Airlines With Healthiest Food
Air travel isn't good for stress, but it's also not great for your waistline.
Dec. 17, 2014— -- You probably know that air travel isn't good for your stress level, but it's also not great for your waistline, especially on Allegiant Air, which ranked last in a survey of airline food released Tuesday.
DietDetective.com issued the 2013 Airline Food Survey, rating foods for 12 airlines. The survey assigned a score of 1 to 5 (5 stars = highest rating, 0 stars = lowest rating) based on eight criteria, including how healthy meals, snack boxes, single snacks and other offerings were; the calorie levels of snacks, meals and snack boxes; improvement over last year's survey; and menu innovation and cooperation in providing nutritional information.
Air Canada and Virgin America came out on top, each receiving 4.5 stars. The average number of calories in a snack box or meal is 361 on Virgin America and 297 on Air Canada. The only airline with fewer calories in its snacks was Southwest (108), but Southwest is not known for variety. Southwest doesn't offer snack boxes or meals, only single snacks.
Virgin America was recognized for its Travel Light meals, nearly all of which are good choices, according to DietDetective.com. On Air Canada, most of the full meals are relatively low in calories and breakfast, with the exception of the bagel, hits a "home run."
Airline Food Survey Rankings
Virgin America -- 4.5
Air Canada -- 4.5
Alaska Airlines -- 4
JetBlue Airways -- 3.5
United Airlines -- 3.25
American Airlines -- 3
US Airways -- 3
Delta Air Lines -- 2.75
Frontier Airlines -- 2.75
Southwest Airlines -- 2
Allegiant Air -- 1.5
The survey includes health ratings, average calories per airline, cost, comments, food offerings, calories and exercise equivalents. The average number of calories per food item for all airlines is 360, a drop from last year's 388.