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Airplane Food: The Reason Why It Tastes Different

We all have had friends or heard people complain about airline food being bland and tasteless.

But who can blame them!

Meals served on airplanes are hardly gourmet, especially for people who fly economy class on international or long-distance flights.

If you feel the food that airlines serve is unappetising, you’d be surprised to know that it’s not really their fault and there are some logical reasons to back this.

But before we get into the real reasons why airplane food tastes different, let us look at how food was served on airplanes and how it changed.

The Evolution Of Airplane Food

In the early days of flying, airplanes took a long time to reach their destination, especially if it was an international flight.

Passengers didn’t have an inflight television to keep them occupied so they had no choice but to either read, sleep or eat. To entertain passengers, airlines started to copy the services on other modes of transportation such as trains/boats and turned their attention to food.

They started serving multi course fancy food like carved roast beef, lobster and prime rib which was accompanied by wine or expensive liquor in real glassware. This became a huge success and airlines started competing with each other, trying to offer special dining experiences to passengers.

As technology advanced, flying got cheaper and airlines had more people to serve. This is why in 1952 the economy class was created and with it came a decline in the quality of the food for the masses.

Once air travel’s popularity increased, the International Air Transport Association(IATA) started regulating airplane food and things became much tougher for the airlines.

Reasons Why Airplane Food Tastes Different

1.Dry Air

To maintain the pressure inside the cabin, airlines have to closely regulate the cabin air.

The air inside the airplane is almost 15 % drier than the air that we breath on the ground. This can affect your sense of smell and taste.

In fact, these senses start to deteriorate the moment you step on an airplane and it becomes worse when the airplane takes-off. The pressurized air makes passengers more dehydrated and dry-mouthed.

That is why wine tastes more acidic on an airplane.

2.Pressurized Cabin

Although the cabin is pressurized to mimic the air pressure you would feel on the ground, it’s still less than what you would experience at sea level.

Due to this our nose swells up and the body fluids start flowing upwards. This swelling messes with our sense of smell, making the food unappetising. You might be able to relate to this sensation since we’ve all had a cold at some point.

Another reason that researchers have discovered is that lower temperature and air pressure make it harder to detect odorants, which are molecules that stimulate the nose’s sensory cells.

Since it’s harder to smell in an airplane , it’s difficult to taste food onboard.

3.Airplane Noise

In case you didn’t know, airplane noises include vibrations from the air striking the hull, as well as the roaring of the engines and winds.

These collectively produce a constant sound that can be as loud as 85 decibels, which is equivalent to the noise produced by city traffic.

We know it sounds wired but, noise levels do affect your sense of taste. According to researchers, loud noises inhibit our ability to taste sweet flavours.

4.Airplane Food Is Re-Heated

Airplanes cruise at 30000 feet, however, its cabin pressure is equal to the air pressure at 6,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level, making it difficult to prepare fresh meals onboard.

That is why prior to take-off, airlines freeze pre-cooked meals on the ground and thaw them out in air.

Reheating the food in less than ideal conditions affects the taste of food on an airplane.

5.Method Of Cooking

Preparing and serving tasty food for a few hundred people above the clouds is not an easy task.

Due to food safety standards, all meals must be cooked on the ground. Such requirements for mass production definitely ties down the chef’s hands.

The food is made with ingredients which are long lasting and preservatives are added before it is packed, blast-chilled and stored in the refrigerator.

In a bid to preserve food, the chefs have to compromise on the quality of the food.

6.Food Budget

It is not the caterer, but the airline who decides what food is to be served.

Caterers have to use the products which are decided by the airlines and in a bid to reduce costs, airlines have started suggesting cheaper alternative food ingredients.

In 1987 American Airlines saved up to $40000 by removing one Olive from each passengers salad plate. This is the best example of how airlines can reduce costs by keeping food budgets in check.

Can Airlines Make Airplane Food Taste Better?

Once researchers discovered the science behind bland airplane food, airlines started investing in making the food taste better.

In 2010 Lufthansa asked Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics, to conduct a research on how airplane noise levels affect the taste of the food.

They found that loud noise does suppress the sensation of sweetness, however it enhances the flavour of Umami, the savoury taste other than sweet, sour, salt and bitter.

Lufthansa began experimenting with the way it seasoned food and started to use naturally intense flavours, such as orange/tomato oils and tomato concentrate, to enhance the food served.

Following Lufthansa’s example, many airlines started to develop meals with a more scientific approach and have become better at it.

In fact, Qatar Airways hires Michelin-Starred Chefs who create flavours keeping in mind that a passenger’s taste buds are numbed at 30000 feet in the air.

