Emirates Brings Business Class Meal Pre-Orders To European Cities

Emirates is taking its business class offering to the next level by allowing passengers in this cabin to pre-order their meals on a greater number of European routes. After a successful trial on UK-bound services, the UAE flag carrier will now roll out this scheme on flights to various other European destinations.

The scheme began this summer

It has been just over two months since Simple Flying first reported that Emirates would be rolling out a pre-order service for its business class passengers. To begin with, this was only available on its flights from Dubai International (DXB) to London’s Gatwick (LGW), Heathrow (LHR), and Stansted (STN) airports.

The benefits of the scheme were multi-faceted. Firstly, it ensured passengers had a better chance of getting their preferred meal, rather than risk the possibility of options running out by the time they were served. This happened to me on a British Airways flight in Club Europe, and is a situation best avoided where possible.

Photo: Emirates

Secondly, it helped both Emirates and the environment in the sense that the scheme reduced the amount of food waste at the airline. This is because Emirates (and indeed other carriers with similar pre-ordering schemes) have a better idea of how much food to load onto a given flight as a result of the passengers’ choices.

Bigger and better

Just under two months later, Emirates has announced that it will be expanding its pre-order offering for business class passengers in response to a successful launch and positive feedback. As well as the aforementioned London routes, it will now be available on flights to and from “Warsaw, Venice, Rome, Bologna, Prague, Vienna, Moscow, Istanbul, Dublin, Hamburg, St Petersburg, Brussels, and Madrid.”

Elsewhere in the world, Emirates is also extending the scheme to flights to and from Mauritius and the Seychelles. The scheme is relatively simple, with business class passengers invited to pre-order their main course between 14 days and 24 hours before the scheduled departure time of the flight in question. Travelers can either carry this out on the Emirates app, or via the airline’s website.

Photo: Emirates

Once onboard, Emirates’ cabin crew have access to business class passengers’ pre-ordered options via their own digital devices, and they can subsequently serve the premium cabin quickly and easily. The selections will also be fed into Emirates’ AI-driven customer data tracking system, which will further assist in meal planning that optimizes onboard food loadings while also minimizing wastage.

Funnily enough, this isn’t the only exciting update concerning catering that Emirates has shared with the world this month. Indeed, just last week, the revered Middle Eastern operator announced that, between September 16th and October 3rd this year, it would be rolling out a special Oktoberfest menu on its German routes. This special offering also extends to some of its airport lounges.

What do you make of this scheme? Have you ever used a similar system on your travels? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!