Last edit by: Prospero
Please do not quote photos in this thread.
Sister thread:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/2085652-long-haul-catering-changes-announcement-12-july.html
Sister thread:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/2085652-long-haul-catering-changes-announcement-12-july.html
Long haul in-flight catering | Club World
#466
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2014
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 12,272
It was pretty underwhelming once I got through the packaging!
#467
Join Date: Mar 2020
Programs: British Airways GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond & Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,612
Kosher meals have to be served in the packaging to be compliant with Jewish dietary laws.
#468
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Programs: Mucci des Hommes Magiques et Magnifiques
Posts: 19,108
They have to be offered sealed, I found only some Orthodox Jewish customers wanted this, with regards to Kosher Meals I always found them to be unappetising and far too much food, if I had to order a special meal it would be a Asian Vegetarian meal and I am not vegetarian.
#469
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,547
PS: I don't want to go OT, but Jewish dietary laws are not only complex but not always agreed upon. It is inherent to Jewish religion which encourages permanent debate over the meaning (and consequences) of the writings. Thus depending on origins, etc, people will disagree on such things as how long you need to wait before you can eat milk after meat or meat after milk (often different times depending on what comes first!), on whether specific foods such as rice or corn or chocolate can or cannot be consumed during Passover, and similarly, even many people keeping kosher would not consider it necessary to have food coming to them wrapped whilst others would (the main point of the wrapping is in fact to ensure that the food is not "contaminated" during the transport and handling - for instance accidentally dropping milk on a meat dish etc, but even many very religious people would consider that the moment the food is served is not particularly sensitive, whilst others would disagree).
Last edited by orbitmic; Jan 4, 2022 at 12:15 pm
#470
Join Date: May 2005
Programs: BA Gold, AA PLT PRO, AGR, Strawberry (Nordic Choice), Marriott Bonvoy
Posts: 4,249
#471
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold for Life
Posts: 469
So your problem flying back from MIA to LHR is that the caterer was Borenstein. As you say not great quality, and often frozen. Flying out of LHR though is completely different. The caterer is Hermolis and the food is often 'fresh' (ie cook/chilled) rather than deep frozen as the kitchen is only up the road in Wembley. The portions still tend to be larger than the regular food (whose complaining?) but the quality is consistently good (IMHO). I know people who don't require kosher food (ie not religious or not even Jewish) will often chose a Hermolis meal over the regular ones.
#472
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 427
They have to be offered sealed, I found only some Orthodox Jewish customers wanted this, with regards to Kosher Meals I always found them to be unappetising and far too much food, if I had to order a special meal it would be a Asian Vegetarian meal and I am not vegetarian.
See my pictures & posts above where I am very happy with the AVML on the outbound, but disappointed with the AVML on the inbound.
There is also the issue of not knowing what you might get in a special meal.
I have contacted many airlines many times to try and get examples of what a special meal on a particular route may consist of. Only Singapore airlines (after repeated chasing) bothered to provide an example.
BA customer services either don't understand the query, or are unable to answer (i.e. just ignore my questions).
#473
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Programs: Mucci des Hommes Magiques et Magnifiques
Posts: 19,108
Of course you are right, AVMLs ex the US are not great but I will take spicy food over bland food any day.
#474
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 498
Last night‘s BA206 Miami-Heathrow. Bit of a palaver, as I'd ordered a Kosher meal for the first time to see if it was better than the miserable CW food I'd had in recent months. It wasn't loaded of noted on their system, I had received the email confirmation that this had worked, about 72 hours before? Anyway, "luckily" for me, a family of four all slept and missed dinner service so I had one of theirs...
Other traveller had the cod. I tried it and it was pretty rank, flavourless and the spinach was cold and gross
And for good measure - the BA207 outbound menu which was inside my table when folded !!
Other traveller had the cod. I tried it and it was pretty rank, flavourless and the spinach was cold and gross
And for good measure - the BA207 outbound menu which was inside my table when folded !!
#475
Join Date: Mar 2020
Programs: British Airways GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond & Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,612
Well, it has to come double sealed, but as mentioned by others, good crew will always ask you if you are happy for them to open the packaging or if you want to do it yourself. I can confirm that it was still the case that I was offered that choice when I ordered KSML on some of my segments last month.
PS: I don't want to go OT, but Jewish dietary laws are not only complex but not always agreed upon. It is inherent to Jewish religion which encourages permanent debate over the meaning (and consequences) of the writings. Thus depending on origins, etc, people will disagree on such things as how long you need to wait before you can eat milk after meat or meat after milk (often different times depending on what comes first!), on whether specific foods such as rice or corn or chocolate can or cannot be consumed during Passover, and similarly, even many people keeping kosher would not consider it necessary to have food coming to them wrapped whilst others would (the main point of the wrapping is in fact to ensure that the food is not "contaminated" during the transport and handling - for instance accidentally dropping milk on a meat dish etc, but even many very religious people would consider that the moment the food is served is not particularly sensitive, whilst others would disagree).
PS: I don't want to go OT, but Jewish dietary laws are not only complex but not always agreed upon. It is inherent to Jewish religion which encourages permanent debate over the meaning (and consequences) of the writings. Thus depending on origins, etc, people will disagree on such things as how long you need to wait before you can eat milk after meat or meat after milk (often different times depending on what comes first!), on whether specific foods such as rice or corn or chocolate can or cannot be consumed during Passover, and similarly, even many people keeping kosher would not consider it necessary to have food coming to them wrapped whilst others would (the main point of the wrapping is in fact to ensure that the food is not "contaminated" during the transport and handling - for instance accidentally dropping milk on a meat dish etc, but even many very religious people would consider that the moment the food is served is not particularly sensitive, whilst others would disagree).
#476
Join Date: Mar 2020
Programs: British Airways GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond & Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,612
So your problem flying back from MIA to LHR is that the caterer was Borenstein. As you say not great quality, and often frozen. Flying out of LHR though is completely different. The caterer is Hermolis and the food is often 'fresh' (ie cook/chilled) rather than deep frozen as the kitchen is only up the road in Wembley. The portions still tend to be larger than the regular food (whose complaining?) but the quality is consistently good (IMHO). I know people who don't require kosher food (ie not religious or not even Jewish) will often chose a Hermolis meal over the regular ones.
#477
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Programs: Mucci des Hommes Magiques et Magnifiques
Posts: 19,108
I think that they are always frozen, hence why there is a 48 hour requirement for ordering.
#478
Join Date: Mar 2020
Programs: British Airways GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond & Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,612
#480