Read more about the “Top 10 Airlines That Serve The Best In-Flight Meals

*Want to Grab A Bite Before Your Flight? Simply download the AirWhizz App and get information about airport eateries & lounges along with real-time updates for your flight on the move. Fly Stress-Free!

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Heavy Rains Continue To Affect Flight Operations At Mumbai Airport

The city of Mumbai sees its worst days when the monsoon season arrives and yesterday was no different for the financial capital of India.

More than 387 flights were delayed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, as Mumbai witnessed heavy showers from early hours of Sunday.

Here are all the details about the flight delays –

  • The rains began at 12:00 a.m. and within 3 hours almost 31 departing and 41 arrival flights were delayed.
  • Between 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. the number of delayed flights came down. Only 10 departure and 16 arrival flights were delayed during this time.
  • The intensity of the rains increased after some time and Mumbai airport announced a delay of 110 departure and 16 arrival flights between 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
                Number of Flights Delayed At The Mumbai Airport On Sunday

                    Time                  Departure                      Arrival
12 a.m. – 3 a.m. 31 44
3 a.m. – 6 a.m. 10 16
6 a.m. – 9 a.m. 110 16
9a.m. – 12 p.m. 34 38
12p.m. – 3 p.m. 22 29
3 p.m. – 6 p.m.
6 p.m. – 9 p.m. 7 13
9p.m. – 12 a.m. 2 15

 

Airlines such as Jet Airways, Air India and IndiGo were severely affected by the rains and most of their flights were delayed.

Jet Airways and Vistara took to social media to inform passengers about the delays in flights and warn passengers about the possible traffic congestions on routes leading to the airport.

According to weather forecasters, Skymet, Mumbai rains have been unpredictable this season with some days experiencing heavy rainfall while others experiencing light showers. They have also found out that most of the heavy rains have happened on the weekend for the past few weeks.

The presence of a cyclonic circulation at 10000 feet around the south Gujrat and north Konkan region has been cited as the reason for the downpour in Mumbai.

Heavy rains are expected to continue for the next 48 hours. There might be waterlogging and traffic congestion in different pockets of Mumbai, but the good news is that there will be occasional breaks in between and rains will not be on a continuous basis.

If you want to know more about your flight status, simply download the AirWhizz App. You will get real-time flight and weather updates on the move to help you plan your trip better.

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Bangalore Airport Will Soon Introduce “Self Check-In” Kiosks!

Passengers travelling from the Bangalore Airport, will soon be able to get their boarding pass without much hassle!

The Kempegowda International Airport(KIA) in Bangalore is planning to introduce 16 ‘Self Check-In’ kiosks near the airline ticket counters.

Director General of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Mr Rajesh Ranjan, has said that there is a lot of emphasis on introducing e-governance and e-handling at the Bangalore Airport due to the city’s reputation as a technology hub. For this purpose and to reduce check-in time, the airport might install self check-in kiosks.

Apart from these 16 kiosks, airport authorities will also introduce 2 assisted kiosks through which passengers can check in and get a boarding pass without going to the counters. The baggage can then be sent to the airlines from these kiosks itself.

Currently, there are a few such kiosks at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.

Mr Ranjan has also said that, following Hyderabad Airport’s example, CISF personnel are planning to do away with stamping of the boarding pass at Bangalore Airport.

They are planning to implement a check-in system where the passengers can swipe the boarding pass at the scanner, which will recognise the barcode and allow them in. However, the details of this system are yet to be finalized.

This decision taken by the Bangalore Airport will surely be a step further in implementing the government’s “DigiYatra” scheme, which lately took a hit after the Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI) refused to share Aadhaar data with aviation authorities.

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Tips To Avoid Losing Your Bag When You Fly!

You’re waiting at the airport baggage carousel for what seems like forever, when suddenly the conveyor belt stops and your bag is nowhere to be found!

It’s an awful experience when an airline loses your bag and thousands of flyers around the world experience this every day.

Travel mishaps can happen at any time and to anyone, but if you’re well prepared you can reduce those chances.

But before we get into how you can prevent losing your bag at the airport, let us tell you what you should do if your airline delays or loses your luggage.

Delayed/Misplaced Luggage

In spite of all the technological advances, airlines are still handled by humans and errors are bound to happen.

But, airlines today have ways to track your bag and majority of misplaced luggage is returned eventually.

Delay of your luggage can happen in 2 cases –

  • If the airline has sent your bag on another flight, in which case you’ll get your bags within a few hours.
  • If the airline has sent your bag to the wrong airport, for which you’ll have to wait for a few days

Make sure you fill the delayed baggage form immediately at the airport and give the attendant your hotel or home address as well as a phone number where you can be reached.

