Why don’t airlines offer ketchup on breakfast flights?

Airline catering firms must be really proud of the taste of their breakfast offerings. It’s the only thing I can come up with, considering you usually never have ketchup provided with the meal.

It is perhaps one of the main reasons why I generally avoid breakfast flights. A full English just isn’t the same without some condiments, and good luck getting any of those from the airline.

A Flight To London

The United Kingdom is a country that prides itself on a big fry up for breakfast. Whether it’s a full English Breakfast, a Scottish one or an Irish one in Northern Ireland, they are all fairly similar. You’d expect that flying on a British airline that you’d receive some tomato sauce to go with the breakfast.

BA833 – Dublin to London Heathrow
19 September 2024
Airbus A320 – G-EUYN
Seat: Club Europe 2F
Departure: 09:20 Arrival: 10:50

When I arrived at Dublin Airport on this particular day, I swung by Supermac’s and grabbed two sachets of ketchup. Those went into my liquids bag and I was all prepared. After a stop at the Aer Lingus lounge in Terminal 2, it was off to the plane.

I sat down in Club Europe, waiting for the other passengers to finish boarding. Nestled in my pocket were my two sachets of contraband and I was actually looking forward to meal service.

No Ketchup on British Airways

Since it’s a quick flight, the crew swung into action straight after take-off. I asked for the full English Breakfast, knowing I was going to be able to enjoy it properly.

Once it arrived, I tore open my tomato sauce and happily laid it all over the sausage, bacon and mushroom. Yum!! For a change I had a breakfast with some decent flavour, just how it should be.

Overall Thoughts

This brings me to my question. Why don’t airlines provide ketchup sachets with the meal? Butter seems to always be provided and yet not everyone takes a roll. Why not ditch the butter and replace it with an offer of butter (if you take a roll), tomato sauce, or even, and I know this is out there, BBQ sauce!

It’s not just British Airways that is guilty here. Aer Lingus is the same, and when I would order their quite frankly excellent Irish Breakfast, I would also bring my own sauce to enhance the flavour. It’s always struck me as weird that you just can’t get it on the flight.

What do you think of this situation? Is there anything you bring on board to add to the meal service that the airlines don’t provide? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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