Continental’s Reminder: BYO Food
Continental Airlines has ended their long tradition of free meals
for coach visitors. That is true even for flights to Hawaii, with two exceptions. The non-stops from Newark and from Houston to Honolulu will still have free meal service.
How To Eat Well at 30,000 Feet
That reminded me about my longstanding tradition of BYO food on all airlines, whether they serve food or not. Let’s face it, Continental’s free coach food was never anything to write home about.
Some time ago, I wrote one of our most popular articles, “How To Each Well at 30,000 Feet.” Viewed umpteen thousand times, it depicts how we both have been handling airline food, or the lack thereof.
The Plan
A week prior to travel, store leftovers that freeze well and can be eaten cold on the plane. Another option is to make salads or sandwiches.
Thaw frozen items in the refrigerator the night before. We use inexpensive plastic containers that can be reused and bring along plastic cutlery and paper towels.
Throw in a supply of various snacks, bars etc., and you’re ready for gourmet dining on your way to or from Hawaii or elsewhere.
No time to prepare? Stop at your favorite deli, restaurant or even grocery store takeout for carry-on food.
Tip from Jeff
Ask your flight attendants where they get their food for the plane. Most often they’re the best experts as they normally do not eat airline food. Asking them on your outbound flight may come in very handy for the return.
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Good suggestions (this post as well as the earlier one you linked). Other than the handling of the salad dressing you mentioned, have you had any problems with your food clearing TSA? To me, at least, their web site seems to have sparse info on what is allowable.
Thanks.
Ever since the airlines became deregulated, their commitment to the traveling customer has gone down every year. I gave up long ago relying on the airlines for food. And now, it’s getting increasingly more difficult to get food you bring from home past security! The sealed bag of chips and cookies and small ziplock bags of munchies are easy to get past security…but home made hoagies, or anything else not immediately recognizable is scrutinized and they always err on taking it away from you. While this has never happened to me, I have seen it happen to people infront of me in line! For that reason, the first place I hit after going through security is a sub/sandwich shop. I stock up on a cheesestake sub or blackforest ham and swiss sub and about 4 coke zeros for the flight…as long as I don’t have to go through security on another layover, I’m good!
I did take continental to Hong Kong from Dulles about a year ago. I flew to Hong Kong twice. Once on Continental and once on Delta/Northwest and I have to say, Continental was a *MUCH* better experience. And Northwest from Narita Japan to Hong Kong on my favorite plane, the 747, was a rare treat! Either way, I can’t imagine that on this 15+ hour flight, non-stop from Newark to Hong Kong that they wouldn’t supply you with food…but probably not as much as they have in the past. On my flight, they served two lunches, a dinner and a small breakfast…not bad, but nothing to write home about! And you can’t blame the airlines for dumping food…I mean, airline has been the brunt of comedians’ jokes for decades!
I take my flight attendant friend to the grocery store for a Lean Cuisine for her flight. Flight attendants can take gallons of liquid through the TSA checkpoint (my friend usually picks up a gallon of POG for her kids) so they might not be the best to ask about what to bring on the airplane. I think the only universal recommendation they will give is to skip the onboard food for a fee.
thanks for the tips … I like to take a salad or sushi on flights
Thanks for comments and suggestions!
I’ve virtually never had a TSA issue and in fact the food is rarely even looked at. Salad dressing can either be the foil pack kind or put in a less than 3 oz bottle placed in the one quart zip bag. I usually just use lemon and stick a half of one in the salad and squeeze before eating.
Yes, sushi is great. I stop at Ala Moana food court or better yet http://www.marukaihawaii.com/ en route to HNL.
I learned accidently that it is ok to take ice through security. I had packed a lunch for the plane, and put a bottle of frozen water on top of it–intending to throw away the bottle before I went through security. Well, I forgot. They pulled out my bottle, then said, “Oh, it’s frozen–and put it back.” When I asked about that, they said anything that is frozen solid (not slushy) when you go through security is fine. I wasn’t sure I believed him, so I asked again in Seattle. Same answer, frozen is fine, and slushy is not. So now in the future I intend to take ice to keep my airplane food cold every time.