Think about the last time you ate on a plane. Maybe you winced at that rubbery chicken or picked at that mysterious pasta that looked nothing like the picture. You’re definitely not alone in this experience. Airline meals had been the brunt of jokes and criticism for decades, yet millions of us continue to suffer through them on flights worldwide. The transformation from elegant sky-high dining to today’s disappointing meal trays tells a fascinating story of economics, science, and corporate priorities that goes far deeper than you might expect.
The Golden Age That Actually Existed
In the 1930s, flight attendants began serving elaborate multicourse meals on real china and with real silver. Until 1978, when the airline industry was deregulated, the law required that every passenger got an entrée, two vegetables, a salad, dessert and a drink as part of their ticket price. This wasn’t marketing fluff; it was legally mandated luxury. We’re talking carved roast beef, lobster, prime rib. Real glassware, not those plastic cups filled with those ice cubes that have inexplicable holes that we get now. Airlines hired teams of professional chefs and installed sophisticated heating equipment onboard. Some carriers even tracked individual passenger preferences, refusing to serve the same meal on consecutive Mondays if they knew a regular traveler would be aboard both flights.
When Government Controls Created Quality
Airlines in that era were prohibited from competing on price, so the only way they could compete was on quality of service. CAB rules limiting routes and entry and controlling prices meant that airlines were limited to competing only on food, cabin crew quality, and frequency. This created an unusual situation where regulations actually forced innovation in passenger experience. At the time, entertainment options on airplanes were limited, and the main form of entertainment for passengers was eating. In some countries where ticket prices were regulated by the government, such as the United States, food was also the main marketing tool to attract customers. Airlines couldn’t slash prices to win customers, so they had to win hearts and stomachs instead.
The 1978 Deregulation Disaster
Everything changed with the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Airline revenue per passenger mile has reportedly declined significantly since deregulation. Since passenger deregulation in 1978, airline prices have fallen substantially in real terms. As deregulation took hold, airlines cut ticket prices. But to make up for lost revenue, they cut back on food choices and other services as well. The shift was dramatic and immediate. Airlines suddenly found themselves in brutal price wars, and passenger meals became an obvious target for cost reduction. Add to that the oil crisis and airline deregulation, which further brought fares down and competition up, and the airlines didn’t have as much cash to spend on customers. “Cost made good food go away,” Kessler says.
September 11th Delivered the Final Blow
The September 11 attacks accelerated the decline of free airline meals. Airlines faced a deep reduction in demand and slashed in-flight meal service in response. United, American Airlines, Delta and others announced sharp reductions in-flight meal service shortly after the attacks. The trauma wasn’t just psychological; it was financial. In the aftermath of 9/11, the industry took a devastating financial hit, and most airlines had to slash costs wherever necessary. One of the first things they cut back on was in-flight meal service. The last holdout, Continental Airlines, became the final major airline to end free domestic meals in economy class in 2010. What had been a standard service for decades vanished almost overnight.
Your Taste Buds Are Working Against You
Even if airlines wanted to serve gourmet food, they face a biological problem that money can’t solve. Once at altitude, the combination of the dry air and pressure change reduces our taste bud sensitivity. In fact, our perception of saltiness and sweetness drops by around 30 percent at high altitude, according to a 2010 study by the German airline Lufthansa. At 30,000 feet, this metric measures at around 12%, which is considerably drier than that of most deserts. In fact, the combination of changes in humidity and pressure can reduce the sensitivity of taste buds to sweet and salty foods by 30%. In addition to reduced taste bud sensitivity, cabin pressurization causes our mucus membranes to swell, blocking this pathway. Cabin pressure also decreases the volatility of odor molecules, or their ability to vaporize and enter the nose. Some experts suggest passengers lose up to seventy percent of their normal taste perception at altitude.
The Industrial Food Factory System
The production of the tens of thousands of meals needed daily for flights is entrusted to external catering companies. The meals destined for passengers are prepared on the ground, frozen or kept at low temperatures, and delivered to the airport, where they are then loaded onto planes. After takeoff, the crew heats the meals in sealed trays, just as they received them, and serves them along with cold food items. This mass production approach prioritizes efficiency over flavor. While airplane food is prepared in a method similar to that of making and delivering fast food, flight attendants have to serve a larger number of people in a smaller amount of time than in fast food establishments. Because airlines regularly serve hundreds of people at once, they do everything possible to keep the food from drying out. That means typical economy class fare consists of chicken floating in cream sauce, extra gravy for beef or potatoes that are mashed until they are runny.
The Sauce Strategy That Backfired
French chef Raymond Oliver is credited with devising this strategy for modern airline food. In 1973, French airline Union de Transports Aériens asked Oliver to design its menu, and he suggested three staple items: beef bourguignon, coq au vin, and veal in a cream sauce. All of these dishes are covered in sauce, which protects the meat from sawdusting out when reheated and served in the bone-dry environment of an airplane cabin. This became the template for modern airline cuisine. Airlines came to understand that by the time you have served 250-plus passengers, the food would either get cold or dry,” said de Syon, whose work focuses on the history of aviation. “The solution? Douse whatever you are serving in a fluid. While this prevented food from completely drying out, it created the soggy, over-sauced meals that define airline food today.
The Economics of Every Olive
In one famous example during the 1980s, Robert Crandall, then the head of American Airlines, bragged about how removing just one olive from every salad saved the airline $40,000 a year. Cost and speed became more important to airlines than how the food tastes ever since. This obsessive focus on micro-savings has shaped every aspect of airline dining. Airlines calculate the cost of every ingredient down to the gram. For most airlines, food is basically a “hygiene factor”, something that they have to offer but don’t make money on. Most airlines that are for-profit companies are in the same boat: they know that very, very few people will choose an airline based on anything other than price and schedule, and certainly not on food. Food became a necessary expense to minimize rather than a service to perfect.
The Pandemic Made Everything Worse
I understand why this dip in standards is happening – airlines and caterers are having a rough go of it as they recover from the 2020 pandemic. Recent viral photos of particularly awful airline meals suggest that quality has declined even further. Supply chain disruptions, staffing shortages at catering companies, and reduced flight schedules have all contributed to a perfect storm of declining food quality. Airlines that were already operating on razor-thin margins found themselves cutting corners wherever possible as they struggled to recover from massive losses.
Why Premium Passengers Get the Good Stuff
The reality is very different for business and first-class passengers. Molly Brandt, the executive chef of culinary innovation for North America at in-flight catering company Gategroup, said that the “golden age for airline food is here.” It just depends on which airline you’re flying and how much you’re paying. While there’s a little more variety in first or business class – Boulud’s menu for Air France includes lobster, lamb chops and braised chicken – a typical airline meal served in economy class is comprised of food covered in sauce to keep it from drying out. The economics are simple: premium passengers pay exponentially more, so airlines can afford to invest in higher-quality ingredients and more sophisticated preparation methods. These passengers might get meals prepared by celebrity chefs, served on actual plates, with multiple courses and wine pairings.
