People actually get fed on flights still? How quaint.

@Scuba Steve: no joke. I'm even more amazed when you don't have to pay for the meal while on the flight.

Although, when I fly first class, the food is usually pretty decent.

It all depends on who they use as the catering service for their terminals. Some of them are great, but there are always some rotten apples in the bin.

Then you have the FA's. That person has to be a 3-star chef to ensure that the First Class foods are top-notch, or they catch heat over it.

The crewers need to be well-fed too.. "bangers and mash", I'd like to sink my molars into some of those fine sausages.

Last time I flew, food was so bad, that I eat bread and butter only.

If you're flying, better eat first:)

I'm tempted to set up a plate of spaghetti & meatballs, pizza, and breadsticks and upload it there as Alitalia's food. I wonder if they'd know what to make of it.

some of the photos are a little dated - Canadian Airlines has long ceased to exist. I loved the section about crew meals, and about 'behind the scenes' about meal preparation.

nevertheless this was a fun excursion into the years that I spent as a road warrior. I've eaten many of these meals. and do I miss those years? mostly not.

I tried to access this site and received a "timed out" error. Could it be that the myriad ranks of the Consumerist have crashed it?

what does "hindu" meal vs veggie mean? many hindus are veggie....

Ah, the days of SPML, or special meal codes, entered into Apollo (a GDS reservation system used by UAL). I recall seeing all the various meal codes we could enter if the passenger requested. Vegetarian, Lacto-Ovo, Vegan, Bland, Kosher, Hindu, Kids...

I remember when working for Reservations that UA was pimping the fact that McDonalds was a partner and kids could get a version of their Happy Meal in the air.

Unfortunately, there weren't any descriptions of what was in the meal that we could read back to the passenger calling in. I'm sure a Bland request was something without spices, like a boiled chicken and plain rice. Oh those crazy meals-on-a-plane days!

@newlywed
Check out Emirates website: [www.emirates.com]

Crew meals frequently are what (if anything) is left over after the passengers have been served...

@newlywed: cows are sacred, so I'd imagine "no beef".

British Airlines, you're making me hungry baby.

My husband buys the whole grain rye bread shown in that photo. It's awesome toasted! Dense as hell.

Does the site redirect to /dev/null? Cattle class passengers can only chew their own cud, they don't get any food on the plane.

Whatever meal that is in the picture, it makes me want to throw up. I say let the European and asian carriers fly domestically. I mean Asiana and KAL already do JFK to Anchorage, albeit it's on their way out of the country, but still.

I'm not picky, I've always been ok with whatever the airline has served me during my many flights on Air France going from NJ to Paris.

hindu meals? what? is that just like I speak "hindu?"