Any kosher observant airline passengers has their share of KSML (airline-speak for a special kosher meal) horror stories. Often times the meals aren’t loaded at all. Sometimes that results in compensation, such as the 15K miles United gave me for forgetting my KSML on the final 747 flight. Sometimes it results in an airline telling you to pound sand, as Etihad told me when they forgot my meal in first class from the Maldives to Abu Dhabi. More often than not, the meal is onboard but the flight attendants are too lazy to hunt it down, after all my brother in coach on the same flight did have a kosher meal. A similar thing happened on SAS business class from Newark to Oslo when I was told the KSML didn’t come with any entree while DDF member whYME was on that flight and his KSML did have a hot entree.
Of course kosher observant airline travelers know to always have a backup plan. After all I’ve been served this pile of cat food from Stogel on several airlines in business class from Europe, which made me wish they would have just forgotten my meal altogether:
That SAS business class did have my Weiss cold entree, though frozen would be the more appropriate term. Because who doesn’t want a bunch of frozen gefilte fish…
DDF member Yaalili got a Passover meal on Aeromexico business class from KOSHair several weeks after the holiday had ended:
Of course, not all meals are bad. Hermolis meals are usually decent enough.
Hermolis sliced lamb stew kosher meal served in Cathay Pacific first class from Hong Kong to Toronto in January 2011:
My favorite kosher meals have been from even more exotic locales. The KSML on Singapore from the Maldives catered by Sydney based Lewis caterers and the KSML on United from Honolulu catered by Oahu Kosher stand out the most.
But my personal favorite is always the BYOK. That’s when I double wrap a meal from a restaurant and ask the flight attendant to warm that up for me after they see how atrocious the KSML is or if they are missing the KSML. That works better than 95% of the time, though some airlines, like Cathay Pacific, frown upon it.
Can KSMLs be fixed?
The owner of Weiss caterers told me at a DansDeals Seminar that airlines relentlessly drive costs down for KSMLs. The race to the bottom has led to the meals being as awful as they typically are.
DDF member ChAiM’l spoke to the owner of Hermolis about the issue and got a blunt response. “NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE ARE COMPLAINING.”
He told him that so many people complained to British Airways that their kosher food from Argentina was awful, so BA started catering Hermolis meals from Argentina.
Is the reason that kosher meals are so bad our own fault? Should we be letting the airline know what we really think about them?
I complain when I don’t get a meal, but I almost never complain about a bad or frozen meal.
You can send a complaint to American here, Delta here, or United here.
Do you ever complain about poor quality KSMLs? Will you start to complain more often in hopes of improving things?
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156 Comments On "Are Awful Kosher Airline Meals Our Own Fault?"
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I love the picture.
Can I assume the entire DD plane is first class? 😉
#flyfirstorstayhome
All classes, but we only take miles.
LOL
Can’t wait to see the signup bonus for your CC
I actually had name times Stogel, and never saw such food. I’m afraid it’s photo shopped by some hater.
flew Cathy pacific first class they refuse to warm up my food.
however the airline food are not edible I have got served fleishig first to be served michig 3 hours later,
Yup, Cathay is the only airline that seems to have a policy against BYOK.
Though, IINM AJK did manage to slip his through the cracks at one occasion.
I got them to do it once as the KSML was truly horrific ex-YVR.
True story. Showed them how bad the KSML looked and she *ran* to heat my BYOK.
The flight attendant in Cathay first let me cook eggs my self on a aluminum pan
They are yekees! Lol
I fly a lot and generally the kosher meals are great as in Asia I’m not usually eating hot meals. However United hooked up with chabad in China and returning from Asia the meals are so basic it’s like eating shabbos left over.
Which Asian sourced meals are great?
ANA, Cathay, and Korean for example import Hermolis meals for their flights from Asia.
I complained to BA over frozen Hermolis pasta and rancid lamb meal ex-LHR. I was compensated together with being compensated for non-lie flat Business seat. 40k Avios
What about the unapproved hechshers? Wasn’t that on wow?
Not only should we complain more, caterers need to align themselves appropriately and not settle for providing sub-par, cheap meals. If a caterer wouldn’t serve the meal to a guest at their table, then there isn’t an excuse to pack it up for an unsuspecting victim.
The problem is that the airlines will just give the contract to another caterer who will underbid them.
The airlines need to enforce standards. If it’s just price based then we’ll always get swill.
@dan this is like 3rd level hersay….no offense but the article is based on the premise of two peoples posts on DFF- I think we need some more sources on how procurement works for the airlines than just assuming from one DDF post. Can anyone sell to them? Do they have to go through standard checks? Airlines dont just allow anything on their planes and is it really on a bidding system – they may offer ranges for all we know……..
