I have enjoyed the Ploughman’s lunch in British Airways Club Europe business class before, but tried the “Ploughman’s Meat Snack Box” on my last BA flight in economy class.
Ploughman’s Meat Snack Box From British Airways High Life Café
British Airways offers a buy-on-board High Life Café on its flights within Europe, offering a selection of food and drinks for purchase.
I pre-ordered a Ploughman’s Meat Snack Box for £6.50 with contents including crackers, cheese spreads, chutney, and air-dried beef slices. Per the menu:
Hand-baked in England, dark and crisp charcoal crackers are the perfect accompaniment to the Ilchester cheddar spread, while the sea salt in the crunchy extra virgin olive oil crackers complements the smoky Applewood cheese. Add a classic Wiltshire Country Garden chutney for a sweet, tangy, and subtly spiced finish.
Sounds good, no?
But my snack never showed up. In fact, on this (delayed) flight the flight attendants handed out complimentary water bottles and pretzels, then sat down. I still thought my snack would be delivered, but when it did not show up, I asked a flight attendant walking by to collect trash.
She appeared flustered and said that there were no records of any pre-orders on this flight. I pulled out the email confirmation and showed her, to which she carefully studied it, apologized in that lovely British way, and said it would be refunded because the products were not loaded.
But not five minutes later, she appeared again stating they had found the pre-order in the Club Europe galley.
I was presented with the Ploughman’s box. Upon unwrapping it, I found the packaged products as described, though it looked like the cheese had a shelf life of at least two eons.
It was highly processed, but a decent snack…I would not order it again, though, because cheese is not meant to be served with that consistency…
As an aside, I also pre-ordered and ordered a hot bacon sandwich and it was not boarded (or maybe they just could not find that either)…many European stations are double-catered in London and as it was explained to me by the same flight attendant that sandwiches were not available on this flight.
Each week, my Meal of the Week feature examines an airline meal from my travels over the years. This may be a meal from earlier in the week or it may be a meal served over a decade ago.
Does it come with 2 pints ? If so , I’d guzzle the pints .
On a positive note, the box is cute.
Well, Air France’s breakfast package is right up your alley then
Well Snarky, ; )
Please tell me what’s in that box, because the BA box contents are frightening. But the cardboard is the highlight. I try to be generous whenever possible
Nothing special (bread and stuff, typical continental French breakfast) but it does come in a cute bag
BA also did a tapas version a year or so ago for pre order.
Absolutely vile – the cheese is so processed It’s worse than burger cheese. asked the crew for an alternative or refund.
Last year on a porto – Heathrow flight (operated by finnair) I had pre ordered the bacon sandwich Matthew mentioned. The finnair crew gave it to me raw and unheated. When I pointed out it needed zapping, the crew member screwed his face up and said finnair would never serve such poor food on their own flights.
I mean, it’s a snack box on a non-Asian airline in economy class in 2024, what are people expecting?
@Aaron … +1 . Give me lots of beer , please .
Where can I order…
I’d snack on this, all day long
Oh no! I bet you like the spray cheese stuff. And I was impressed with your ramen lamb shank idea. Having second thoughts now
It looks okay but aside from the packaging it looks like what I might buy on Spirit.