The phrase: “the chicken or the beef” might finally become a relic on all airlines if they follow airBaltic of Latvia’s meal service

Customers can pre- order their meal online from the time of booking anytime up to 24 hours before boarding. Cold meals are available on all flights and hot meals are served on most flights of 1.5 hours plus. The online ordering system allows passengers to drag and drop their choices into a “virtual airline tray”. After payment, this pre-ordered meal is linked to the passenger. If a flight is changed or cancelled the meal order is transferred.

Before loading the catering onto the plane at the airport, the airline’s caterers LSG SkyChefs assemble each meal tray individually for the customer.

airBaltic was jointly established in 1995 between the Latvian state and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS). The Latvian state increased its shareholding to 99.8% of the total on 30 November 2011.
It is a three star airline according to Skytrax and customers give it a rating of 4.6 out of ten. They fly to 60 destinations mostly across Europe with 28 aircraft. They lost 27 million Euros in 2012.

This innovative ordering system may trim costs, ensure customers get what they want and perhaps return the airline to profit.