You said the catering company you spoke with complained that airlines cut costs as the reason. Low-cost food is not the reason for bad tasting food.
Cost is definitely part of it. That’s why JetBlue mint meals from borenstein are better than United borenstein.
Flew Turkish buisness 3 people last month. no kosher food even though ordered and confirmed. While I saw plenty of people in coach getting kosher. I asked for fruit and all they had was grapes.
I just flew Turkish JFK-TLV and I think they said they didn’t have me down for KSML but not to worry as they had extra.
The guy dressed as a chef, was really nice, asked me to open the box and/or foil pan and then presented it to me on a tray so I wasn’t eating out of a box.
The dinner was nice, salmon over cous-cous followed by chicken and mash. I think they used Weiss.
The food in Economy however was something else, all dairy from TLV-JFK and on the way bk got stuck in Econ from IST-TLV and got the same nasty sammich (cheese, tomato and black olive tap – just ate the cake as I made the mistake of eating it on the way out). This was from some Turkish caterer, since I only had one segment in biz cant say what the snack/meal was like from IST-TLV leg – ill assume it was better then the box I got in the bk.
I recall a trip report where someone reported not getting their KSML while flying Economy Turkish and Turkish gave him a voucher for a free business class upgrade on his next flight. You should try and see if they’ll give that to you.
It’s not our way to train ourselves to be complainers. We learned our lesson good and well in the dessert 3,000 years ago. It’s not like we’re flying for the food. Flying is just a means to reach our destination. For the 8, 12, 16 hours of a flight we’ll manage on basics even if that means just some packaged snacks we brought along.
I don’t necessarily disagree with you. But it is worth reporting that when people do complain en masse that airlines do look into how to fix the situation.
Jack- partly agree and disagree with you. When I stay at a hotel on vacation, realistically I don’t need more than a bed, a roof over my head, and a bathroom (as basics). But after working hard and saving for a trip, one certainly can expect more- such as a pool, hot water for the shower, WiFi, a TV, etc.
Just like Spirit Air gets the job done (depending on ones circumstance) with 27 inches and no WiFi or TV, I enjoy getting the extra comforts of Jetblue for a cross- country flight.
Obviously if you pay for a service you should expect to receive it. If I had a choice of flying on two different airlines with exactly the same level of service/features, etc. except that one costs $10 more and provides kosher food, I would not pay the extra. If it’s not something you’d anyway pay extra for then it’s not something to be a complainer about. When you choose the pricier hotel because they have free WiFi and a nicer pool, for example, then that is an essential part of the reason you paid extra.
Dangerous to tell Jews to complain more
I never advised that. I posed the question.
Dan. You might not have advised. But you did include three links to complain and none not to complain 🙂
okay, here’s your link to not complain,
and if that doesn’t work for you punch that dumb guy you see every time you look in the mirror, that works just the same as my link (maybe better, because that might be useful)
What did you get on tonight’s UA90?
Mostly garbage, but I had BYOK from New Kosher Special so it’s all good 😀
Had a flight from dps to ganzhou (GA) to ewr (CZ) .
Both flights forgot my kosher meal.
Worse was that CZ tells me that they have a Muslim meal for me. My wife and I explained we can’t eat it and we will be declining. They came over to us around 10 times asking if we changed our minds.
Issue was our backup plan was limited due to ex-DPS. What was also crazy is that I called 5 times before the flights to confirm and had confirmations. After speaking to CZ they offered me 5k for the inconvenience. It wasn’t even worth it to make an account for that.
SwissAir served really good food (for an airline) in First/Business from ZRH to TLV. That’s a caterer I’d order from even off an airline.
Same for me. Their flights originating from ZRH have great kosher meals in business; they even had a bottle of wine for me. Highly recommended.
I flew from Warsaw to jfk with Lot Polish airlines and I had a great meal from Seagels
If we do away with Bornstein, we would be OK.
I fall into the category of its better than nothing and we may open a Pandora’s box by complaining and having the “Luxury” taken away.
I find it hard to believe that Jews don’t complain enough 🙂
I flew from Vienna back to New York and i can swear they took the food from the Warsaw ghetto.
I am quite liberal when it comes to kosher on the road and after having too many bad experiences with Borenstain or Kosher 4 U, I order the standard vegetarian or vegan meals and have never been disappointed since.
Uh, those aren’t kosher dude.
