Paying to upgrade your economy meal

[Mattg]

I flew with Lufthansa in economy class yesterday. I noticed after booking that Lufthansa will sell you an “upgrade” to your economy class meal for around €15-30 (depending on which option you choose). There are 7 “a la carte” meals to choose from and you have to pre-order online. The service is available on long-haul flights departing Frankfurt and Munich and the upgraded meal replaces the food you would otherwise receive in the first meal service.

I chose the “aroma of Asia” meal which cost €20 and it was delicious. It was business class quality food, just without the starter and cheese plate at the end. It even came with metal cutlery. I would probably pay that again.

 

[Pushka]

I felt the need to pay Jetstar to upgrade, actually make that just provide, a meal on a 12 hour flight in J from Honolulu last week.

 

[DC3]

I felt the need to pay Jetstar to upgrade, actually make that just provide, a meal on a 12 hour flight in J from Honolulu last week.

I have flown QF some years ago on B767 SYD-HNL, return, in Y. Never again in Y for that distance. As for Jetstar ....

Does Jetstar fly from ADL direct now?

 

[Denali]

Flew Delta Y LAX>NY many years ago and pre ordered/upgraded our meal and it was a big hit considering the usual Y offerings and would do again (people around us was asking why we got the special meal).

Considering my husband is a like a hobbit with meals, I would pay to upgrade his meals if that was an option .

 

[Mattg]

Flew Delta Y LAX>NY many years ago and pre ordered/upgraded our meal and it was a big hit considering the usual Y offerings and would do again (people around us was asking why we got the special meal).

Considering my husband is a like a hobbit with meals, I would pay to upgrade his meals if that was an option .

I wish more airlines would offer this (as long as it's not at the expense of the quality of the regular meals). It's also no doubt a good source of ancillary revenue for an airline, so I'm surprised more don't.

FWIW, I was the only person on my flight to order an upgraded meal.

 

[Pushka]

I have flown QF some years ago on B767 SYD-HNL, return, in Y. Never again in Y for that distance. As for Jetstar ....

Does Jetstar fly from ADL direct now?

Only domestic and to DPS I think.

 

[Daver6]

What a great idea. I never knew such a thing existed.

Perhaps QF should offer this in J, where you can upgrade the Neil Perry weeds to a proper salad.

 

[odysseus]

Something the Euro lines are doing. Swiss started it last year, and I guess it was successful enough that Lufthansa (part of same group) joined in.

Air France also doing it. Looked at the menu on the recent booking, but the description was simple and not enticing. Perhaps the onboard product is better, but it didn't justify the risk of paying extra and getting something not much different.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

KLM used to offer them as well. Looked quite good. In the same price range as above. But discountinued (or rather 'temporarily unavailable' according to their website). So I guess it might work for some airlines but not others. I think it's a fairly hefty addition to a fare if the base is only costing you say E400 to fly to Asia, another 60 euros for a meal is a substantial increase.

 

[TomVexille]

I believe Austrian has been doing this for quite a few years now. Makes sense as they are part of LH Group

 

[Forg]

What a great idea. I never knew such a thing existed.

Perhaps QF should offer this in J, where you can upgrade the Neil Perry weeds to a proper salad.

You’re just trying to mess with our heads ... “proper salad”, as if a salad can be proper!

On the topic though, while I can understand the interest/excitement in trying a new product, for what you get it sounds kinda expensive to me, judging by the photo & my single (EK) experience of first class meals ... eg. I’d be annoyed if I paid ~$100 in a restaurant and got something only as good as the SYD-AKL or AKl-SYD F meals were. You don’t expect great food inflight, you hope in J+ they can fluke it occasionally but with the top-tier airlines it’s unlikely to be as good as the $40-mains restaurant in Australia (and if you’re on 2nd tier like Vietnamese or China Airlines you don’t even expect ‘good’).

 

[Mrmaxwell]

Seeing as the current slop meals served by QF in Y would cost no more than $5 I think it is a great idea....I'd even pay a bread roll surcharge that ensure the bread roll you are served is actually edible.

 

[Renato1]

It's been a long time since I had a meal in Economy that I didn't like (that was with British Airways back in 2005 - haven't flown with them since).
Can't see any point upgrading at that price.
Regards,
Renato

 

[henrus]

Air France, Austrian and Swiss have done this for a while now.

I've done it twice on Air France flights from Seoul to Paris... needless to say the food both times was very good and I'd probably pay again to get the better food.

Biggest issue is you get your meal first but they don't have a drinks cart - Air France at least offer a drink (one direction Champagne from J) but other airlines that do this (SQ Premium Economy BTC, Qantas QEat) don't offer drinks until the rest of the cabin is being served.

That being said I paid around $10 for a salad (sumo salad branded) on a Jetstar flight last year and was very impressed. It was fresh and hit the spot - something a lot of full service economy airlines can't seem to manage.

 

[Isochronous]

It's a good idea and I thought QF was moving toward this with the whole Eat on Q thing they had when they started offering special online-only meals, that was about 5 years ago now.