Aegean Airlines Economy Class Snack Boxes (Regular, VGML, Kosher)

When I booked flights for my friends and myself to fly from Istanbul to Athens on the Aegean Airlines website, I reserved a strict vegetarian/vegan/VGML, as that’s my normal dietary preference. But since it was so easy to request special meals, I decided to request a Kosher meal for one of my friends because hey, why not?

The flight itself was fine for a short hop. One of the flight attendants was quite attractive, but she also looked like she hated life every time she interacted with customers. It didn’t necessarily result in poor or lacking service (except for lacking a smile), and her face was hilarious to look at every time.

It’s always a treat when flying non-US airlines on these short hops because they always manage to do so much more in such a short period of time. In this case, for our roughly hour-long flight, they did a beverage service and served snack boxes, which I found impressive (although I guess not as impressive as the full meal service I received on the 40-minute flight from Doha to Dubai on Qatar Airways I took earlier this year).

Up first was the regular snack box, which had a chicken sandwich and something along the lines of a honey cake for dessert. Verdict from my friends: surprisingly delicious, especially the dessert.

Next up was the Kosher snack box, which had orange juice, tuna, crackers, and an apple compote. Verdict: confusing, but tasty. It was a little unclear why they chose the things they did  (I’m guessing for shelf life?), as it was slightly unclear what components were supposed to go together (tuna on crackers? apple compote on crackers? apple on tuna?). Individually, though, the items were tasty.

Finally, we have the VGML aka strict vegetarian aka vegan snack box, which had a roasted vegetable sandwich and a Nature Valley granola bar. Verdict: okay, but lacking. The bites of the sandwich that actually had roasted vegetables were pretty delicious, but there weren’t many roasted vegetables to speak of. And for what it’s worth, many vegans don’t consider honey to be vegan, so the granola bar isn’t strictly vegan (although it’s at least not blatantly not vegan like some of the things I’ve received in VGML meals from United…).

Overall, surprisingly tasty snacks from Aegean Airlines on the short hop from Istanbul to Athens. I’d happily fly them again, although it’s a little sad that the tickets I booked didn’t accrue miles on United and only accrued 50% mileage on US Airways.