The airline will bring you your luggage when its found and there won’t be a need for you to go personally to the airport.

If a bag is not sent to you within 21 days, it is considered lost.

Lost Luggage

If the airline looses your bag, it means that it’s time to file a claim.

The airline will do everything it can to find your luggage, but if they officially claim that your luggage is gone, they have to reimburse you for it.

Filling a claim involves filling out a lost baggage form and explaining in detail what was in the bag. Contact the airline representative and they will take care of the rest.

Now that you have a fair idea about what to do If your bag gets lost, here are a few tips that can help you avoid such a situation –

1.Attach A Name Tag

With air travel on the rise, companies such as VIP and American Tourister are mass producing their bags, which makes it difficult for us to have a unique suitcase.

But you can get around this by attaching brightly coloured baggage tags with your name and phone number on it.

You can put a copy of your itinerary inside your bag as well,  so that its easier for the airline to locate you if your not at your home base.

There have been instances where other people have taken the bag thinking it’s theirs and worst is when they just leave it in the middle of the airport when they realise it.

At least someone will be able to contact you if your phone number is on the bag.

2.Arrive Early

In case you didn’t know, the most common reason for delayed or lost baggage is late check-ins at the airport.

In general, make sure you reach the airport as early as possible so that you never have to get into such a situation.

If you’re wondering what to do after you arrive early at the airport , read about “5 Fun & Unique Ways To Kill Time At The Airport”

3.Keep A Buffer Between Connecting Flights

This is one more reason why bags get sent on a different flight or the wrong airport!

In a hurry to transfer your bags onto a connecting flight, airlines can do this and locating your bag can become a herculean task.

Keep some buffer time between your connecting flights while booking your tickets and avoid the unnecessary stress.

4.Pack Smartly

Pack all valuables in your carry-on luggage.

Travel essentials such as Cameras, computers, medication kits, wallets, jewellery and passports shouldn’t be carried in you checked-in luggage.

Also make sure you pack a set of clothes in your carry-on bag so that you’ll have something to wear if your checked bag is delayed or lost.

PRO TRAVEL TIP- If you’re traveling with a partner , consider dividing your clothes between each other’s checked bags. This way if one of the bags is lost, you’ll each still have some of your belongings.

5.Make A Packing List

We know it sounds tedious, but it will go a long way in case your bag gets lost.

While filling the lost baggage form, the airline asks you for a list of items you have in the bag. Its better to come prepared, than think about what all you’ve lost on the spot.

6.Buy Travel Insurance

We can’t stress enough on the fact that travel insurance is really important.

Other than covering damaged and lost bags, travel insurance covers emergency medical expenses, emergency cash expenses at the hospital and personal accidents which might occur when you are onboard.

It’s a wise decision to buy travel insurance since it costs just a fraction of your total trip and you are at ease while travelling when you are insured

7.Buy a Luggage Tracker

Consider buying a luggage tracker, which costs not more than Rs 500 and gives you real-time location of your bag on the phone.

Even if you cant find your bag at the airport, you can track it especially if someone takes your bag by mistake, thinking it’s theirs.

One more way in which you can avoid losing your bag at the airport is by downloading the AirWhizz App. We have partnered up with prestigious travel insurance companies such as HDFC Ergo, so you can book your travel insurance via the app itself. You’ll also get information about airline policies and airport services as an app user on the move.

Keep your luggage safe & Fly Stress-Free!

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Emirates Brings Back “Hindu Meal” Option On Their Food Menu!

Dubai based airline, Emirates, has decided to bring back the “Hindu Meal” option, 24 hours after it had decided to scrap the food category from its menu.

On 3rd July 2018, the airline had announced that they will remove the “Hindu Meal” option for their passengers in the economy class while retaining it for those in the business and first class. They had done this based on the reviews and feedback they had previously received.

However, once the airline announced that they were going to remove the ‘Hindu Meal’ from their menus, they got a lot of customer feedback saying that they should not scrap it. This made the airline reverse its decision and decided to bring back the meal category the very next day.

On 4th July 2018 the airline released a statement saying that they have always provided a variety of special meals that can be ordered at least 24 hours in advance to cater to their customers with medical or religious dietary requirements, including Hindu customers. This is why they will bring back the ‘Hindu Meal’ option.

For Emirates, food and drinks form an important part of their flying experience and their chefs carefully choose a menu based on the cultures & preferences of the airline’s wide customer base.