I obviously don’t care too much and have created my own barriers of what I will and will not eat but feel free to keep ordering Borenstein
Maybe consider consulting with a rabbi about that. There’s a lot of cross contamination and other consideration that go into to food being truly kosher.
If you’re interested, the CRC and OU websites have fascinating and interesting information about some of the things that can go wrong with vegan meals.
Maybe you got a special waiver From God to ignore Kashrut on the road, but we all know the simple problem that vegetarian meals involves, you get unchecked vegetables served (think of worms, mites etc.) which is a bigger issue than other not kosher food. Again, that’s basics info for a Jew to know, check it out.
Were discussing issues that people that keep kosher might have when flying. Piping in that you don’t keep kosher is a great way to stay on topic
And pork is even tastier…,,.
Can you please pin this post somewhere so I remember to complain the next time it happens? On my last trip, I got a dinner with a breakfast entree. On trips coming out of the US, I assume that everything other than the entree will be frozen. Once, in business, my meal came on a broken plate and I had to avoid the shards. And while we’re on the topic, is there any lounge other than BA in London that reliably has Kosher food?
I don’t know. The main thing I took away was that you took first class while your brother was in coach. Come on Dan! You have like a bazillion miles! Couldn’t have spare few for your bro? 😉
Now THAT’S complaining. I think Dan’s brother is in for better service next time around… 😀
He got an all expenses paid Maldivian retreat. How he got there was up to him to figure out.
Sure. Just complain to EL AL. I’m sure they will listen.
They’ll feel at home
I am not complaining! I say BH ppl don’t complain. Complaining is not a good thing to get used to. I generally enjoy airline meals. If there is another Spare one, I go for doubles !
Alitalia’s meals were always great!
+1 !
I fly for work and pay for my tickets so think it’s OK to complain when paying 5+ grand for a ticket.
Some of my comments…
Etihad, not surprising.
SAS, ditto.
So what exactly was that Stogel dish anyway? Looks like cat food with a side of cat excrement to me.
Holy streimel Batman – Weiss gave gefilte fish in business class!! Sorry, but hassidim should be banned from serving airline food for then next 200 years, maybe longer.
Hermolis has always been the best I’ve experienced. Although they have slipped somewhat in recent years, they upped their game again it seems.
The KSML on Aeroflot was surprising decent and beautifully packaged. Although they repeated the exact same thing 5 times on 4 legs.
Azerbaijan had a lot of “meals” but very skimpy. One consisted on a small roll and 1 single solitary slice of turkey!
I’ve never been to the far east so I can’t comment on Pacific flights.
GREAT POST DD!
Had an awesome meal on Norwegian air from ARN to JFK. I mine and my wife’s (she had BYOK) lol.
same can be said about kosher food on cruises
Complaining more often may solve the issue temporarily but the fact is that KSML ordering population out there is obviously quite small. The proof is the fact that even great airlines don’t feel it necessary to ensure the meals are good. Its simply supply and demand economics. Airlines know that KSML people will fly anyways and even if they don’t fly that airline for that reason, it’s just a drop in the bucket. It’s simple economics.
If one airline has edible KSMLs it could be a competitive advantage.
There arent enough “kosher only” flyers for it to be a competitive advantage.
enough already with your ksml your whiole yiddishkeit is not just about kashruth its about other things as well which means time invested in spirituality not just feeling guilty that you dont put away time for spirituality and channel those feelings to talk about your strong adherenve to kashruth to try and make yourself feel better. rather its the amount of time that you are investing into spiritual matters.
I agree. We need to set our priorities:
#1) Spirituality
#2) Use proper punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
Jacob, when do you think you’ll be done with #1 and move on to #2?
I worked at Stogel’s in Antwerp, talk about awful… the meals in your picture are called long life meals, they may have been canned two years before it was served to you.
How can they serve fresh or frozen food of it has to be able to last for a few months ? As that’s what the airlines request, when they don’t have so many Kosher meals at once.
#blamethevictim
just a reiteration of what I told you before the reason why shemini is next to parshat tazria the same reason why you have to be careful on what goes in your mouth you need to be careful on what goes out of your mouth and you could be all religious about kashruth but not religious about criticizing someone else livelihood.
So you’re OK getting abused by a company like Stogel, got it.
You’re right. We should not criticize someone else’s livelihood.
So, how would you describe your criticism of Dan and the article he posted on his website that is his livelihood?
rebuke is diffrent then criticism your not jewishyou would not know the diffrence anyway?
Yes, a rebuke is different than criticism.
So is bigotry. But you’re Jewish, so I’m sure you wouldn’t make bigoted comments, right?
