Consuming an in-flight meal is typically an act of necessity rather than pleasure. We’ve all been there — maybe your refrigerator was cleared out in preparation for upcoming travel and there were no snacks left to pack for your flight, or maybe a tight connection prevented you from grabbing a bite at the airport. Even if you know what’s served is typically far from a culinary masterpiece (unless you happen to be flying on one of the airlines with the best in-flight dining experiences in the world), eating dry chicken or fish is usually better than going hungry.
While you’re free to take your chances with what’s offered on board, your pilots have to think more carefully about their choices for a very important safety reason. The typical cockpit has a captain and a co-pilot, because someone needs to be able to take over in the event that the captain experiences a medical emergency — this includes food poisoning. If that’s the case, airlines don’t want both pilots suffering from food poisoning — which is why most airlines have a policy against pilots choosing the same in-flight meal, although this rule is not mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration.
What do pilots eat on flights?
A pilot’s schedule can vary immensely, and what they eat on the job will depend on how many flights they work in a day, as well as how long those flights are. Pilots typically have more of an opportunity to leave the plane in between flight segments than flight attendants do, and as a result, they may be able to grab a meal to-go wherever they’ve landed. That being said, choices can still be scarce, and relying on expensive airport food isn’t always a good option.
Like flight attendants who bring their own food on work trips, many pilots opt to do the same, especially on short-haul flights. Bringing from home eliminates the risk of consuming the same in-flight meal as their co-worker. Susan Sherman, an Anchorage-based pilot for Alaskan Airlines, told traveler publication The Points Guy, “We get some interesting crew meals provided, so I often try to bring my own. I’ll wrap sandwiches (rolls from Costco, lots of veggies, sometimes packed separately so as not to get soggy), cheese, sometimes turkey, in parchment paper, and they’ll keep for my four-day trips.” On the other hand, Starr Blum, a Cincinnati-based pilot for Atlas Air, told the publication why she tends to rely on the in-flight offerings. “As a ‘freight dog,’ my trips take me domestic and international. Due to the length I’m gone and the foreign countries I visit, packing leftovers from home and bringing certain foods isn’t an option,” Blum explains. “Every flight is catered with meals you can heat up, [like] sandwiches, snacks, and fruit.”
Is airplane food safe to eat?
