We flew to Italy once with Airtours & they lost the list of people who were getting meals. In the end they gave everyone meals to save the grief.

They ended up getting grief anyway from the passengers that had paid for a meal saying it wasn't fare.

On recent flights to Canaries/Spain we paid extra (£12 per person) for inflight meals.
I have a friend who also travelled to Spain recently and didn't pay the extra but received a free meal.
How does the flight attendant know who has not paid for a meal as I myself noticed that everybody was handed out meals and not asked whether or not they had paid for one!
On boarding the plane I noticed a print out with all the passengers names which mostly said 'no meals'.
It seems to me if you don't pay the extra for a meal you get one anyway!

We fly with XL quite a lot to Tenerife, we always specify no meals & it also says no meals on our tickets. Almost every time we get a meal without even being asked whether we ordered one or not.

My last 3 holidays I have not paid for a meal. The last 3 holidays I have recieved a meal. I wouldnt waste my money buying one when the chances are high that you will get one anway. I even said to the Thomas cook staff the first time that I hadn't purchased a meal and they just gave me it anyway!

XL give free meals on certain routes even though the travel agents charge you for them.Thomas Cook are using Sun Express to Antalya from Newcastle and are charging for meals even though the airline give them free.

We do not opt to pay the extra supplement for In Flight Meals because on most flights that I have been on it seems that you get a meal of some kind whether or not you have paid for it. But bare in mind that in some cases your 'meal' might only consist of a few sandwiches. And I do not think that £12,00 for a few sandwiches is justified.

I personally think this 'option' is a silly one and one that appears to be causing a great deal of confusion for the Flight Attendants. From my own personal experience anyway.

If it helps, there is more discussion on In Flight Meals in THIS thread.

Hate airline food whether it is paid for or not

We normally have the airline meals, chargeable or not, as being very sad I quite like them!! However I booked last week for 2008 and decided in this instance not to have them, one because for the four of us it was an extortionate £50, but also our flights are late evening going and a night flight on the way back, when really we don't want food. To feed the kids will 'hopefully' mean waking them, so there's no point.

If we should be hungry I shall just get bits off the snack trolley, which I'm sure will cost nowhere near £50!!

Pam

Yes I suppose Airline meals are pretty pointless if you have a middle of the night flight.
We always go for the Day flights and have the meals, as breakfast on the plane for the kids is good when you have had to check in at five am.
I always order a veggie meals and 9/10 got one with FCA.
I always remember coming back from Rhodes in 2004 they didnt have any veggie meals on the plane and the Air steward gave me his own fruit salad lunch, which was really nice of him.(What a star)
I know with first choice you are given a quote for your holiday then you can take money off if you dont want meals or transfers etc which is good.
I know Thomson on the other hand give you a price then charge you for transfers, meals etc on top which I think is a bit naughty, I prefer it the other way round.Then you're not tricked into thinking your holiday is cheaper than it is.

Which airline is the picture of meal after consumption on? Here's a story you'll probably appreciate and it is a warning to parents as well.

I would have been 10/11 and it was either Monarch or Dan Air. My favourite vegetable was (and still is carrots). Anyways I was rather pleased to see carrots on my 'plate' until I actually ate one. They were nasty tasting and being young said loudly 'These aren't carrots'. Dad then expalined that the airline 'carrots' were probably out of a tin.

One thing I've found to be good value for money is the snack pack which Easyjet do which has crackers and cheese in it. Another of my favourites is the snack that Ryan Air do which is a choice of poppadoms or tortillas with a dip. Yummy.

When flying hubby and I usually eat in the airport and just buy a snack on the plane as msandwiches are expensive.

Lots of pictures here of aircraft meals

http://www.airlinemeals.net/indexMeals.html

Dave

there is a theory that says if for example you go on a Thomas Cook package but the flights are with another airline eg Thomsonfly then whether you pay for the meals or not you will automatically get them .

Yes, I booked a package holiday with Portland to Benidorm and even though my Portland ticket booklet said "no meals" because we were flying back with Thomas Cook Airlines, we got a meal on both journeys.

I questioned this with Portland before departure as there was no option to book a meal on this particular holiday when going through Portlands booking procedure via the internet and they assured me that I would get a meal...and I did.
Sorry I'd had a mouthful of potato before I took the photo, but the meal was red hot, that was one good thing about it and TC are sooo proud that they are helping the environment by using recycled paper/boxes




Sanji

I have booked with XL and they said that flights ending in a 'V' didn't have a meal option. has anyone else done this and are there really no meals available?

My understanding is that XL flights ending with a V have food but it is purchased on board, don't know what is available though.

Dave

On XL website they have a menu and price list. I bet it won't be available on all flights!

I actually quite like airline meals, sad it it sounds! I was looking forward to the new menu which had been hyped up by Thomson when I went to Majorca in May this year. It was dire!!

I know airline meals are nothing special but this offering was a shocker. Chicken in a tomato sauce on a giant ravioli. Sounds so, so? Well the chicken was OK but the ravioli was cardboard (not literally!!). Pudding was a dry apple cake. Worst of all, there was no delicious Lily O'Brien chocolate to finish off!! The newly designed cups had a handle that you couldn't hold on to, so drinking tea was a two-handed affair.

I am planning on going back to Majorca next year but I shall not be paying £14 (£7 each way) for a very disappointing meal. (Yes £14!!!!!)

Well we are going with Thomson's to Majorca shortly, from Bournemouth, and apparently there will be no in-flight meals available

Maybe a good thing in view of your report

although they do help pass the time........

Flying to Tunisia with Nouvelair Tunisie meals are always provided free. This airline is used by both Panorama and Airtours who, I believe, charge for meals. If you book via Airflights Direct the charge is £17.50. I contacted Airflights Direct to point this out but strangely enough they didn't deign to reply.

Well we are going with Thomson's to Majorca shortly, from Bournemouth, and apparently there will be no in-flight meals available

Maybe a good thing in view of your report

The inflight sarnies on sale are enough to make you puke.

My advice Acorncup is make some sarnies before you go and pop them in your hand luggage and just buy a drink.
I made some for the journey from Doncaster to Malaga with Thomsonfly, but because of the delay and having a breakfast at an hotel, I ended up binning them.
Coming back, I wish I had popped into the little supermarket that morning near my hotel and bought something, because we bought some sarnies on the return flight.

Bleddy hell, my cat would turn her nose up at them and depending which row you are seated in, they may run out, we only just got the last sandwiches, row 8....I don't think they stock up in the resort airport, I think they are loaded in the UK and depending who buys what, they can run out very quickly on the inbound flight.
They have a kind of special deal.......£5 buys you a cheese and brown pickle sandwich, a mug/carton of tea or coffee and a double mars bar.
£5-50 buys you a special sandwich that has feta cheese on it, some tomato type slop and green rocket salad leaves type of thing.....we had to have this because as I say, that was all that was left, plus the tea/coffee etc.
It was absolutely foul with a capital F and usually my old man will try anything, but even he couldn't tackle that concoction.
To buy separately, Tea/Coffee is £1-50 and the average sarnie is £3-50.

Sanjiiiiiii

Oh dear! I was quite looking forward to my Aldo Zilli meal on our upcoming Thomson flight to Ibiza in a few weeks Daughter is expecting to see a TV chef in a tiny kitchen at the back of the plane, preparing our meals to order We've already paid for the flight meals, so out of principle, I won't be packing sandwiches, but I shall now look forward to a good bout of indigestion and I'll be sure to pack the Rennies instead...