Historically speaking, airline food does not have a good rep. The butt of many a joke, nosh served on planes has often been derided as sloppy and tasteless – which can partly be blamed on it being (typically) so heavily processed, but also on the low-pressure, low-humidity environment you eat it in.
But not all airline food is bad – and that’s shown by the results of a recent YouGov poll, which surveyed UK air travellers to reveal which carriers have the highest customer satisfaction rates for onboard meals, snacks and drinks. YouGov polled a total of 1,495 Brits to get its report.
The highest ranking British airline in the list was Virgin Atlantic. The airline, which has hubs at London Heathrow and Manchester airports, saw an impressive 74 percent of those polled give a positive view of its snacks and drinks (with 24 percent saying ‘very good’ and 50 percent ‘somewhat good’). Virgin came third overall.
Next up from the UK was British Airways, which came fourth overall. A still-quite-impressive 61 percent of those polled had good things to say about BA’s food and drink offerings, though 12 percent had a negative reaction.
A UK airline didn’t top the poll. Crowned the best food and drinks option in the skies was Emirates, with a remarkable 84 percent having positive things to say about its culinary experience. Qatar Airways came a close second with 83 percent.
Down the other end of the ranking, no British airlines placed bottom for food and drink. Ryanair was named the worst airline for meals, drinks and snacks, with just 21 percent having good things to say about its on-flight options.
You can check out YouGov’s poll results in full here.
Air travel in the UK with Time Out
Looking for more on the best airports and airlines in Britain right now? This week leading aviation consultancy Skytrax revealed its World Airline Awards for 2025, and we covered them here at Time Out. You can read about the three London airports in Skytrax’s top 100 in the world here.
In other aviation news, 10 UK airports have just changed security rules around liquids in hang luggage – here’s everything you need to know.
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