I took my first airplane flight, courtesy of the
United States Army, in October 1979. It was a great time, the excitement of
starting off in a new career, the craziness of air travel, and just being 18
and starting out on your own.
I don’t remember specifically eating in the airport,
or on the layover (most likely at Chicago O’Hare - they used to love to send me
there) but we would have had lunch tickets, to be used at a diner contracted by
the Department of Defense. I don’t remember ever getting a good meal with lunch
tickets. You have to remember, the contract would be awarded to the lowest
bidder, and they would scrimp as much as possible to make a profit.
I do remember over the years eating at different
airports, mostly out of desperation or shear boredom during layovers. From what
I recall, the food was on a par with bad theme park food of the same time
period.
I’m not exactly sure when the improvements in airport
terminal dining began, I first noticed it at LAX. I’m not even sure what year.
But I noticed that they had a chain restaurant, I think it was Chili’s. I was
amazed.
For me, the beginning of the new trend in
airport dining came in September 2008 from the good folks behind a little
airline called JetBlue.
JetBlue endured themselves to our family in
January 2005, when we became part of what the airline calls “The Albuquerque
Incident.” I won’t go into what happened, but the companies handling of a
problem that wasn’t their fault, made us customers for life.
Sometime in 2006 or 2007 we heard of a plan to
build a new terminal at John F Kennedy Airport in New York. They promised it would
be a first class facility, like no other at the time. It was called Terminal 5
or just T5.
The new Terminal 5 — located directly behind the
old landmarked Terminal 5 designed by Eero Saarinen for T.W.A. in 1962
opened in September 2008.
The new terminal featured a 10,000-square-foot
food hall with nine sit-down restaurants. Some of which featured menus from the
finest chefs of New York City’s most popular eateries.
11 years later, I think the idea has caught on.
https://www.facebook.com/FoodOnTheFlyusUS/
https://twitter.com/FoodOnTheFlyUS
https://www.facebook.com/FoodOnTheFlyusUS/
https://twitter.com/FoodOnTheFlyUS
No comments:
Post a Comment