Which Airline Serves The Unhealthiest Food To Flyers?

When you book a flight, one of the biggest factors might be the price, date, or time, but what about the food and snacks available on the plane? A new analysis of menus and nutrition facts regarding offerings made available to economy passengers on domestic flights show that when it comes to health, Hawaiian Airlines had the least healthy options.

The analysis was conducted by Charles Platkin, a nutrition, fitness, and public health expert, who writes a column called Diet Detective. Every year Platkin reaches out to airlines and asks for their nutrition information for the food either included in the economy-level ticket price or the food made available to economy passengers.

This year, Platkin wrote on his website that Hawaiian Airlines has the least healthy offerings, tied with United Airlines. Additionally, he added that Hawaiian simply did not respond to requests for nutrition information, and United “seems put-out by the process.”

While Hawaiian didn’t offer information directly to Platkin, he wrote that information on the food offered by the airline was gathered by Diet Detective nutritionists, says the article. Platkin said the food Hawaiian offers is high in calories and there aren’t a lot of options for customers to choose from. The menu and the snack items are listed online and feature snacks like “Cup Noodles,” peanut M&M’s, Pringles, and several flavors of popcorn. Platkin says that high-calorie options could cause lethargy or crankiness, usually the last thing a traveler wants to feel while flying.

Delta and Virgin America ranked the best among the other airlines included in the analysis. Platkin writes that it’s not just about the calorie count of the meals that are offered but also the type of food, the ingredients, the availability of gluten free, vegetarian, and Kosher snacks among others for customers with dietary restrictions.

Most of the food options for a flight are listed on the airlines website, so before you head to the airport it’s easy to take a look and see what you’ll have available to you once you’re in the air. The other option is to bring your own food or snacks. The security restrictions are only that you can’t have any liquids, so aside from a smoothie or any juices, your snacks should be ok. Good options include fruit, nuts, energy bars, or even a sandwich. The best way to be sure that you won’t end up hungry or filling up on empty calories from bad in-flight snack choices is to bring your own or get them in the airport before boarding