Trying to keep up with their preferences en route has taken kitchen crews where no airline has ever gone before. Pasta, poultry, salads and fish have mounted a strong challenge to the almighty filet mignon (still the most popular dinner selection on American Airlines’ domestic flights). Today’s breakfast menus include low-fat yogurt, kiwis, whole-grain cold cereals and granola pancakes. And the array of “special” meals that must be ordered in advance has expanded to please the most discriminating taste buds. Even on domestic flights there are selections for Hindus and Muslims, for youngsters (hamburgers, peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches) and for folks who want fodder that’s low cholesterol, vegetarian, low gluten, soft, bland, lactose free, low salt or no salt.
To find out what kind of pie in the sky passengers crave, the airlines rely heavily on feedback from flight attendants, who monitor requests and complaints. Airlines also undertake more formal research: Continental Airlines, for example, conducts focus groups and telephone surveys of passengers who have recently flown with them. “But some of the changes we’ve made,” says Kathleen Boyd, director of product development for the airline, “are based on our intuition and observations.” Boyd, who claims Continental was the first airline to introduce health-oriented menus in 1984, says that “initially the public didn’t entirely understand our new [lighter] breakfasts, because they were used to getting an omelet made in a factory in New Jersey.” Many of the new approaches in standard coach menus are a direct result of the shift in the kinds of special-request meals passengers have been ordering. In the past, kosher meals were the most commonly requested choices on many carriers–and are still popular, often for reasons of taste rather than religion. For most airlines, special meals constitute only about 3 or 4 percent of total But that figure has almost doubled in the past few years, and when menu planners noticed a growing number of passengers ordering vegetarian and low-cholesterol meals, they viewed the trend as portentous handwriting on the galley walls.
Popular demand: “Putting a meal in the ‘special’ category makes sense only when you have a small number of orders,” says Carlos Bragado, assistant director of dining services for Pan American World Airways. “When a special gets many requests, we need to make it a standard in-flight choice.” That’s exactly what Pan Am plans to do soon with low-cholesterol meals. The airline’s vegetarian specials are also gaining popularity and now come in three versions: Asian (spicy), raw and Western. “Western vegetarian meals are getting more interesting,” Bragado says. “It’s no longer just a plate of steamed vegetables, but may include eggs and other dairy products.”
Considering the space and time limitations of preparing and serving an in-flight meal, it’s remarkable that passengers get anything beyond C rations. On Delta Air Lines, explains director of dining services Charles Doherty, the average flight is only 50 minutes, leaving little time for multiple choices and elaborate preparations.
Still, despite the obstacles, Delta and the other carriers have made substantial changes in the preparation and selection of their standard coach menus. Beef, for example, which just a few years ago made up more than 50 percent of selected entrees on American and Continental flights, now accounts for only 30 to 40 percent–and is seldom served when there is only one choice offered.
With passenger health consciousness in mind, the carriers have cut back on–or eliminated altogether–preservatives and artery-clogging tropical oils and butter. Cold pasta, for example, is served bathed in olive oil and garlic; meats are often stirfried or grilled. Baked chicken is cooked without its fat-retaining skin on Delta and Pan Am, and sauces go on the side or are replaced with clear glazes. “People want to look at the plate and know what they’re eating,” says In a Feldman of Culinary Foods Inc. in Chicago, which supplies many airlines. To help in the identification process, American Airlines will soon begin schooling flight attendants in the nutritional content of the meals it serves.
‘Chocolate eclair’: Some efforts to make sky food healthier have worked out better than others. About 30 percent of the passengers on Northwest and Pan Am choose the lighter breakfasts, but on American, which also offers no-yolk Egg Beaters, the calorie and cholesterol-laden cheese omelet is still the No. 1 choice. United had to cancel a recent experimental program offering meals designed with the help of the American Heart Association on some flights. “For every person who wants ‘heart-healthy’ food, there’s one who wants steak and a chocolate eclair,” says W. Kurt Lackner, United’s director of food and beverage.
For many fliers, dining amid the stars and clouds apparently means a vacation from counting calories and fat, especially when it comes to dessert. Earlier this year the Pan Am Shuttle service decided to drop desserts entirely from its lunches and dinners, the space the goodies formerly occupied under the dome-ridded box is now filled by a healthy salad. “I really miss the brownies they used to serve,” says June Winters, 40, a Home Box Office executive who often takes the New York-Washington run. “Now they just give you a chintzy little mint.” Delta recently tried boarding an equal number of sorbets and ice-cream sundaes on its flights. “We heard about that from passengers in a hurry,” Doherty says. The current ratio reflects customer preference: 70 percent sundaes.
Striking a culinary balance between diehard desires and healthy virtues is the awesome task that will challenge the airlines in the years ahead. Above all, they aim to please–and to compete with their rivals for every fare. “People will not choose [you] because of your food,” declares United’s Lackner. “But they’ll avoid you because of it.” The customer, of course, is always right, but which customer? In the high-stakes, low-cholesterol battle of the sky chefs, the winner will bring home the bacon–even if it comes with a cheese omelet.
To meet the health, religious and taste requirements of their diverse passengers, the nation’s major airlines offer a variety of special meals, ranging from kosher food to menus for diabetics and cholesterol watchers.
LEGEND: A Airline B Types of Special Meals Offered C Most Popular Specialty Meal D Total Meals Served Daily E % Specialty Meals Served F Notice Required A B C D E F American 7 Low Cholest. 170,000 3%[] 6 hours[t] Continental 12 Kosher 82,000 4% 12 hours Delta 13 Vegetarian 145,000 3% 6 hours[t] Northwest 24 Vegetarian 105,000 4% 12 hours[t] Pan Am 21 Kosher 30,000[] 3%[*] 8 hours United 12 Vegetarian 183,000 3% 6 hours
[*] Approximate figures.
[t] More time needed for Kosher meals.
Sources: All of the above airlines.
