Shrimp Salad: British Airways vs. United Airlines

For this week’s Meal of the Week, I compare shrimp salads on United Airlines and British Airways.

1. British Airways – London to Frankfurt – Club Europe (1hr30min)

British Airways offers light meals on shorthaul business class flights within Europe, with meal service split into five periods (breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, and dinner) depending upon the time of day.

My flight departed London at noon, meaning lunch was offered. Everyone who did not order a special meal received the same thing — a shrimp salad. It contained romaine lettuce with tomatoes, zucchini, a fatty pepperoni-like meat, and flakes of parmesan cheese. It was served with bread and a pudding dessert. Oil and vinegar dressing on the side.

2. United Airlines –  Los Angeles to Denver – First Class (1hr55min)

United serves meals on flights longer than 2.5 hours, though makes an exception for select hub-to-hub routes like Los Angeles to Denver and other routes in which it faces fierce competition. The other choice was a chicken sandwich.

The salad contained warmed shrimp and bacon, sliced carrots, artichoke, and primarily spinach. Also on the tray was a white bread roll, two tubs of balsamic vinaigrette dressing, and and a warm chocolate chip cookie.

CONCLUSION

Traditional shrimp salad recipes generally call for arugula and eggs: neither UA nor BA had either. So which one was better?

I’d give the edge to United. I prefer hot shrimp to cold shrimp and spinach to Romaine lettuce.

But the good news is the BA salad was also good and it is hard for an airline to screw up a salad. That is why I tend to order the salad option when it is available over the other choice.