BTW, if you’re assumption about my religion is based on my name, you’re sorely mistaken. I’m Chaswedish.
This post was long overdue!
Thank you!
3 strong points:
Wholly agreed, 70% off the time the Kosher meal ordered will either:
A: not make it onboard despite half a dozen confirmations
B: only some of the pax in one reservation will receive their meal, despite the request having been placed for everyone at the same time, or will only be processed for one leg or direction and request will not show on the return.
C: be beyond inedible
D: Not up to Glatt kosher standards with hechsher
I’ve chaperoned a large group for several years, about 50 pax, and all meals go straight to waste because United out of EWR is catered by Borenstien, and they only bear an OU, which isn’t quite good enough for many. I’ve tried going as far as calling up the caterer to see if they would consider obtaining a secondary hechsher, but never got past a Spanish speaking cook in the kitchen. Strange that in a large scale company, front line calls are answered by kitchen staff and not CS reps.
I’ve tried through United as well multiple times, but they couldn’t even get me a contact for the chefs dept. They said there is no way to contact them. (Thanks for the contact info!)
Oddly, you get much better hechsherim flying into NY from overseas. I won’t praise the food, but at least its a plug for a famished tummy.
My greatest complaint, as petty as it may seem, is that kosher meals come with as little 4 Oz container of water. Seriously? Water is about the only beverage a kosher traveler (for whom OK/OU/*K certificatication isn’t sufficient ) can drink freely. Why not offer a juice or cocktail? I don’t like juices personally, but I find this little detail to be a classic reflection of the food scrimping.
And Yes, we are in part responsible, as change is born with necessity. Our passivity suits the airlines well 🙂
(And I’ve also found myself eating glass shards in Business on United from LA to Hawaii… I’ll pass on the glass)
My breakfast meal from Hermolis included a fruit shake that was actually delicious. I think instead of focusing on complaining to improve Borensteins and Stogels (not happening), we need to campaign that better caterers should get the job.
Borenstein is owned by LY – so don’t hold your breath.
OU is glatt and I’m fairly sure Borenstein is CY (as they are approved by the Israeli Rabbanut)
Post doesn’t even discuss the fact that Kashrus standards could be subpar. Rather than cater to the highest common denominator, a Kashrus level that almost all would trust, often we are stuck with non-CY, or questionable Hashgochos.
The airlines should reach out to a globally recognized Kashrus organization, and make sure that the highest available standard is adhered to.
True, though that’s another post for another time.
Related post: http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=13629.0
What about non kosher snacks on domestic flights? It’s so easy but most of Southwest’s aren’t kosher. I’ve written but they say they can’t cater to everyone.
Not sure what you’re talking about, Soutwest Peanuts and Pretzels happen to have a Star-k on them.
Jetblue as well has kosher snacks as well as the offer a “kosher package” that you can buy
My recent flight on Southwest had 2 snacks without any hechsher.
I recently flew SAS biz on 2 segments and the meals, if you can call them that, were abysmal. It’s definitely time for us to complain because the odds of getting a good kosher meal in any class is 1 in 100.
Airlines have no obligation to provide kosher meals. If they receive excessive complaints, what makes you think they would find a new kosher caterer rather than eliminate the ksml option?
There’s a reason they offer KSMLs, it’s not out of the goodness of their hearts, it’s because they want our business.
The question of whether we hurt ourselves by being passive is a fair one.
They want out business? We’re a fraction against the rest of the world
Ah Stogel. I once visited my grandmother A”H who lived in Antwerp and told her about a memorable meal from that company. She knew the owner and had told him some time before that his food was terrible. His answer was “Mais Madame, tous les compagnies prennent mes menus” (All the airlines buy my meals) to which she said “Hobben sie k’a breireh?” (What choice have they got?).
LOL
Flew Air Canada to Israel. The food was very good. Much better on the way there.
They also had sandwiches in the back
Family of 6 traveling on JetBlue Mint LAX-JFK redeye. Should’ve included dinner and breakfast. At gate just prior to boarding we were told no KSML available. Maybe bc it was Sunday isru chag pesach? Anyway, given 25 dollars per person credit and about 15 pp meal voucher. Bought tons of snacks at coffee bean (where are you going to find kosher food at LAX on a Sunday night–had to be used in a restaurant, and no booze.) Then wound up sleeping through both meals anyway.
We do need to be realistic. Kosher food costs way more per morsel than non-kosher.
