The Chicken’s Finally About to Fly, Y’all

Earlier this year I wrote an article for HuffPost Travel called “Missing the Boat on First Class Airline Food” about the crap that airlines serve, even in business and first class. My point was that just because I’m a biz class passenger doesn’t mean I want to eat caviar-topped mush or some nasty salmon shijizzy. Instead, I’d rather have real food, and I’d even be willing to pay a premium to get it. Because on the ground clearly I can afford whatever I want to eat, but do I chose to eat that junk? No. So what makes airlines think I want it in the air? I don’t. Give me the good stuff!

Well evidently that’s exactly what Japan Airlines is starting to do. In a new partnership with KFC, they’re going to start serving some delish real food from the Colonel on select flights out of Tokyo-Narita. Yum!! Why can’t other airlines do this? I’d kill for some good fried chicken and coleslaw on a long flight. I’d even kill the chicken and fry it up myself… ok no I wouldn’t. Let the purser do it.

This Los Angeles Times article only mentions coach meals, so I hope they’re not going to discriminate against the business and first class peeps and make them continue eating mush while the coachies get to chow down on some finger lickin’ good KFC back there. Actually on my last flight on KLM from Amsterdam to Washington I made the stewardess go back to the coach cabin and get me one of their meals because all three options they had in biz class sucked. And you know what… the pasta they were having back there was soooo good. They were annoyed, but I was satiated… and I was the one paying to be there, so there!

What are these in-flight catering people thinking? The easiest way to predict what we want is to actually ask us and listen to what we say. Japan Airlines, you get it, or you’re starting to at least. All other airlines, y’all are still missing the boat.