the other airlines (the ones I have to use most) have become. And to tempt myself into using Aegean at some point.

Aegean really is profitable? I had no idea, and wonder how they manage it given some of the amazing fares I have seen in the Mileage Runs forum. As for TAROM having good catering, you surprise me a bit there, for I seem to recall reading somewhere in the Air France Flying Blue forum that people were less enchanted with it.

As for the carriers in Europe which still offer reasonable catering in the economy cabin, I had isolated the following during the last 5 years as providing a decent experience: Luxair, Air Dolomiti, SkyWork Airlines (haven't tried for a while), SWISS and Austrian (the latter two have dipped a lot in the past year or so). I've got flights coming up on VLM Airlines..could be decent too.

simcity4000

I don't have the picture due to my loss of camera. The normal econ breakfast from ATH to ARN on 3Oct is sth like fried bread stick, however I select seafood and it becomes baked stirred eggs.

KLouis

Not true, I did contribute myself with completely irrelevant stories (like I always do ) But don't worry, our watchful Cerberus (^) is always there, ready to delete our "illegal" posts, close the "weird" threads, or simply kindly ask us to go back to normal business!

NWIFlyer

A three-headed dog? That'll be my esteemed colleague Oxon Flyer you're talking about then ...

When I manage to find out what on earth I did with my photos from months ago, I shall attempt to steer us back on topic. In the meantime, carry on reminiscing ...

/mod

DELLAS

Well you look back even to the 80's they had proper cutlery. I still have it in my kitchen drawer Of course back then I was flying UM and they didnt bother that I took a few things.

The death of the metal cutlery actually happened after the NBO-ATH incident on the B742 and was deemed for security reasons. Well before 9/11. I think they used it as an excuse though. In fairness all through the 80's even under PASOK Olympic Airways always provided the best catering in J and Y even beating BA on their L10-11 service. Just behind the doors the politicians were lining their pockets and the debt OA was running into was just being paid off by the government. The cracks didnt actually start to show until the late 90's when the EU cut the ability to keep paying off this debt.

I used to love my meals on OA LHR-ATH. Used to consist of Smoked Salmon with Potato salad in Y. A Greek Salad and main course from memory beef with long beans, duchess potatoes. Dessert could be anything from Almond tart to chocolate mousse. All served on a tray with about 4-5 differently shaped green dishes. Free flowing drinks although I was only allowed soft drinks.

In fairness even these days A3 dont do too badly. Not as good as OA back in the 80's but by todays lowering standards quite decent quality.

DELLAS

Just to give you an idea of what meals were like in the latter days.

Olympic Airlines A340 Business Class ATH-LHR ( 2009 )








Olympic Airlines LHR-ATH Economy Class B737-400/A340 Early 2000's



And another one :




Then the arrival of the new company Olympic Air A320 LHR-ATH early days of launch.