Jenkins and I knew when we were booking our flights for our Asia vacation that it would be difficult to find cheap flights due to the fact that our vacation was coinciding with the busy Christmas season. We were able to find some reasonably priced tickets that matched our itinerary via Delta Airlines but since neither of us had flown with them before, we weren’t very sure what to expect. Our nervousness ended up being misplaced as our experience with Delta exceeded our expectations.

During our flight to Tokyo, our first meal was “breakfast” and I decided to go for the beef and rice option. The beef was slightly overcooked but had a nice pepper sauce and the accompany veggies were a bit pasty looking. However, the meal as a whole wasn’t too bad. I enjoyed the shrimp cocktail appetizer, which was quite fresh (bottom left).

Our next long haul meal was from Tokyo to Singapore and again, we had a pretty decent meal. I decided to have the pork with rice and it can be described as being made in a loose Japanese style. The Japanese rice was actually cooked pretty well and the pork was not as dry as my beef on the earlier flight.

On our return flight back to Vancouver, we were served nasi lemak as the main course in one of our meals. The chicken had a satay-like seasoning on it and the peanuts accompanying the rice were well roasted.

We were also given snacks throughout our meal, including an ice cream sandwich on one flight – definitely a nice treat.

Flying with Delta Airlines was a pretty good experience. I’ve had some pretty horrid encounters with airline food before so it was nice to actually have a decent meal on Delta rather than going on an empty stomach for a 9+ hour long-haul flight.

When Jenkins and I booked our flights to Peru, we quickly realized that there was no direct flight to Peru from Vancouver. We flew to LA and from there, hopped onto a LAN Airlines flight to Lima in Peru. We had never heard of LAN Airlines before our trip but it is a part of the One World Alliance and has flights to several South American cities and countries.

After we had settled in on our flight, the flight attendants started bringing around drinks for everyone. I was going to have my usual flight drink of tomato juice until I spied a bottle of Inca Kola on the drink buggy. I first learned about Inca Kola when I was researching foods I wanted to try in Peru. It is almost as popular as Coca Cola in Peru and seems to be only available in that country (although I could be wrong). Taste wise, it is actually very similar to cream soda although slightly sweeter. I’m not a big soda fan but the Inca Kola was still interesting to try.

Jenkins lucked out and snagged the last lunch meal of Teriyaki chicken available. The chicken was actually not bad for airplane food and the fried rice that accompanied it was acceptable. The dessert was a dulce de leche sponge cake was only ok in my opinion but Jenkins seemed to enjoy it more than I did.

Since the plane had run out of Teriyaki chicken, I was stuck with the vegetarian cannelloni. I should have suspected something was amiss when we were sitting in the middle of the plane and everyone in front of us had already chosen the other lunch options! The pasta was mushy and there was way too much ricotta filling. The tomato sauce was also too sweet and just plain did not taste very good. Luckily for me, I had the salad, bread, and cake to fill me up instead.

We flew with LAN airlines for all our internal flights within Peru as well as the flight from Lima to LA. Although we were impressed that we were always given snacks and drinks regardless of how short the flight was, the food itself just never tasted very good in my opinion. Jenkins said that my expectations were too high for airline food but I think that was only because I had some pretty good experiences on other flights.

Details:
Food: 1.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 4 out of 5 stars

Finally, I am going to blog about Jenkins and my trip to Paris and Northern Italy.  It sure did take me long enough, didn’t it? :p  Anyway, Jenkins and I thought we were being really smart by booking our tickets via Zoom Airlines way back in December of 2007.  Two days before our trip, we found out that Zoom Airlines was bankrupt and ceasing all flights immediately.  Luckily for us, we were able to book a flight on Lufthansa.

I’ve never flown Lufthansa before but I was told by several people that the service was top notch.  My expectations were met and exceeded for this particular trip.  They found out that Jenkins and I were on our honeymoon so they even gave us a celebration snack of champagne and macadamia nuts.  As someone used to the barely there service of Air Canada, this was a pleasant surprise and a great way to start our trip.

Although the service on Lufthansa was nothing short of excellent, I’m sorry to say that the food left much to be desired.  Our initial “meal” of champagne and nuts was probably the tastiest thing we ate during the entire flight.  For lunch, I decided to have the beef stroganoff.  The beef was extremely dry and tough while the veggies and noodles were mushy and soggy.  I ate enough to get me to the next meal and investigated the other items on my lunch plate.

The lentil and bean salad actually wasn’t bad.  It seemed to be quite healthy and I liked the different textures from the different types of beans.

The blueberry cheesecake was not very dense and had the faintest hint of blueberry taste.  Jenkins thought it was the best item included in our lunch but he is less picky when it comes to desserts compared to me. 

Jenkins’ choice of lasagna for lunch was marginally better than my beef stroganoff.  It was definitely overcooked and had a really strong cheese smell that did not appeal to me.  I thought the tastiest part of the lasagna was the spinach, which picked up some of the lasagna tomato sauce taste.

A few hours later, it was time for breakfast.  We had a vegetable omelette and sausage with potatoes and a small fruit salad.  Jenkins thought his omelette was much better than the lasagna he had although the sausage was devoid of taste.  I suppose quality control was not present that day because my omelette was much saltier than Jenkins.  I ended up sticking to my boiled sausage and soggy roast potatoes to keep me full.

Our return flight was more of the same with the suspect airplane food.  It was a bit funny because prior to this, Jenkins and I always had fairly good experiences with airplane food.  Jenkins noted that the food on our Lufthansa flights was what people think of as stereotypically bad airplane food. 

Despite the food, Jenkins and I had a fantastic time with Lufthansa.  The service was attentive and friendly.  The attendants always checked to make sure we had everything we needed.  It really helped to make the long flights go by a little bit faster. 

Summary:
Food: 1 out of 5 stars
Service: 5 out of 5 stars

To kick-start Jenkins and my China/Hong Kong adventures, what better place to start than to go over the airplane food we ate on our way there? We flew on Japan Airlines and our travel agent scored us seats on the upper deck. It’s not first class but we were in a smaller area so it was quieter and seemed more roomy. Let me say that the service on Japan Airlines is excellent and the food was also better than I expected!

We had our choice of a couple of entrees for our lunch: chicken or fish. Jenkins got the last chicken dish so I had the fish. Jenkins felt that the chicken actually wasn’t as filling as mine even though the rice for the fish was a bit overcooked.

My lunch also came with a couple of sides: some Inari sushi and a pasta salad.  I wasn’t too impressed with the pasta salad but my inari was actually quite tasty.  The bean curd wasn’t overly sweet or watery and the rice had the right amount of vinegar.

For dessert, I had a coffee cream cake.  I wasn’t too crazy about this but my brother really liked it.  You can also see my tomato juice in the picture below.  I always like to order it on the airplane because it seems more filling. 

Japan Airlines also has a “Sky Oasis”, which is a tray full of goodies that you can help yourself to during the flight.  I assume this is for long distance flights only and it has both drinks and food available.  I grabbed a bunch of different cookies and crackers for Jenkins, my brother, and me to try.  I really liked this self-serve option because you didn’t feel like you were bugging the attendants for food all the time. 

Our next meal consisted of tuna sandwiches with some fruit/veggies and a cookie.  The sandwich actually tasted ok although I wished that there was more fruit and veggies included.

Overall, I was very pleased with both the food and service on Japan Airlines and would definitely consider flying with them again.  I forgot to take a picture but at the beginning of each flight, they also provide you with fresh towels to freshen yourself up. 

Summary:
Food: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 5 out of 5 stars