It all depends if I'm hungry and what time of day it is. If it's very early morning I'll usually just have a coffee, if it's later I might have a snack or something and if we're not flying until about 8pm or later, I'll eat a decent meal and skip the meal on the plane.
I don't find airports expensive though, about the same as if you grab something whilst out shopping

phildo74 wrote:

It all depends if I'm hungry and what time of day it is. If it's very early morning I'll usually just have a coffee, if it's later I might have a snack or something and if we're not flying until about 8pm or later, I'll eat a decent meal and skip the meal on the plane.
I don't find airports expensive though, about the same as if you grab something whilst out shopping :que

I guess not many of you use Copenhagen airport but they are definitely having a laugh when they ask for €6 for a cup of coffee. I don't normally pay that when I'm out shopping.
I think I have also seen on the Turkish topics complaints about the prices at Dalaman airport.

When I said that airports aren't expensive I only mean UK airports as I assumed that was what Helen was referring to.

Everwhere else I think they rip you off something rotten. At Geneva last year the prices were beyond belief - nice airport though. Sharm el Sheikh on the contrary is a pit of an airport, but still a huge rip off, somehow it sits better with me if I am being ripped of in a pleasant environment.

Doe

doepsmc wrote:

When I said that airports aren't expensive I only mean UK airports as I assumed that was what Helen was referring to.
Doe

I expect she was Doe but we all use two airports when we fly anywhere

The Cafe Rouge at Gatwick

Didnt know there was a cafe rouge at gatwick Chris .Where is that ???, dont suppose it's any more expensive than the usual suspects of whetherspoons and that other (cant think of name) equally rammed option .

Turkish airports and sharm El sheilk stand out for me as being the most expensive to eat & drink ..They get nothing from me .. If we havnt eaten something before we leave for airport we will buy a huge slab of milko chocolate from duty free and munch on that English ones I think are pretty much on par ..well they are down here anyway but Heathrow did seem to have a very limited selection and what we could find were the posher more expensive end of the scale.. It was terminal 3 we flew from and it looked new and very much geared up for the whole designer shopping experience and not for eating/drinking ... But No we dont do Black pudding this way Sharon

You need to treat yourself and fly from Manchester then Lyn.
The most expensive airports for food and drink have to be in Turkey. I know Dalaman gets mentioned a lot but Bodrum is the same.We always buy sandwiches in resort for the return journey.

I love eating at the airport ! as davyjip said, the offers on 'eat, drink, fly' are usually pretty good, either a free kids meal, 10% off or free drinks, consider it part of our holiday treat !

lynwestie wrote:

The Cafe Rouge at Gatwick

Didnt know there was a cafe rouge at gatwick Chris .Where is that ???, dont suppose it's any more expensive than the usual suspects of whetherspoons and that other (cant think of name) equally rammed option .

I've got no idea Lyn the inside of one decent airport looks much the same as any other to me. I am embarassed to say i often dont know what terminal building I am in. It's the weird airports abroad that stick in my mind! Mombassa's didn't have any sides to it, but that was years ago !

Definatey a Cafe Rouge though as I had the 'bread basket' where you get baguette & crosisant/pain au choclate, huge cappuchinno & a freshy squeezed orange juice (how sad am I too remember that?).

Great view of the planes which seemed to make people want to cling on to their seats by ordering extra coffees.

My wife and I once had fish and chips at Harry Ramsdens at either T 1,2or3 at Heathrow. I was the nicest fish and chips I have ever had. Is it still there?

My last 2 flights have been from Stansted, we have had a good breakfast from Weatherspoons, with waiter service.
I hate self service places, by the time you have paid, the food is congealing and the coffee is all over the tray.

You need to treat yourself and fly from Manchester then Lyn

Sharon you will not get me eating Black pudding .... im a southerner and will stick with my sausage

We do tend to use the wetherspoons at Stansted Qman because the service seems prety speedy enough to me .If I have to wait more than 15 minutes I start stressing and begin this continual jummping up to check the board watching for gate No. .

NEVER at Dalaman or Bodrum.

Wifey and I flew into Heathrow from Aus last year and as we were delayed at arrivals, missed the connection to Manchester. We ate at Heathrow and had a great meal, I had a couple of pints and the lot cost the same as a single meal and a bottle of ale did in Aus! I thought it was quite cheap!

When we fly out from the UK we tend to eat at the airport and also buy sandwiches and water etc for the plane. On the way back, we normally have a bit of time to kill in resort so will try and get hold of sandwiches if we can - obviously we still have to get water at the airport though. I quite look forward to a nice hot meal and it's a good way to kill time as we find most of the shops really boring.

Depends on the time of our flight, but would say we eat at the airport more than often.

If I am travelling from Manchester T1 I always get something to eat at the Giraffe restaurant, if travelling from T2 then it's Frankie and Bennys

I cant eat. Am such a nervous flyer that I would probably be sick if I did. Always a cup of tea but for me, nothing food wise. Hubby and daughter will demolish anything you put in front of them and have been known to indulge in burger king at 5am As soon as we are in the air though (once the seat belts signs have been switched off) im starving and thats when I eat Aeroplane food isnt the best, but it will do

doe wrote:

lynwestie wrote:

The Cafe Rouge at Gatwick

Didnt know there was a cafe rouge at gatwick Chris .Where is that ???, dont suppose it's any more expensive than the usual suspects of whetherspoons and that other (cant think of name) equally rammed option .

I've got no idea Lyn the inside of one decent airport looks much the same as any other to me. I am embarassed to say i often dont know what terminal building I am in. It's the weird airports abroad that stick in my mind! Mombassa's didn't have any sides to it, but that was years ago !

Definatey a Cafe Rouge though as I had the 'bread basket' where you get baguette & crosisant/pain au choclate, huge cappuchinno & a freshy squeezed orange juice (how sad am I too remember that?).

Great view of the planes which seemed to make people want to cling on to their seats by ordering extra coffees.

there is Cafe Rouge at the North and South Terminal both after security , there is not much now before security in either terminal as the central search areas have been extended , Also a note to vicjayhay, Franky and Bennys is no longer in the South before security but there is one in the departure lounge . if you are going into the terminal the night before when you stay at the Hilton then there is Giraffe , Apostrophe and the newly opened Beehive which is a wetherspoons , we saw the menu for the the beehive and it looked good , we will probably go there when we fly out in march when staying at the hilton the night before.

If you happen to be a homesick northerner in need of black pudding then go for breakfast at Garfunkels , even as a southerner for 30 years i don't mind it now and again, as a kid i used to eat it cold.

Thanks for that andy , will look out for it the next time we fly from Gatwick . They've certainly done a lot of work there . We ate at Garfunkels last time but because it's always so busy I start to Panic very quickly unless we have a lot of extra time to spare

Yes we do eat at Bristol airport , but a lot depends on flight times , if its an early moring flight then we book a inflight meal but as our flight is 13.15 we have a meal and a drink all part of being on holiday , coming back we usually have a meal in resort before leaving as return flight is tea time, other than that we buy a baguette in resort to take on board with us .

i'll be trying something on saturday in manchester terminal 1, usually don't eat so early in the morning.. but will be trying!