Airport food: Seems to have improved a lot but prices still crazy expensive

[scho63]

I've been on the road a lot this past year and with all the time spent at airports, it seems the food I have eaten is greatly improved over the first 35 years I traveled.

- Is it better quality restaurants?
- Needing to improve since it is so expensive?
- Am I just immune to shitty food and tolerate it?
- I have poor taste?
- I'm so hungry I would eat dog shit if they served it?
- I know some secret high class places for special people I go to?
- I think Airline Lounges serve good food for free?
- I drink too much and have no idea what the hell I am eating?

I'm currently sitting on an American Airlines flight from Norfolk to Charlotte and will be drinking soon, very soon.

So who is the travel food expert that can set the record straight?

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi

Let's get you to bed boomer

Cash is king!

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Do gas stations still take cash?

I have been using a credit card for gas since the early 70s, Shell or Phillips. But not for a ****ing soda out of a vending machine or fish sandwich.

[scho63]

On board to Louisville. Should be leaving in 20 minutes.

[Gary Cooper]

Originally Posted by Donger

I don't eat at airports. Ever.

Not even franks and beans?

[MahomesMagic]

Last time I ate at an airport I got food poisoning.

[Buehler445]

A couple years ago I had an 8 hour layover in Dallas. Ate at this “BBQ” restaurant because it looked like I could chill in there a bit.

It might have been the worst food I’ve ever had ever.

[scho63]

I finally made it to Louisville after another 90 minute delay.

[ChiliConCarnage]

Originally Posted by scho63

I finally made it to Louisville after another 90 minute delay.

From Charlotte? You could have drove faster. Are you headed back to Phoenix?

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Airports make money on the fees they charge vendors. They've all started waking up and realizing that they can get people to spend more money if their food and shopping is decent instead of just shitty fast food and convenience stores.

To one of your questions, yes, airport lounges are a good value if you travel a lot. However, overcrowding has become the norm lately, so they're not the quiet escape they once were.

My rule is if I'm hanging in an airport for over two hours, and I usually added plenty of connection time when I travel internationally and there will be more than two hops, the lounges are so worth it. Mrs. Glorydayz was introduced to the United lounge on our trip in June and she gave it two thumbs up so I know it's a good value...

[scho63]

Originally Posted by ChiliConCarnage

From Charlotte? You could have drove faster. Are you headed back to Phoenix?

Here for the week for business.

[Shiver Me Timbers]

Originally Posted by Otter

Speaking of airports, if you have to consider traveling through Heathrow I'd highly recommend getting drug through the streets by a rope tied to the back of a mule to your destination as a more pleasant alternative.

Truth^

I refuse to go to or thru Heathrow period. The last time I did it took 2 hours to get over to my gate for a flight to Rome. I paid a ton of money to change our return trip just to avoid Heathrow.

[|Zach|]

Headed from MCI to DIA later this week I feel like I need to grab something just in honor of this thread.

[DanT]

Heathrow doesn't seem that bad to me, but I've only been there a couple of times. Last year, a few of us from around the world flew there to stay a couple of days at one of the Hilton airports there (of which I think there are three different Hiltons, each connected to different terminals), in order to work on a research paper. My wife and I also went through there earlier this month, on a round trip to Ireland. The main issue with Heathrow is that it's very big and if you have to switch terminals, which is not unusual, you may have to go through security again. The layout hurt us a little on the way to Ireland because we didn't take advantage of the British Airways arrivals lounge we had access to in Terminal 3 because we wanted to get over the Terminal 2 in plenty of time for our Aer Lingus flight to Cork, but then when we got there, we weren't able to use the lounge that Aer Lingus had contracted with while renovating their own lounge. But that was OK, because the terminal itself was interesting and comfortable enough to wait in. On the way back home, we were able to use the lounges at all three airports (Dublin, Heathrow, and Dallas) on our way to Sacramento. The American and British Airways lounges were pretty solid. I don't normally fly that airline, but I was able to use the lounges because we splurged on business class seats (although the leg to Ireland on Aer Lingus was all economy and the leg from Dublin to Heathrow on the way back was a BA plane where the "first class" seats were still three across, but with the middle seat blocked off with a shelf for the two other seats to use, something I hadn't seen before and that was a little ridiculous.)
I normally fly United and have a credit card that includes a United Club membership. Although their lounges can get pretty crowded, they're still pretty comfortable, all and all, and worthwhile, at least for someone like me who mostly has to fly through multiple airports to get from Sacramento to where ever I'm going. United gets a lotta flack, and I had been wondering if I should switch to another legacy carrier, but watching Delta's response to the CrowdStrike snafu and experiencing American/British Airways on this latest flight is making me feel pretty good about United these days.

[DanT]

Years ago, I got a BBQ beef sandwich at the Sara Lee deli in the Denver airport and it was so bad for this KC native, cold cuts of beef on a bun with cold BBQ sauce tossed on it, that when I got on the plane and saw that the guy in front of me had two teardrop tattoos, I asked him if that was because he had eaten two of those sandwiches before.

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by DanT

Years ago, I got a BBQ beef sandwich at the Sara Lee deli in the Denver airport and it was so bad for this KC native, cold cuts of beef on a bun with cold BBQ sauce tossed on it, that when I got on the plane and saw that the guy in front of me had two teardrop tattoos, I asked him if that was because he had eaten two of those sandwiches before.

Like the Q Bar BBQ joint in Houston, I won't ever so much as get a drink there again. I know airports make serving BBQ a bit of a challenge for BBQ restaurants, but man was their food terrible both time I tried it. Never again...