Is flying business class in Europe worth it? You might be flying ‘internationally’ (either between schengen/non-schengen countries) to another country but the product on many airlines is not like flying on an international flight heading out of Europe. So when the seat most of the time is the same as the economy seats (with a blocked out seat in the middle) – does the food help make it worth the extra money?
Let’s take a look at British Airways Club Europe food with flights I took travelling from Berlin, Germany to Dublin, Ireland – with a transit through London Heathrow. I was travelling with my partner and so we were able to check out both types of meals on offer for each flight.
Main Meal Service
Both flights were less than 2 hours and so the there was one main meal service served just after takeoff which consisted of a salad, a bread roll and small bowl of dessert. So let’s explore the four meals on offer (2 choices on each flight).
On the first flight from Berlin to London Heathrow the two options were a chicken salad with a creamy dressing, and a cauliflower salad which had a dressing like a coronation flavour (however the cabin crew did not know the actual flavour).
The chicken salad had a few sundried tomatoes and croutons, but was mainly lettuce and chicken. The cauliflower salad was mainly cauliflower with some tomatoes, radish slices, sultanas and roasted chickpeas.
The bread rolls were pretty awful and the dessert was a custard with mango flavour on top. The mango flavour was very strong and super sweet.


Ok so now I am back on the plane and from London Heathrow to Dublin it was a choice between a Ploughman’s Lunch or a Bulgar Salad. NOTE: The meal is served with one bread roll but I had two here as I had my little frequent flyer on my lap who was very interested in having his own bread roll.
I really liked the Ploughman’s Lunch – it was delicious, especially the picked vegetables. The Bulgar Salad was also quite tasty.


Nutrition Comment
While I found the salads fairly tasty they were small. Presentation was nice but I felt some of the vegetables were more like a garnish and to add to the presentation, rather than a staple in the meal. These meals didn’t actually have a lot of vegetables in them. For most of them they had on average 1/2 serve of vegetables.
Snacks
While these flights were relatively short there were snacks available for business class passengers after the main meal. The snack was a nut mix which comprised of nuts and roasted corn and chickpeas. I was pleasantly surprised as this was a better snack mix than usually served on flights (which are usually processed crisps or crackers). The addition of corn and chickpeas is a great addition to the nuts, helping to add to a good source of fibre. There was salt and sugar added to these though (which helped make them really tasty), so it is still important to only eat these in small portions.

Final thoughts on British Airways Club Europe Food
I was surprised by the quality of the meals served in Club Europe as I had heard many horror stories previously. Perhaps it is because I am used to domestic flights in Australia being a similar duration of flight and also similar style of food served. It would be great to have a larger portion of the salad meals served so there are more vegetables on the plate as it does seem pretty light on. Hopefully as covid becomes a more distant memory the meals will improved further.
To complement your food experiences on British Airways Club Europe flights, I have reviewed the foods in the British Airways lounge at T5 at London Heathrow and will be published shortly so what out for this.