For their Indian passengers, the airline provides food options like Vegetarian Jain Meal, Indian Vegetarian Meal, Kosher Meal and Non-beef Non-Vegetarian Meal.

The ‘Hindu Meal’ is a popular option that many international airlines offer their passengers. Airlines like Singapore Airlines and Air India offer such ‘religious meals’ to their guests.

Emirates is the largest international airline operating in India, in terms of flights. The airline operates flights to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kochi. Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram.

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Delhi Airport To Provide Automated Wheelchairs For Elderly & Differently Abled Passengers!

In a bid to make air travel comfortable for ‘Passengers with Reduced Mobility’(PRM), Delhi Airport will soon introduce automated wheelchair services.

At present, there are 7 electric wheelchairs being provided at the airport on trial basis, however, authorities are planning to start this service permanently by ‘Mid-August’ this year.

Here are all the details about the new automated wheelchairs –

  • It can carry a load of up to 250 Kg.
  • It is designed to accommodate a passenger and their check-in bag.
  • The battery operated wheelchair is capable of functioning the whole day on a single charge.
  • Travellers who fall under the PMR category will also be provided an assistant by the service operators.

Based on the requirements of the airlines, an adequate number of wheelchairs will be introduced at all terminals of the Delhi Airport.

Delhi International Airport Limited(DIAL) has appointed “Aviaxpert Aviation Pvt. Ltd.” to operate this service at the airport. They are procuring these wheelchairs from Europe.

DIAL has said that the service providers will be able to track the whereabouts of the passengers within the airport, till they board the airplane, using a chip installed in the wheelchair.

At present, airlines have a dedicated staff to help elderly and disabled passengers. They use basic wheelchairs to ferry them from the entrance of the airport to the airplane.

DIAL will not scrap manually operated wheelchairs which are present at the airport, once the automated wheelchair service is established.

Airports around the world have started using automated wheelchairs to help such passengers. We hope that more airports in India take Delhi airport’s example and start this service in the near future.

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Paperless Travel At Indian Airports Hits Aadhaar Hurdle!

The government’s plan to make air travel paperless in India has hit a bump.

The Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI) has refused to share Aadhaar biometric data with aviation authorities due to security reasons.

Civil Aviation Ministry is looking at different identity options to implement the “DigiYatra” scheme. The other options that can be used for identification of an air traveller are passports or special identity cards made for this purpose but they won’t be able to give the same benefits as an Aadhar card.

The scheme aims at making air travel simpler for passengers by linking their Aadhar information with the database of different airline stakeholders. This would remove the need for paper-based documents or manual security checks at airports.

Many airports were gearing up for this scheme by implementing biometric security scanners and e-ticket gates to automate the check-in process.

In fact, a few months back, the government had announced that they will implement paperless travel at airports such as Varanasi and Vijayawada, however, UIDAI’s decision may stall such a move.

There have been many incidents in recent times where the Aadhaar data has been leaked, raising questions on the security of the biometrics of Indian citizens. UIDAI claims that their database is safe, but incidents of data breach have made them reluctant to share data with external authorities and agencies.

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Construction Of New Terminal Building To Start At Chennai Airport!

In a bid to expand the Chennai Airport, Airports Authority Of India(AAI) has announced that it will soon start the construction of a new terminal building.

Here are all the details about the expansion plan –

  • The construction work will start by end of July 2018.
  • The new terminal building is part of airport’s “Phase 2” of the expansion plan.
  • It is estimated that the terminal building will cost Rs 2000 crores.
  • The new building will be an integrated terminal, which will have the capacity to handle both domestic and international passengers.
  • Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has been given the contract to construct the new terminal.
  • The terminal building is expected to be ready in 4 years.
  • AAI is also planning to build a multi-level car parking on either side of the Chennai Airport metro station.

Demolition of the old “Kamaraj Domestic Terminal” began in March 2018, which is almost complete. Subsequently, the “Anna International Terminal” will also be pulled down.

Airport authorities are planning to invite Prime minister Narendra Modi for the foundation stone-laying ceremony. AAI officials have said that this is the next big step in the expansion of the Chennai Airport and it would be great if the PM can come and lay down the foundation stone.

The new terminal is expected to increase the peak-hour passenger capacity by 1000 and 4800 in the domestic and international wings, respectively. The international wing will be allotted more space as peak-hour footfall is expected to be at least 7,000.

As part of phase 2 of expansion, AAI is also building new taxiways to improve flight operations at the Chennai Airport, however, for this purpose, a few flights will get rescheduled and the main runway will be closed for a few hours every day, for about 9 months

Read more about “Rescheduled Flights At Chennai Airport For Taxiway Work

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