Here are the Top 5 worst meals I have ever had on a flight

Regular readers will know I am all about the food when I am flying. I’ll actively choose flights based on the meal, so a lunch service will get my booking over one offering just a snack. While I tend to be lucky, some things I’ve had do come under the worst meals category.

I’ll eat anything and everything and if it’s something I’ve never heard of, even better. Some people think plane food is pretty grim, but I’ve found it to usually be quite good, apart from these memorable exceptions.

5. No Polenta For Me, Thanks!

Kicking off at number five is a flight from Boston to Phoenix with American Airlines on 22 October 2015. Or, as I like to call it, the day I found out I don’t like polenta.

The great yellow square of doom was godawful and it’s something I wouldn’t hurry to have again. The rest of the meal was fine for domestic first class in the US.

4. The “Raw” Meat

Domestic business class on Qantas on 19 April 2017 started well enough. I’d selected a dinner flight and when my food arrived it looked quite palatable. Until I started cutting into my lamb, that is.

According to some (literally everyone in the comments on my original review), it should be cooked rare just like this. Unfortunately, it’s not how I would prefer to eat it and for once I left most of a meal uneaten. Personal tastes do come into it… sometimes.

3. The Bacon and Sausage Baguette

A nice crusty baguette, filled with bacon and sausage seems like a fine enough meal on a plane, right? Well, wrong. On this Aer Lingus flight on 22 May 2019 both my first and second choices were out. This is what I ended up with.

This thing could have been used to hold up a wonky table, the bun was that solid. I scratched the inside of my mouth eating it, so I figure it must have been reheated several times over the day. Dry as the Sahara desert too. I’ll stick with the excellent Aer Lingus breakfast in future.

2. The Most Gruesome Breakfast

Picture it, Hong Kong to London on 6 January 2015. I’m flying British Airways in World Traveller Plus – that’s Premium Economy to you and me – and it’s near the end of the flight. Breakfast is proudly served by the cabin crew…

Easily one of the worst meals from a visual standpoint I’ve ever seen on a plane. Did I eat it? Of course I did (I’ll always take one for the team!), and found it to be surprisingly passable. Still a fail on looks though!

1. The Worst Meal I’ve Ever Had

I was hungry that memorable morning, 24 October 2017. My flight from Dublin to London Luton was on Ryanair, because they were the only airline flying the route. After checking the menu, I selected a Breakfast Burrito as it looked delicious!

What arrived was certainly burrito shaped, but there the resemblance to the ad ended. There was almost no filling inside and it was one of the most disappointing things I’ve ever laid eyes upon. What a waste of money! Happily, these days Ryanair are offering better food.

Overall Thoughts

From buy on board to cry on board, you sometimes just can’t win when it comes to aeroplane food. Having something a bit crap is fairly unusual in my experience, as airlines and their caterers do try to ensure the food is well presented and edible.

The airlines featured here, by the way, are the ones I fly most (well, apart from Ryanair!), hence why I’ve managed to come across something to make this list. Most of the time I tend to get really tasty food that I can rave about or at least be satisfied with.

What is the worst meal you’ve had on board a plane? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

Like planes? See my “Does anyone remember” series.
Flight reviews your thing? Mine are all indexed here.
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.