Are US Airways International DineFresh Meals Worth It?
I recently had the opportunity to try out US Airways’ Dine Fresh premium chilled meals on my flight to Israel. I was a little skeptical — it’s $21.99, but it includes wine. The descriptions sounded nice, but wine is free for trans-Atlantic flights, so was one meal really worth spending over $20 for? But I decided to give it a try. I was already dreading economy for 12 hours, maybe this could help.
I got the email giving me the option of ordering about 5 days out and checked out the website.
I didn’t realize that only 20 meals in total were available, but even then, I wound up waiting another couple of days while I made up my mind. Clearly there’s not a huge demand yet as only 1 had been sold in that time.
I chose the Asian chicken with noodles, although the assorted charcuterie looked tempting. Once in-flight, I ordered wine when meal service started (which was poured out of a carton– I guess till better than from a can) and was asked if I wanted chicken or pasta. I mentioned I’d ordered the special meal and a few minutes later, they brought it to me.
The box does look impressive, and I have to admit, I felt a little special when I looked at my seatmate’s plastic covered free meal. At this point they also remembered it came with wine, and asked me if I wanted white or red. A minute later they arrived with a small bottle of decent Cabernet from Chile. Yay!
Having seen that the “house” wine was from a carton (and tasted like it), I would have gladly payed the $7 for better wine. So now my meal just had to be worth $15 in an airport to be worth it.
And I think it was. The meal is not a “value.” But it was definitely appetizing and lessened the feeling of being packed in economy. The food was fresh. There were several courses. It took longer than 5 minutes to eat.
The chicken, which was tender, had asian noodles underneath. There was a fresh cucumber, pepper, and purple onion salad topped with a shrimp, and veggie spring rolls with hoisin dipping sauce. Sneaking a peak at my neighbor, this option was way healthier and would probably sit less heavily in my stomach.
The dessert was definitely better. I had dulce de leche cheese cake with fresh berries. They had a tiny plastic wrapped brownie. I even got a packet of Italian breadsticks that I kept as a snack for later.
So no, the meals are in no way a deal. BUT on a 12 hour flight I was semi-dreading, it was a nice little luxury that actually made a difference. So consider if you’re less than thrilled by the idea of airplane food and want to upgrade your experience when Envoy class isn’t open.
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i thought the meal was a total waste of money and not really good. i would never bother with it again
Hmmm…Did you have the same meal options or were they different? I’m trying to figure out how wide a variety they’re offering.
I ordered the BBQ Chicken meal for my transatlantic flight last Friday. I won’t be ordering one again anytime soon. Granted the wine is probably better the the awful vinegar USAir serves as “white wine”. BUT, although the box was impressive, it was the only part of the meal that was. “Fresh” may be in the name of the company, but the meal was no more fresh than regular airline food. Dine Fresh offered a “fresh” strawberry and a “fresh” tiny wedge of iceberg lettuce Otherwise this meal was a disaster: no knife fork or spoon, no butter for role, no salt or pepper, no salad dressing and an empty spot in the middle of the tray where something was supposed to be but wasn’t? The slices of chicken had maybe 1 1/2 teaspoons of BBQ sauce and lay on top of the potato salad (which at first I couldn’t find). There was also an orange side dish, frightening to behold, which I couldn’t identify and did not eat (after sampling). It is not mentioned in the description of the meal. As for “bringing it right to my seat”, how else would one get a meal on board? Big deal. I could go on. There will be no more DineFresh meals for me.