For a high-margin flight like business class, I totally hear complaining that it is under-par with the luxury that is being paid for. But for coach I have to accept the reality that they’re cost cutting in every way, and I’m sure not paying too much for the traif food either. I’m thankful they haven’t said, “Kosher is too expensive, so no dice.”
Sadly even in business they are inedible.
Sadly a lot of times you can’t tell the difference between a Kosher meal served in economy, business, or first class.
I think the meals by Rimonim on Copa out of Panamá are really good. Only complaint is the portions being too small.
Hmm…..
While the airlines are wrong for not providing edible meals, consider the chillul hashem which would arise from “everyone complain”.
We complain enough! And most airlines are already annoyed at the minyonim and seat change requests (not to mention hat and sheitle boxes).
At the very least, maybe a politely phrased “request” would go farther than “complaints”.
(And points to Aeroflot (and transaero obm) for having lubavitch shchita :). Now if only they figured out a way to get the ice out from between the cold cuts)
That is the BIG question, do we complain and get what we want or do we sit there like lame ducks, thing Holocaust, Warsaw Uprising?
comparing the Warsaw uprising with not getting the quality and quantity of food you’d like is way out of line. If you don’t like the food bring your own backup.
I just flew business for yul tlv and they forgot my kosher meal on the 1st leg after speaking with them for a while they gave me a 130$ voucher
I just bring a corned beef sandwich and a lox bagel for breakfast…as my flights almost have the crappy borenstein meals. However I always open the plastics mix the food…as I realize we need to show demand for ksml….
I would think just ordering it shows demand. I doubt the crew gives a report on how many meals were opened.
can you please add a link to iceland air complain…they dont offer KSML at all
Just google any airline name and complaint or customer service.
I recently flew JFK to Heathrow Heathrow to Tel Aviv Tel Aviv to Heathrow Heathrow to JFK club world
The meal from JFK was so disappointing I would have rather the extra hour of sleep (dinner and breakfast were lousy) borenstiens
LHR/TLV – LHR/JFK (Hermolis) after having had such lousy meals, the hermolis meals were unbelievably good, even if the meat was to chewy and over cooked it was still 100x better then leaving JFK (everything else was delicious)
The meal out of TLV was ehh, I ate it because I was board
Hermolis also provided the kosher food for the BA lounge in term 5 sec
When I spoke to the production manager of hermolis, he told me kosher airline meals are very difficult but they are always working on improving their product
Inspired by this post, finally complained to CX.
Hi,
I would like to complain about the Kosher meal that I received on the Cathay flight from EWR-HKG. It came from Borenstein caterers, and it was absolutely disgusting. Throughout the 16 hour flight I was hungry because the food was so terrible. 2nd, the flight attendant notified me that they forgot to bring me a dinner meal, so they served me the nasty breakfast twice. As a premium economy customer, I believe that I deserved far better than that dog food that I received.
In contrast to this terrible experience, on my return flight from HKG-EWR, I was served food from Hermolis catering, and the food was actually delicious. It was 1000x better than the dog food I was served on the inbound flight.
Please pass on this feedback to whoever is in charge of ordering the Kosher meals. There is no reason that your valued customers should be tortured from Borenstein’s terrible “food”, when Hermolis catering offers an excellent alternative option.
Thanks,
Would be amazing if an airline would start carrying Hermolis from North America. I’m going to write to Cathay as well as some of my best meals were Hermolis on Cathay from Hong Kong and some of my worst were on Cathay from Vancouver.
I fly on Cathay all the time. One time (not the only time) they didn’t have my kosher meal. I showed them my booking, proving that I had ordered it. They were very apologetic, as they are, and they took down my info and the date of my return flight. I was sure I would be getting an upgrade out of this, but no – on the flight back they brought me my kosher meal and proudly informed me that this time they had not forgotten it! That was lame.
Did you write to them?
Not much that a flight attendant can do.
I have to say, I fly Delta regularly from JFK and find the meals to be quite good (business class). Usually catered by Borenstein and food is of good quality. DL stewardesses all seem to know what they are doing and never had an issue. Only complaint I have is that on flights to Europe Borenstein caters a Dairy Breakfast which doens’t give you enough time from the meat dinner. Delta blames Borenstein, Borenstein blames Delta.
Have a flight with Air France and was told they don’t offer Kosher on my route to Tahiti — never got that from an airline before
from Sydney to Los Angeles they had ONE set of Kosher meals for 5 people on a 15 hour flight. The stewardess from first was amazing and brought back every single snack that had a kosher symbol and my kids had a never-ending snack party.
I heard once that borenstein is owned by elal. Not sure if true. But they have a kosher option with OU and then a strictly kosher with volove.
