Food and drinks served on flights
 

Hello all,

I work for TAP Portugal and sometimes I find difficult to know what to expect (regarding onboard service) when we travel economy on other companies.

So, how about to write what our company offers in economy on their flights? I'll start:

TAP PORTUGAL
(Economy)
Domestic [Lisbon, Oporto and Faro): only drinks, no meal service.
Domestic [Açores and Madeira]: Açores: hot sandwich + drinks. Madeira: cold sandwich + drinks.

Europe: Cold sandwich + drinks (Spain); hot sandwich + drinks (european flights less than 3h). Flights more than 3h: hot meal + drinks.

Intercontinental:

Flights less than 4h: hot meal (appetizer + main course + dessert) + drinks.
More than 4h: hot meal + (appetizer + main course + dessert) + light refreshment + drinks.
An example of this:

Appetizer:
Lettuce, Salami, Carrot and Tomato salad

Main Course:
Grilled Garlic Chicken
White Rice

or

Ricotta and Spinach Cannelloni
Chicken Cannelloni

Dessert:
Baba de Moça (traditional brazilian dessert)

Light refreshment:
Parma Ham and Cheese Sandwich
Cassava Cake
Coffee/Tea

Note: All drinks are free on TAP Portugal flights.

What about US, CO, UA, LH, LX, NW, etc, etc...??
Please share with us. It would be very nice for all of us to know what to expect on flights operated by 'our' companies.

I post this because on TAP Portugal site there is not much information about meals onboard.

Regards
Moisés Alves

For the exception of CO, all major US airlines no longer provide complimentary meals in domestic coach (this generally also includes the Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico, and Canada). Buy on board menus vary by airlines. Airlines like USAir have a fairly good selection of buy on board food while others offer mainly junk food. A few airlines like Southwest offer no meals, either complimentary or for purchase. Alcoholic drinks must be purchased.

In F or Business domestic, there is generally a hot meal provided at meal hours and for flights over a couple of hours. Some airlines may only offer cold food. The menu and service again can vary quite a bit by airline and the route being served. Alcohol is complimentary.

On International, meals are typically complimentary to destinations in Europe, Asia, and South America in coach. Some airlines will have two meals while some only one. Again, the type and quality of service varies by airline. Alcohol is generally not complimentary.

In F and Business international, the menu is always much better than domestic and as expected alcohol is complimentary.

The general rule is that for the exception of CO, if traveling in coach (J) only expect the non alcohol beverages to be complimentary.

Some airlines in North America do offer complimentary snacks in addition to complimentary non-alcohol drinks:

United: tiny biscuit
Southwest: peanuts on short flights, box of assorted snacks on longer flights
Jet Blue: chips, cookies, crackers, etc.
Air Canada: no complimentary snacks

Another good source of information is www.airlinemeals.net ^

Actually, United dropped the "tiny biscuit" on flights under 2 hours....pretzels? Nope, those are gone too...sorry :(