Happy Valentine’s Day! Nothing gets an AvGeek in the mood more than talking dirty details about delicious airplane catering. So our gift to you this Valentine’s is a face-off of the best business class food – Air France, Lufthansa, or Swiss. We promise extolling the virtues these European carriers’ business class menus will make your Valentine’s Day super special.*
*Premium Travel Insider can not be held liable if your Valentine’s Day is a disaster because you talked about the delicious steak on Air France instead of normal things.
As a reminder, Premium Travel Insider aggregates reviews from around the web and scores them on a 1-3 scale. A 3 indicates that a given category exceeded reviewer expectations, a 2 indicates it met expectations, and a 1 failed to meet expectations. We evaluate a variety of categories, the most important of which we call the “Big 5” that are most important to a premium travel experience: seat, food, drink, service, and in flight entertainment. You can learn more about our methodology here.
Top Line Scoring of the Best Business Class Food
| Airline | Number of Reviews | Aggregated Food Score |
| Air France | 11 | 2.83/3 (Superb) |
| Lufthansa | 13 | 2.46/3 (Great) |
| Swiss | 10 | 2.10/3 (Average) |
Air France lives up to the culinary pressure of representing one of the foodiest of all nations, delivering a smashing victory with a 2.83/3. Lufthansa, while a distance second, still delivers the beef—and in some cases, goose—with a great rating of 2.46/3. Swiss comes in last, with an acceptable but unremarkable 2.10/3, although some reviewers had better things to say. Let’s get into the details and see where the real meat of this face-off is!
Air France Business Class Food – Best and Worst
Air France – The Best
Winning our competition was Air France, receiving praise from many reviewers for their delicious food, honoring the culinary culture of France.
All in all, this was one of the better Business Class meals I’ve had on a non-Middle Eastern airline. Sure the pasta was average and I didn’t like the greenery with the appetizer but everything else was very nice indeed, and the service throughout was excellent.
Ziggy of Traveling For Miles, flying from Paris to New York City.
“Food and Beverage: This is, perhaps the highlight part of flying Air France. The onboard gastronomy is simply done right and wonderful.”
Sam Chui, flying from Paris to Dubai.
The steak wasn’t the only good entree – the fish dishes also received positive reviews.
“I chose cod steak with basil coulis (vegetable puree sauce), carmelized fennel, and leek confit. It was AMAZING. One of the best main courses I’ve had on an airplane in a very long time and easily my best meal of the trip.”
Matthew from Live and Let’s Fly, traveling from Paris to Dubai.
Air France – The Worst
Air France did not have any negative food reviews. All reviews were acceptable or higher. Bon appetite!
Lufthansa Business Food – Best and Worst
Lufthansa – The Best
Lufthansa also had a very strong showing for catering, with several reviewers saying good things about their product.
The salad in particular was top notch, as I don’t remember the last time I’ve had such a good salad in business class…. While the menu was limited, the food quality was excellent…
Lucky from One Mile at a Time traveling from Montreal to Munich.
Goose is a seasonal specialty on Lufthansa. Although the cabbage may not have been photogenic, the meal was delicious, according to Turning Left for Less.
Roasted goose (The purple cabbage looked a bit weird in the photo, but it was delicious)… Dinner was delicious, with well-sized portions and a full glass all the time!.”
Claudio at Turning Left for Less flying from Frankfurt and São Paulo.
Lufthansa – The Worst
Lufthansa, like Air France, had no bad reviews. It had a greater number of “acceptable” as opposed to “exceeded expectations,” but no out-and-out fails. There is much to be said for consistency, particularly when dining in the sky!
Swiss Food – Best and Worst
Swiss – The Best
Coming in third place was Swiss, scoring an acceptable 2.10/3. What made Swiss interesting was that there were some reviewers who loved the food, and others who were disappointed. Let’s see what they had to say.
Overall, both the food, presentation and general service was of good quality and nicely done. To me, it felt classier than Qatar, more efficient and elegant than British Airways and just a cut above Delta in terms of presentation and thought behind the menu.
Christian Kramer of The Points Guy, traveling from New York to Geneva.
The Luxury Travel Expert shared the positive review, saying the following:
IMHO, Swiss is among the carriers that serve the most delicious in-flight meals. Swiss’ so-called ‘Taste of Switzerland program’ – exclusively available to First and Business Class passengers – is designed to highlight different regions of the country on longhaul flights departing from Switzerland… Our travel party had a selection of most dishes and everything tasted great. Even the kids liked the food.
The Luxury Travel Expert, traveling from Zurich to San Francisco.
Swiss – The Worst
But some reviewers were extremely disappointed with the Swiss business class food, such as Jay Singh of Simple Flying, who had a double meal fail on his flight.
I’m normally a fan of spinach. However, the creamed spinach wasn’t something I would write home about. I found it too salty and it didn’t work well with the fish. The fish was also incredibly small for the main dish. For comparison, volume-wise, there was more beef in the appetizer than fish in the main course…Then, after about five hours of sleep, it was time for breakfast…My first thought: “That’s it?” I selected the English breakfast and a Danish pastry. As far as breakfast service goes, this was a tiny portion for business class. On the other hand, it wasn’t very good so I didn’t eat much. The tortilla was too “wet.” Unfortunately, the whole dish was saturated with all the juices that just made it soggy.”
Jay Singh of Simple Flying, traveling from Los Angeles to Zurich.
“For my main course, I chose beef tenderloin, which sounded great on the menu but was leathery and dry. Furthermore, the sauce made it even worse. It was clearly a low-grade cut of meat and a very disappointing choice.”
Matthew of Live and Let’s Fly, traveling from Los Angeles to Zurich.
Conclusion: Best Business Class Food – Air France, Lufthansa, or Swiss
For many flyers, Food is a big deal – part of why we have it in our Big 5. The upgrade from economy class dining can be as little as “inedible” to “edible,” but it can also be a superb, restaurant-style experience. Air France clearly delivered on the dining, but you could do worse than Lufthansa. Swiss, while scoring in the middle, did have some super-fans, as well. As always, research before flying, particularly if food is important to you. You can learn more about each carrier at:
Not happy with those carriers? Check out all of our business class reviews and see if you find someone else you like. Or perhaps you’d like to upgrade to first class — in which case our first class reviews might be to your liking. No matter how you fly, Premium Travel Insider has you covered.