Lufthansa to Italy
 

I'm flying Lufthansa to Milan next month. With most US airlines I take my meal with me, the airline food is usually awful! Do I need to do the same with Lufthansa? I've found that some foreign airlines have pretty decent food. I'm flying coach :-(

I honestly don;t think you can reasonable expect to get a definitive answer to this question since we have absolutely no idea what your taste is in terms of food, airline-offered or otherwise..what seems good to some might seem awful to you and the only way you'll find out is by waiting to see what happens ON THE PLANE.
My advice: if you usually take food with you on other airlines I'd do it again on this one.

Get ready for alot of positive and negative comments about Lufthansa's food. Generally, for all airlines nowadays, the food in coach (aka cattle class) is awful.

In regards to Lufthansa specifically I ordered special meals for my husband and myself (low salt, low fat) - they offer a choice of either seafood not vegeterian so we chose seafood. Their vegeterian dishes have gotten bad comments.

Honestly the seafood dish was shrimp which I believe was curried a bit. It was pretty good actually. They served it with some salad and a roll with a custard like dessert plus a cute little bottle of German mineral water. My son had the child's meal and he liked it and it came with a Milka chocolate bar also.

The regular meals I believe on our flights were chicken or beef. They looked allright and everyone ate their meals.

One thing I find that is nice about Lufthansa inflight service is that the flight attendants are genuinely nice and helpful and they serve juice and water during the flight. We were also given snacks during the movie.

All in all I expected Lufthansa's meals to be horrible but it was not so.

Others have found it to be the opposite however.

Does anybody know if drinks (beer, wine)are free on Lufthansa overseas flights?

We are flying LAX to FRA -10 1/2 hours. @-)

What a dreadful airline. But, then again, I won't fly Alitalia, either. Pack your favorite snacks for sure.

Last time I flew Luftansa from Newark to Paris, drinks were free. Wine was Jug wine (screw top) in cattle car. Mixed drinks were poured out of a large bottle -- no mini's. Maybe they had good wine in first and business class.

In general, the food was so-so. Next time I fly Lufthansa, I'll bring my own stuff. ((b))

I found Lufthansa food to be ok (coach), better than the usual US airline food (I usu. fly AA or United - very bad food). All alcohol was free on flight back from Rome, however as previous poster mentioned it was boxed wine quality and I nursed a bad hangover as a result.

FoodSnob,

I disagree with your statement of "what a dreadful airline".

We were fortunate to have flown Lufthansa first class( frequent flyer tickets) and the service and food was superb.

I saved the menu which offered several excellent choices and at least 10 different wines. If you like, I'll post the menu.

Maybe the coach service is "dreadful" but certainly you can't say that about the entire airline.

I've never had a really good meal on any airline--and I've flown on many in the last 50 years. But I haven't had that many terrible ones either--ones that you just couldn't stand to have it in your mouth. Most are just there--OK as fuel and to help pass some time in flight.

The best meals I ever had were the old unpretentious box lunches of the 50's and early 60's that many airlines served. Ham and cheese or turkey sandwiches, an apple or orange, chips, and some cookies.

I fly Lufthansa quite often, and I've flown in both business class and coach. I've found the food in Business class to be pretty unpalatable, but then of course, I'm not big on duck.

They usually offer a pasta or vegetarian option, and I've had better luck with these.

Ed - Yes, Lufthansa offers complete complimentary beverage service on its overseas flights. I quite like some of their German wines, despite what previous posters have said.

You can have the duck though....

Lufthansa is not dreadful. I've flown them many times. Its better than some and worse than a few. If you are the type that worries, than take your own food, but eat the airline food if it looks good.

I've flown Luft. before and found the food to be typical airline food-bring a snack just in case. Also, the service was spectacular, very friendly and helpful. The beer was free in coach (Wersteinter).

Does anyone know if they offer or sell extra ammenities such as neck pillows? Headphones for movies and music- any charge?

Headphones were free

I flew Lufthansa to Milan in 2001 and must say it was the best service/FA of any airline I've flown with. The food was good and the wine was just fine. All beverages were free and we had our choice of brandy or Bailey's before they turned the lights out for the night. In the a.m. we were served with warm face cloths, which I thought was just wonderful. I'm hoping SAS will be as good next month.