I travel a lot mostly for business, and between me changing a flight within 24 hours and airlines losing the request or simply not providing the meal, I found myself always carrying backup food. So over a decade ago I gave up on the lousy meals that were not always there and bring my own from last restaurant or from home. Never hungry and never disappointed. Especially coming out of LA, why get a plastic meal when I can get one more stop at mexikosher, Jeff’s, pico deli etc.? Even to/from Israel I do same. I haven’t tried the ask to heat up game since reading how Dan does it, but I often bring something that’s ok cold as well.
Bring a couple pieces of tinfoil with you and you’ll enjoy that Jeff’s Wild Western Burger even more by getting them to make it hot 🙂
#BTDT
Us jews have bad memories about complaining about the lack of food and water..
I’ve been going business:first class on domestic routes over the last 4 years and I complain a lot. Especially when the guy next to me is eating shrimp sliders and I’m trying to cut in to a hard dry piece of chicken breast with my plastic fork.
I try to complain to the higher ups and they always say the same thing that they understand my concern. There sorry and that they forward my complaint to the correct department.
I complained about the plastic and noticed a change a year later on delta I see now actual silverware for meals.
On a recent trip in delta one I was impressed of a Passover meal that had sweet potatoes and chicken poppers in a good sauce. Think it was regal meals.
AA is not good. And can they get a bit creative with breakfast? It’s either omelet plain or with cheese.
They use to give pancakes.
But most of time it hasn’t been good.
Believe it or not one of my favorite meals is the deli sandwich on a challah roll. Which by the way there been serving that sane sandwich for at least the last 30 years.
I had Pastrami on a challah roll from HNL-EWR on Continental. Solid meal.
why not a grassroots movement for airlines and airport lounges to always have on hand Meal Mart long shelf life “Amazing Meals”- not great but really not too bad for us travelers. I and mashgichim colleagues often keep 1-2 in OUr roller boards.
If they could marry that with LaBriut self heating technology (-Because their meal quality is awful), a win win
I’m shocked that La Briute can’t figure out how to make an edible meal. Marrying the 2 would be great for travelers.
Dan,
A little secret. About six years ago I was in the meal mart/ Alle plant. They actually make the meals for La Bruite ! La Bruite is the licensee for the technology. They don’t actually have the ability to produce their own meals. They relied on meal mart for that. Don’t know if that’s still true… but if it still is that means that La Bruite doesn’t want to pay Meal Mart for better product.
Bizarre.
I’d happily pay twice as much if their food was edible. Is there any way to just buy the heating element?
I find the Meal Mart shelf stable meals quite good, esp. when visiting somewhere with no kosher around.
The La Bruite stuff was doable but not as good as the Amazing stuff. The obvious benefit is the heating element.
@dan I suppose you could just buy the Bruite meal and toss away the food & keep the element, lol
can you BYOK if youre flying coach on a long distance flight (within the US – think ORD to OGG or HNL to EWR) where they dont offer meals to coach passengers? Flying United, should i try and bring one?
YMMV in coach, really depends on the flight attendant that you ask.
Bring something that would be better if warmed up, but still edible otherwise.
thanks, i figured as much. ill just bring an extra POM meal for the way back…hope maui air is fine
You disagree with this article, Dan? LOL
https://www.koshertoday.com/travelers-say-kosher-airline-food-much-improved-growing-industry/
I’ll have whatever they’re smoking.
Who knows with that site, for all you know those two companies paid to have their names mentioned.
If I had to guess, kosher meals might be BETTER on most airlines than other “special meals.” That’s because the folks who order kosher meals are more likely to be “sophisticated” (aka “know how to complain”) than other special meal recipients.
That said, for most airlines, kosher meals will always be an afterthought. And it’s not wrong for the airlines to feel this way. Airlines are a mass-market business; kosher travellers are a tiny, tiny percentage of that market. And once you get to the level of wanting a kosher meal in a premium cabin, you’re practically a unicorn in most markets.
Running an airline is hard work. It’s a challenging business, for many reasons. It would be nice to think airlines could get kosher meals “right.” I don’t think that’s a very realistic expectation, though. Which means that the best reason to complain is probably to get compensation. Of course, complaining “can’t hurt,” and might occasionally do some good. I say go for it if you’re annoyed or disappointed by the food you get.
The reality is that other special meals look 100x better than Kosher meals. Despite the “sophistication”, read through the comments and you’ll notice most people don’t even bother complaining because we don’t expect much (I never complained until reading this post).
