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Bring Your Own T-Bone
The Travel Critic · March 2, 1998

Flight attendants did a double-take when Richard Check and his business partner boarded a recent US Airways flight from Philadelphia with a carry-on meal.

For good reason. Check had ordered a 24-ounce cowboy steak from Kansas City Prime, a Manayunk, Pa., restaurant. He asked crew members to warm it up and serve it to him with a stuffed potato topped with sour cream, parsley and garlic, accompanied by a side dish of broccoli.

"The other passengers thought they were going to get the same thing," recalls Check, the chief executive of a Wayne, Pa., anti-fraud technology company. "I think they were jealous when they had to settle for their little filets."

Is airline food that awful? You could get that impression on your next trip, not necessarily by risking a mouthful of in-flight chow, but by strolling the airport or a nearby hotel. During the last few months, airport and hotel restaurants have begun to aggressively market takeout to business travelers. And they're going for it, even though their airline ticket prices already include a meal.

The message seems clear: Airline food is gross.

"Nonsense," says Michel Jean-Pierre, a chef for Dobbs International Services Inc., which serves 18 airlines from its Atlanta kitchen. "Our food is better than what they serve in many airport restaurants. It is better than what they serve in many restaurants, period."

Perhaps he's right. But that's not stopping establishments from singling out the frequent traveler who is tired of having to choose between chicken or beef entrees wrapped in plastic.

At the Holiday Inn Jetport in Elisabeth, N.J., just a stone's throw away from the Newark International Airport, so-called "Grab and Go" breakfasts are said to be selling faster than warm bagels on a cold Wall Street morning. For about $4, road warriors can stock up on hot coffee, muffins, yogurt and fresh fruit juices before they travel.

"Travelers want something really quick that they can consume going to their next point of business," says Richard Lussier, director of food and beverages and executive chef for the property. "I think that's why we've been so successful."

The Radisson Plaza Hotel at Mark Center in Alexandria, Va., a short drive from Washington's National Airport, just started offering "Aromas to Go," lunches with grilled sandwiches, potato chips, a cold beverage and two chocolate chip cookies. The box lunches cost about $7 and can be ordered the night before you leave.

"We're selling our breakfasts and lunches to people who are about to fly," says Amy Copeland, the hotel's director of sales and marketing. "They prefer something quick, simple and healthy to the airline food."

Convincing guests to buy a bag lunch is one thing. It's quite another for them to take it on the plane. If you bring your own food, at the very least, you're likely to be subjected to some envious sidelong glances from your fellow passengers.

Extra food also takes up space, and with new carry-on limits being imposed on passengers, it hardly makes sense to saddle yourself down with more, even if you promise the flight attendant you'll eat part of your baggage.

"Face it, you look like a complete goob walking onto a plane with a big box of last night's smelly garlic shrimp takeout," says Christopher McGinnis, editor of The Ticket, an Atlanta newsletter for corporate travelers. He thinks business travelers aren't likely to bother with boxed meals and will continue to consume airline cuisine.

Helmut Woelki hopes frequent fliers won't give up on in-flight meals. The chairman of LSG-Sky Chefs, the largest in-flight caterer in the world, says airlines are taking the takeout issue seriously. His company recently released a survey that indicated more than half the business travelers would arrange their schedule to fly an airline with superior food.

"Airlines are listening to their customers," he says. "And the food is getting better."

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator and author of A Bridge to Nowhere: A Year in the Florida Keys. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.