Oh Barb, I'm so glad you posted your views. We're flying ATL-Rome in Nov. and we've had no experience with Luft. I was also dreading the food-so much so that I did an earlier post, asking for food carry-on suggestions for our flight.There were some great ideas-I think I'll take some of the best suggestions-just to be on safe side.

i've always been fascinated by the negative comments about airline food. if you don't like it, then don't eat it.

with the new "thrifty" airline policy which now does not include meals, will y'all bitch about the lack of food?

get over it!

airline food has been poor since its inception and for a very good reason: it has to be prepared well in advance of its consumption (which is an immediate liability) and then eaten in an uncommodius enviroment.

stop whining, deal with the flight and, then, enjoy yourselves

P.S.

the food on my flight from atlanta to zurich was acceptible. i ate it.

subcon -- some people will eat anything?

Dick, 95% of the people who fly Lufthansa don't fly first class, don't have leg room, and don't have 10 different wines to chose from. I am pleased you had a nice flight.

In coach class, the white wine was horrible, the red wine drinkable, and the food, especially the vegetarian dish (they ran out of turkey), was as bad as the white wine. ((b))

I hate to be a kill joy, but I had without question the worst meal of my life on Lufthansa, first off it was not even recogizableand & completely uneatable.
The service was great even in coach, I did bring an x-tra blanket and pillow, but beware of the food.
Fluffy

Wow, has this turned out some conflicting views! I know it would, but still the comments ARE helpful!

Barb: you got warm washcloths in COACH??

It's true about the warm face towels-in coach. I do recall now that the flight attendants passed them out a bit before landing.

We flew Lufthansa to and from Italy in July and everything went well. No warm towels, though...we still laugh about the foil wrapped "refreshment napkin." We had adequate legroom in coach, free drinks, a blanket and pillow, and good service. The pasta dishes were fine and all meals came with fruit.

Here's a website that will possibly give you hours of pleasure.... maybe you can find a photo of a Lufthansa meal. www.airlinemeals.net

I fly Lufthansa quite often, and find in one of the best of the European airlines. Even though I live in France,
I now refuse to fly Air France....

PB

PBProvence,I'm right there with you on air france, I had an absolutely abominable expirence on that airline (which I have previously posted and won't bore you all with again) but I will never again fly on that airline.

Bud,

I only mentioned my experience because I think that it is wrong to characterize the entire airine as being "dreadful".

Lufthansa certainly knows how to prepare and serve excellent food...they just don't provide it in coach. We had choices that included caviar or smoked marlin.

For your information, I was only in first class because of free tickets. If I was paying, I would have flown in back.

Dick,

I would never overall characterize an airline by its First Class Service. I've never really been unhappy in Business Class. I've had, like you, great experiences when flying First Class or Business class on almost any airline.

It's the "cattle car" treatment of the folks in the back of the bus, their food, and refreshments that rates one airline over another. Same airline/same flight -- you had 10 choices of wine -- I got the jug!! ((b))

Yep, totally in agreement about Air France. I had an awful experience too. I'd rather fly Lufthansa to Paris and transfer in Frankfurt or Munich than fly direct w/AF anytime!

Yes, they gave us warm washcloths, in coach - it was heavenly. The FAs were so nice and very helpful. The wine was fine, what do you expect in coach. On the flight from Frankfurt to Milan we got the most delicious sandwichs, made with artisan bread, great cheese and ham. It was perfect and really hit the spot, with lovely little chocolates and of course, more wine. Compared to Delta last year, flying to Italy, there was just no comparison. Particularly the service. Like I said before, I hope SAS next month is half as good as Luft.

The 45 minute flight on Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Paris was wonderful -- leather seats, plenty of leg room, nice sandwich, 3 bottles of great German beer, good looking flight attendants (but who was looking)... ((b))

It was the overseas flights that Lufthansa has problems with plus baggage transfer in/out of Frankfurt. ((b))

I agreee w/Budman about the Frankfurt-Paris flight totally except for the flight attendant part-wasn't checking them out! But I guess they're good-looking. I was more interested in the great new plane-an Airbus I believe. The grey leather seats were comfortable too. The sandwiches were really fresh: ham & cheese, cheese alone all in small baguettes. Service w/a smile too!