Airline Food Study 2018-19

Survey provides travelers with the best in-flight food
choices, including health ratings to make healthier choices 35,000 feet in the air
Alaska Airlines The Healthiest Airline in the Sky

​NEW YORK, NY (December 13, 2018) There will be more than 45.7 million passengers traveling during the holiday season (Dec. 20 - Jan. 6) according to Airlines for America (A4A). Knowing the "best" and "worst" choices is a valuable tool for any traveler, so Dr. Charles Platkin, the executive director of the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center and editor of DietDetective.com once again studied the best "Calorie Bargains" and “Calorie Rip-offs” at 35,000 feet.
The Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center and DietDetective.com has released the 2018-19 Airline Food Study rating foods for eleven (11) airlines. The study assigned a “Health Score” (5 stars = highest rate, 0 star = lowest) based on eleven criteria including health and calorie levels of meals, snack boxes and individual snacks, level of transparency (display nutrient information & ingredients), improvement and maintenance of healthy offerings, menu innovation, food and water safety and cooperation in providing this information. The survey includes health ratings, average calories per airline, comments, best bets, food offerings, costs, nutrition information  (e.g., calories and exercise equivalents.) See the full study at http://www.dietdetective. com/airline-food- investigation/.
“This year Alaska Airlines wins the top spot as the airline with the 'healthiest' food choices in the sky with Delta right behind, as well as Air Canada and JetBlue,”  says Charles Platkin, PhD, JD, MPH, the executive director of the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center and editor of DietDetective.com
The average number of calories per menu choice in 2016 was 392, in 2017 it was 405 calories, and this year it is 373, a 32% calorie decrease over last year. Keep in mind, calories are not everything;  the study also looks at the nutrients in these foods, as well as innovations moving towards healthy, tasty, inexpensive, sustainable foods.
Here are the major airline food headlines:

• Alaska Airlines pulls to the top spot this year as the healthiest airline and inherits Virgin America’s (VA) top spot. The airline worked hard to inherit the food footprint of VA, and surpassed VA by offering better individual snacks and healthier meals.
• American and Delta are offering complimentary meals in economy class on domestic flights, something we haven't seen in more than 15 years.

• Airlines are eliminating packages of snack foods and offering individual smaller packages or eliminating individual snacks altogether.
• The “Shame on You” award goes to Frontier. 
• American and Hawaiian Airlines are most improved.
• Eating lots of heavy carbs such as pasta with thick, dense sauces, breads, muffins or cakes will leave you feeling lethargic, cranky and not full or satisfied.  Your blood sugar levels will spike and then fall, which will negatively impact how you feel. On the other hand, you will enjoy an immediate benefit from eating small meals, lots of raw or steamed veggies, and fruits. The fact that food impacts mood, attitude and behavior has been well documented in the scientific literature. Whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure, eating healthier will leave you feeling sharper and more energetic rather than bloated and lethargic.
• Research shows that people typically consume most, if not all of the food that’s placed in front of them. So, avoid snack boxes unless you’re splitting them with a few other people, or it is your main meal.
• Water Watch: This year the study includes food and water safety criteria.  It’s probably best to avoid drinking water from the tap on a plane, which also means staying away from coffee and tea. Even though the EPA has instituted the Aircraft Drinking Water Rule (ADWR) to “ensure that safe and reliable drinking water is provided to aircraft passengers and crew,” there are a couple of reliable researchers who believe there may be harmful bacteria in airline water. This is probably because the water tanks are not emptied very often (you would think they’d be emptied and cleaned at least once a day, but this is not so). So water is just sitting for long periods of time in what appear to be not-so-clean tanks.  Buy bottled water in the airport as well as coffee or tea; you can probably ask the flight attendant to heat it up for you.
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Here are the food-service offerings from several of the more popular airlines, along with Diet Detective's comments, ratings (Health Score: 5 stars = highest rating), calories, exercise equivalents (amount of walking required to burn off the food consumed) and personal favorites.

Summary of Health Ratings (5 Stars is highest): Alaska 4.25 stars, Delta 3.7 stars, JetBlue 3.55 stars, Air Canada 3.45 stars, American 3 stars, United Airlines 2.75 stars, Hawaiian Airlines 2.65 stars, Allegiant Air 2.1 stars, Southwest Airlines 1.6 stars, Spirit Airlines 1.1 stars, Frontier Air .85 stars