004
United Airlines (Special Crew Meal)
Photo taken by: CREW TAG - Captain Quirk (www.crewtag.com)
Route: Domestic, August 2004
Business or leisure trip: Work
Meal type: Snack for crew
Light Choice vegetarian snack - healthy alternative
Drink: soda and water
Comments: United provides like a gazillion choices of special meals
Rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

526
United (co-share with US Airways)
Photo taken by: Heather Hendry
Route: San Francisco SFO to New York JFK, 23 May 2004
Ticket price: ~$250
Flight duration: 6 hours
Aircraft type & class: economy
Business or leisure trip: business
Meal type: breakfast (vegan)
Contents of the meal: a hot peppers, onions and fried potatoes dish, fruit salad, and vegan cinnamon donut
Drink: Starbucks coffee
Comments: Kudos to United for giving real vegetables out for breakfast- most airlines stick with a starches and fruit. The vegetables were soggy, waxy, and greasy, and the potatoes were not nearly fried enough. This was a special order vegan meal, and it was delivered accurately, before everybody else, and contained no non-vegan ingredients. The fruit salad saved this meal- usually airline melon is hard and unripe, but this was sweet, soft and delicious. Donut was of normal mediocre quality for a packaged donut, but this was a quite filling breakfast even without it.
Rating 1-10 (worst-best): 4
Camera brand & type: Nikon coolpix 5000

494
Photo taken by: RuthR
Route: Kona, Hawaii-San Francisco, 25 Dec 2003
Ticket price: Free
Flight duration: 5 hr
Aircraft type & class: B767-300/Y
Business or leisure trip: Leisure
Meal type: Vegetarian Lunch
Contents of the meal: Pasta Primavera, iceberg lettuce salad, melon
Drink: LaCroix Mineral Water
Comments: Nice flight, fast, food not too bad, flight pretty empty
Rating 1-10 (worst-best): 6
Camera brand & type: Canon Powershot A40

401-402

401-402
Photo taken by: Ed King
Route: Chicago to San Diego, 21 Nov 2003
Ticket price: $351.50
Flight duration: 4 hours
Aircraft type & class: A320, economy
Business or leisure trip: business
Meal type: Box Lunch
Contents of the meal: Vegetarian meal -- humus, sliced tomatos, grilled red peppers, arugula with a mini pita (not shown).
Drink: Ginger Ale (not shown)
Comments: Not very filling for a 4 hour flight; second beverage service offered a bag of pretzels; neverthelss, the special meals were distributed efficiently, and it was very fresh.
Rating 1-10 (worst-best): 7 for visuals and taste, 6 for quantity

397
Photo taken by: Fabio M. Zambelli
Route: San Francisco - London Heathrow, 9 Jan 2004
Flight duration: 10h25m
Aircraft type: B777-200, economy
Meal type (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack): vegetarian lunch
Contents of the meal: rice, mixed vegetables, salad with lemon, mushrooms, other vegetables, balsamic vinaigrette, apple, lemon cookies
Drink: 7UP
Comments: lemon cake were extraordinary
Rating 1-10 (worst-best): 6

378
Photo taken by: SteveR
Route: SFO - Kona, Hawaii (KOA), 17 Dec 2003
Ticket price: Free
Flight duration: 5 hrs
Aircraft type & class: B757/Y
Business or leisure trip: Leisure
Meal type: Lunch (Vegetarian)
Contents of the meal: Beans, carrots, veggies with pasta and barbecue sauce, green salad, fruit, and a cookie.
Drink: LaCroix mineral water
Comments: Pretty good. Actually well spiced, although a little mushy. Complaints: no bread, service was awful--the flight attendants were in bad moods because they were short one FA, and the plane was packed to the gills. Still no excuse for surliness, however.
Rating 1-10 (worst-best): 5 for meal, 1 for service

223
Photo taken by: Rev. Dr. Randolph W. B. Becker
Flying from: IAD to DEN (and on to OAK), 9 April 2003
Ticket price: $219RT
Flight duration: 3.5 hours
Aircraft type & class: 757-200, Economy
Meal type: lunch - Hindu vegetarian - bashmati rice with vegetables and a masala-based sauce
Drink: tea
Comments: I had not expected a meal on this flight so was pleasantly surprised. My travel profile specifies Hindu meals because I have found this to be a better choice while in travel than the usual hot-fat, heavily-processed US cuisine. I was not disappointed. The rice was aromatic and properly cooked, the vegetables while generic were not overcooked, and the sauce had some real character to us. It was of appropriate size for a meal during a period in which the height of my activity was napping and watching the movie.
Rating 1-10 (worst-best): 8

164
Photo taken by: Vecky Clarkis
Flying from: Tokyo NRT to Beijing PEK, 4 December 2002
Aircraft type & class: 757 economy
Meal type: ASIAN VEGETARIAN special meal DINNER - Veggie curry and rice, banana, lemon cookie, green salad
Drink: water, green tea
Comments: "BORING. Not enough, not filling, curry nice, fruit good , left me hungry."
Rating 1-10 (worst-best): 4

092
Photo taken by: Michele Liguori
Flying from: San Jose CA to Manchester NH, 7 September 2002
Class: Economy
Meal type: Dinner / vegetarian meal - Pasta with corn, onion, & misc. veg. Walkers shortbread cookie for dessert.
Drink: Juice.
Comments: Uninspired, but edible.
Rating 1-10 (worst-best): 6

091
Photo taken by: Michele Liguori
Flying from: San Jose CA to Manchester NH, 7 September 2002
Class: Economy
Meal type: Dinner / vegetarian meal - Pasta salad with red peppers. Walkers shortbread cookie for dessert.
Drink: Diet Pepsi.
Comments: "This is the worst meal I have ever had on an airplane, ever. Nasty pasta salad with Italian dressing with a bitter aftertaste. Appalling. It only got a positive score because of the shortbread."
Rating 1-10 (worst-best): 1