This was always puzzling to me until a German uber driver explained that airport and transport hub locations of grocery stores are exempt from the strict opening hours rules (often closed totally on Sundays, limited hours Saturdays etc). Every brand wants a 24hr store if they can open one.
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Keep looking!!! 
Beautiful vistas you have there.
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What are you talking about. Airlines do not source food from grocery stores.
@tigerjohn never claimed such a thing.
He wrote that German transportation hubs (like train stations or airports) often include supermarket branches that would otherwise not be allowed to have longer opening hours. Business hours are heavier regulated in Germany than they are in the US.
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Hmm, it appears that the location doesn’t exist anymore.
Just had what was supposedly rope vieja. Dry as a bone. Rice too. I would have thought this was an easy meal for a plane. Guess not.
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A far cry from my 1978 first class flights to LA to plan a hostile takeover, where they served coffee with a silver tea service and everyhing was top flight (no cell phone to take pix in those days and the quality of the food was blotted out in memory by the absolutely wonderful food we had at French restaurants (including Ma Maison) while in LA on that trip (when we were not eating late at night in conference rooms).
I flew to Denver earlier this summer and they did not even offer food other than cookies/pretzels in Economy but flights to Milan and Istanbul, on Emirates and Turkish, also Economy, are still quite good. Ive flown both of these a number of times and the quality holds up. Frankly, as a non-frequent flyer, I cant see paying the huge premium for First when I can eat well, be entertained and sleep just fine in Economy- especially when there is great food (not merely good) awaiting at my destinations.
Someone mentioned ordering Hindu meals above or similar. I have really been tempted because first of all they smell great and second it take forever to get served the normal meals in the cheap seats. Preplanning is needed and I always forget.
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All that’s going to get you is “not beef” 
.
The same way a Muslim meal will get you “not pork”.
Ordering a vegetarian meal or a kosher meal is more likely to give you a jump on everyone.
Cathay has the worst rendition of staged meal service I have ever experienced — they served all the “special” meals first, which for them included vegetarian — which is weird for Asia sectors that include India, as at least half the passengers are likely to have ordered a vegetarian meal.
So half the cabin got served first, without the trolleys so it took even longer, then they heated the non-vegetarian meals and brought the trolleys around to serve those.
There was at least a half hour gap between the two, and the vegetarians had to wait another half hour to have their trays cleared because that was done all together and after everyone finished eating.
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This is what it was like for us on a recent trip - I think with Turkish. They went around with all the special meals - which smelled super good each meal seemed to be separately delivered with a smile. The flight went off quite late and it felt like we had to wait and wait, until after all those folks were fed before they even began to feed the huge plain Anyway, the food that went by me was definitely Indian food, it smelled so desirable! BTW both Turkish and emirates all halal in their regular service so there are not muslim meals per se, its all hindu, jain vegan etc etc. The meat on these airlines is generally quite good , with some tasty spicing, I always order the meat. Much too much stuff overall on the tray, however.
Im heading to South Africa on British Airways, God only knows what or how the food on their flights will be! I will be in Heathrow for a meal at dinnertime - any suggestions are welcome.
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Yeah, whenever I think about ordering a vegetarian meal to jump ahead in the service line, I fear that they will give me eggplant and that makes me stick with the generic 
Though on a recent flight, the attendant who had pitched me a specific choice quite hard came back to see that I had not eaten most of it, and offered me any other meal I would prefer. I always carry my own backup food on all medium- and long-haul flights (years of frequent flying habits die hard) so I declined because I had eaten some of that, but she was very perturbed.
I can’t recall if it was the same flight or one a week later where someone tried to convince me that parotta and chicken curry was the best breakfast choice and I almost died laughing – stale, pretty much deep-fried flatbread and spicy coconut curry is the stuff of my mile high nightmares, no matter how tasty it might be .
London to Qatar on Qatar Airways - early morning departure. Choices at breakfast were: chicken noodle stir-fry, frittata or chocolate pancakes with strawberry compote. I often get nauseous on planes and I hadn’t eaten anything since I woke up at 3am, so I thought I should probably eat something. The pancakes seemed like the only thing I could keep down. They were ok. I scraped the chocolate sauce and compote off.
They also offered a snack towards the end of a flight - a chicken or vegetable pastry. I chose the veggie one, which was a decent mushroomy filling encased in a long cylindrical pastry shell, served hot.
On the Qatar to Kolkata leg the choices were chicken biryani or paneer masala with pulao. I chose the biryani. Lighting was too dim to take a photo. I just about managed to eat a few spoonfuls - it was fine but I just didn’t feel like eating.
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Wow! Another work trip, or vacation?
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Vacation, to see family. I’ll hopefully post on eating from the trip soon 
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Yay! Have the best time!!
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Thanks - we are eating really well so far!
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Just got back from my trip to South Africa (Cape Town) via British Air. I was not impressed by the in air food compare to other airlines. The best item was a “samosa” we got as a snack in a box in the last feeding before arriving in NY. The loud personalities of some of the flight stewards was abrasive too and the way they woke people up for meals… Heathrow was a nightmare. And the days of getting good tasty local food in airports seems to be over. (Istanbul one exception) Its all a big commercial industrial operation processing us through. I will probably take the extra time to fly with Emirates Turkish or such the next time, I go to that region.
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Surprised about that - we always find Heathrow to be one of the more “relaxed” and easy to navigate bug airports
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I was in the 5A terminal
That’s the standard/large terminal 5 building we also use frequently when flying with BA - we like that terminal. 5B and C are a bit more boring/bare bones with much less shops and restaurants (and the lounges are also not on that level as in 5A)
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