Plane Passenger Orders In-Flight Meal—in Disbelief at What She's Served

A traveler has shared her disappointment at the stark difference between the advertised food and the actual in-flight meal on her recent journey. Daisy, who goes by @daisy_travels on TikTok, shared what she was given on a recent flight with EasyJet in a video that has garnered more than 800,000 views. The passenger ordered a "penne pomodoro," which in the promotional picture appeared fresh and appetizing. But what she received was a far cry from the picture: the pasta was dry and stuck together in a block on one side, with sauce separated totally and spilling over the edge. More From Newsweek Vault: Best Credit Cards With Airport Lounge Access In her caption, Daisy wrote: "Easyjet £8.50 for this," expressing her disappointment on the video sharing site. A spokesperson for EasyJet told Newsweek: "We are sorry this customer was disappointed with their meal and we will pass this feedback onto our inflight retail supplier." More From Newsweek Vault: How to Choose a Travel Credit Card In the comments, people reacted to the expectation of in-flight food compared with the reality. "I expected nothing and was still disappointed," viewer Noot wrote. While Emm25_03 added: "I wasn't expecting it to be that bad." While some were more optimistic about the meal. TikToker Camilliechanx said: "It doesn't look bad, just mix it up!" "This is why I always take my own snacks now. I'd never pay it," said Tam. "Always grab a meal deal to take with me too." Another commenter, Taylor Lol, summarized the unpredictable nature of airplane food in a comment: "Plane food is wild since it's sometimes pretty decent, and then other times it's literal slop."

A Brief History of Airline Food

In the early days of air travel in-flight meals were a simple affair. Food on flights in the 1920s consisted of lighter items like sandwiches, coffee and cocktails on flights between London and Paris. The modern airline meal as we know it today was developed during World War II, when William Maxson invented the convection oven, allowing for the reheating of partially cooked meals in the air. This resulted in meals becoming more elaborate, with airlines offering multi-course dinners and even collaborating with chefs and restaurants. The so-called "golden age" of airplane food is often hailed as the 1960s and '70s, with airlines offering freshly carved roast beef on board, or dishes like tartlet Odessa and veal Orloff. For many years airlines focused on the quality of food to entice customers. When Ronald Reagan announced airline deregulation, airlines started fighting to compete on price and the quality of food became less important. Today most domestic flights in economy class only offer snacks for purchase, while full meals are typically limited to long-distance international flights. Despite this, the technology for great meals in the air has only improved, and on many airlines the food provided in business and first class is very impressive. Airline food is often a topic of discussion online. Recently, American Airlines launched an investigation after a moldy meal was served to a passenger on a flight. It told Newsweek at the time it was fully investigating the incident. Another airline passenger recently shared a great hack for having a hot meal for free on their flight. TikToker @sazberli shared how she saw someone bring a cup of instant noodles and enjoy them by simply asking for boiling water in flight. Newsweek reached out to @daisy_travels via TikTok for comment.