YYZHRE

TATL 4/15 (840 -> FRA) was plated (roast chicken/lobster salad ); 4/25 (841) was black box (veg ravioli). Same FIN in/out would guess they are carrying all catering.

yyclady

Flew on May 1 from DOH-YYZ - 13 hour day time flight. The meal was vegetable biryani. I asked why there was no protein (sorry a quinoa side salad does not constitute a protein) as was told “well most people on this flight are usually vegetarian. Huh?! Snack was a potato pastry. Very disappointed and unimpressed.

Adam Smith

When you say "no protein", do you mean you were looking for a hunk of chicken/beef/fish? Or would you have been satisfied with a vegetarian biryani that had a reasonable quantity of protein from non-meat sources? I'm not sure whether your complaint is that you weren't offered meat or that the meal was not well balanced nutritionally?

If the former, meal choices are basically non-existent on AC these days, so if you have the misfortune to end up with something you don't like, you're kind of stuck (for those of us who hate or are allergic to chicken, these have been particularly difficult times). But if AC's data suggests that a vegetarian meal would be appropriate to the tastes of most of the passengers on that route, I don't think it's unreasonable for them to serve one.

If the latter, that's pretty standard for AC's vegetarian dishes in normal times, which are often vegetarian pastas with just a bit of vegetable and cheese. But most airline food is not particularly healthy, because it's often high in salt and sugar (since your taste buds are dulled on the plane), and prepared with cost and logistics foremost in importance, rather than nutrition or quality.

ACYYZ/SD

Until special meals are re-implemented, the meal was recently adjusted to all vegetarian given the overwhelming religious and dietary requirements of Customers on this route. It is virtually all connection traffic - from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Somalia, etc, and the original main meal which was a protein (chicken) dish was rejected by the vast majority of the Guests on board. The change was a result of both Customer and Crew feedback.

Jasper2009

Thanks for the info. That certainly makes sense.

On a related note: Is there any timeline for offering at least a choice between two main courses? I don't expect a dessert & cheese cart, or meals to be assembled in the galley, but surely offering a choice between 2 (or 3) pre-plated meals in J shouldn't be that hard to acomplish?!?

FlY2XS

Next you'll be asking for creamer for your coffee. YOU CRAZY!!
Yours is my personal year old rant. Even if stuff has to be boxed, you could still offer a choice especially in J.
Even regular or VEGAN would give 99% a meal they could/would eat, and if boxed avoids contamination.

airoli

Has there been any recent news on a timeline to return to a more regular service in international J?
Looking at a FRA-YUL r/t in early August. I can take LH or AC for the same price exactly. I like the AC seat better (assuming it inflates) but the catering described in this thread does not appeal to me.

YYZ1313

That's my dilemma as well. Flying YYZ or YUL to FRA in J and need to decide between a better seat or better service and meals. Life is hard.

Benner

I’d take the better seat to Europe and the better food on the return.

Jasper2009

On an Eastbound TATL flight, that seems like a no-brainer: most comfortable seat >>> slightly better catering

On a Westbound flight: well, it depends on what you tend to do during the flight; LH's catering no doubt is better at the moment, though personally I may still choose AC, enjoy the free flowing champagne and possibly bring my own food

YVR guy

Assuming the crew has saved sufficient champagne stock to allow free flowing champagne on the return flight. Quite annoying when they have only 1 bottle for the entire J cabin.