That being said, the airlines are spending a lot of money on the meals because they believe it’s worth catering to our segment. Do you think they’ll be happy to find out that they’re serving something inedible for all that money spent? Our feedback helps them expand their business with good caterers and cut ties with the crappy ones. Even if it costs a little more, at the very least the premium customers could and should expect something better than dog food.
Around float had a great kosher meal. Israel to JFK.
Where’s the Etihad TR?
I’m so sick of the fried chicken nugget with ketchup sauce and orzo with pieces of corn, with the matbucha, chick peas and nasty chocolate mousse? Why can’t it simply be a pastrami sandwich on a challah roll (turkey if they want to be cheap), mustard, a pickle, and a cookie? Even with 2 slices of deli, i’d me so much more satisfied than the dreck they serve
Love the hermolis meals. The stogel meals are atrocious
I volunteered this on the forums, and I’ll say it again. If people agree they’ll use it, I’ll happily make a website for people to upload pictures, compliments, and complaints of their kosher meals on various airlines. Enough users will force airlines to take note. Who’s in?
I am a fequant traveler, hermolis is the best out there plus BA STAFF is trained how to unwrap the meal and present it mentchlich, all other airlines just give you the entire package and you have to open it up yourself and be stuck with all the wrappings etc. By your seat.
Years ago I worked for an airline-kosher-food company. Every day we the workers had for lunch the food that was cooked and processed that day. Many a worker went for seconds. It was DELECIOUS! I even bought a few dozen meals at a time to take home for “TV dinners”. Couldn’t for the life of me figure out why the same food tasted so lousy on the plane. After awhile I finally got it. I’ll use KLM as an example. They insisted on ‘fresh meals’. But it was virtually impossible to cook, process, and deliver 150-200 meals to JFK within 2-3 hours that they gave us. So the meals were taken out of the freezer, defrosted in the oven, then delivered. What did KLM do with those meals? They rotated stock and put these ‘fresh meals’ in their freezer. Their meals that were removed from their freezer were then put onto a catering truck that sat on the tarmac for a few hours before being loaded onto the plane – yes, even in July. Whether they were refrozen on the plane or not I’m not sure. Those ‘delicious’ meals now were warmed up on the plane and served.
Now you know some of the secrets of the trade. Enjoy the food.
I got served a day after pesach sheini a kosher for paesach meal, the hot entree had an expiration date of 04/21/2018, we flew on 04/30/2018. It was on BA, meal was from Borenstein. I made pictures of the meal, so far BA doesn’t want to compensate me with anything, not even miles. How can I email or post pictures to you?
I’m so, so sad to hear about the horrific experience all you folks flying business or first class have had with your Kosher meals. We, those who fly in the back of the plane, feel so sorry to hear that your palate has not been pleased appropriately, considering your eminent status. You know, guys, if you can shell out $3500 for a business class ticket, spend $20 on a decent meal from a local restaurant and have them warm it up for you, and stop complaining when you get a $6.00 meal from the flight attendant. Many of us shleppers in the back bring our own (since we just can’t get the chef to come to our seats and tear off the plastic wrap for us, followed by the tin foil. Do they cut your food for you?). I don’t disagree with the notion that the kosher meals are pretty raunchy sometimes (I’ve totally given up on the breakfast omelette, unless you really want to be sick). Your article might have some broader appeal if you talked about something that speaks to more people rather than what first class on New Zealand airlines serves.
lol 🙂 thumbs up
I flew Qatar Airways to Australia and got served the same meal 5 times over 3 flights (each flight was 14 hours). Salmon and orzo. It wasn’t bad but after having it twice on the same flight I was done. I gave it to my friend who didn’t order kosher.
I’m a frequent flyer that made it part of my schedule to pick up some sandwiches before leaving to the airport – they’re good and don’t cost me more than $10-15.
I understand you have what to complain about because I never even opened up these wrappings however I solve that problem by spending a lot cheaper and flying economy and have good food to eat.
Is the premise here that Jews don’t complain enough? 😀
Hi everyone! I actually I’m one of the managers at Hermolis and I am very happy to hear that majority of people are very pleased with our airline food. We work very hard to ensure that when the food leaves our manufacturing plant it looks good and appealing for the consumer. We have to follow strict guidelines from airlines.
But the good news is that we have just rolled out a brand new spec of meals for first and business class. The first airline who have already used these is Qatar! These meals contain the likes of lamb tagine, stuffed chicken thighs and duck loin. There is also a canapé trio dish with nuts, macaroons and crudités! We have had phenomenal feedback and are looking forward to roll it out with many of our other airlines who we supply. I would love to share pictures Dan.
On another note – if there are complaints regarding the food on a flight, it is imperative that the customer makes a formal compliant by email to the airline and to Hermolis. The more complaints we have – the more likely we are to have an impact on the airlines to ensure they do a correct job by giving their Jewish passengers a good service. You can always email me directly at mr@hermolis.com and myself or my PA will be happy to answer any questions. I look forward to the feedback – especially the compliments 😉
I relied on ksml when i flew to tlv with a stopover in Swiss, They didn’t have KSML on board.
For those who eat regular ElAl food, the business class meal I had a couple years ago was phenomenal. Got the chicken entree due to Glatt concerns.
Hi Dan
As a frequent flyer i must admit that the KSML is a big issue,
All outbound from JFK serve Borenstein, the same hard white chicken and sour potatoes,
I believe the menu wasent changed on the last 20 years,
But
Hermolies is fine and fresh
El al’s food is not bad (from Israel)
Shalom from Swiss, is disastrous
From Alitalia, is one of the bad ones
Turkish is not to bad
Lot is descent too
But again the winner is Outbound NYC
Tnx for all
The winner is for sure Hermolies
And borenstein didnt even enter the contest.
Where can we complain about the Borenstein
Ekeldige food
I think they should always label items and include ingredients (some do this some do not) Sometimes I cannot tell what the food is…Is it fish? chicken ? or something else…
I am currently physically ill from a United airlines Kosher meal I ate on ua179 to HK on 5/22. In supposed to be coming home tomorrow in time for Shabbat, hoping I make the flight. I wrote them a complaint. This is the third time I have gotten ill from their Kosher meals this year on flights to Hong Kong, however this time is the worst.
Alitalia has decent food from Longhausen. Only catch is, its always frozen. The best meal I had was on Transaero(RIP). they had a delicious shwarma meal, and I actually went for triples!!
Just came across this :
http://digg.com/video/adam-ruins-everything-airplane-food?amp=true
Pretty cool!
In terms of economy class what is the best kosher meal youve had?
https://www.change.org/p/ivelt-kosher-airline-food-need-desperately-change?source_location=petitions_browse
The kosher meals I received on Lufthansa airline was not edible.. disgusting.. unbelievable. AirCanada wasn’t any better. I’ll take my chances on a non kosher meal next time. My husband says it’s a form of persecution.
As a frequent flyer and business traveller, on the whole I am fairly satisfied with the quality of Kosher food that is provided by most airlines and caterers. I’ve only not received a meal on a couple occasions, and on at least one of those occasions, it appeared my travel agent was at fault (the airline was extremely apologetic and provided me with a fruit platter instead). There are some pretty shocking Kosher caterers out there, but I will not name and shame them here, but will provide my top 3 list instead: 1) Rabbi Yosef Cantor (Chabad, Bangkok) has always been excellent, 2) Hermolis has improved considerably over the past couple of years, and is consistently good, excepting those crackers and the frozen grapefruit 3) Casa (Turkish kosher caterers) is surprisingly good also, particularly their fish meals. My worst experience, came when I was served under-cooked chicken, from which I had severe stomach cramps, and would have had food poisoning had I eaten more than I did! I am also yet to ever receive a decent Pesach meal on a flight, regardless of whether flying economy or business class. There is nothing worse than receiving a Pesach meal when its not Pesach. It seems that some caterers get away with culinary murder over the Pesach time period. There was the caterer that provided the driest chicken breast imaginable in their Pesach meal (and that was a business class meal). A different caterer seemed to think that half-a-piece of matzah and some cherry tomatoes and cucumber constituted a meal. I should also point out that no Kosher caterer is catering to the vegan and vegetarian kosher traveller. Whilst I often bring back-up food, it simply isn’t always possible to access Kosher food in some destinations, alongside restrictions of travelling with liquids and certain produce, that at times the in-flight Kosher meal, is the only hot meal I could actually have for an entire trip! The danger of having poor quality kosher meals, is that less observant travellers will start to eat the regular treif airline food. For that reason alone, we absolutely must complain and demand higher standards from both the airlines and the Kosher caterers. At the same time, we should give the Kosher caterers and airlines credit when they are doing a good job, which B”H is most of the time!
I bought a “heating oven” which is basically a 6″x10″Shabbat platter with a closed aluminum cover which heats up food to 250 then keeps it warm. I plug it in on the plane and now while in my 2 week bidud at my “Corona” Dan Jerusalem Hotel. It is the best thing I’ve ever bought on Amazon.
What Hechsher do you get on AA business usa-europe?