Korean Air Meals: What To Expect From Economy And Kids Meals. Our Full Reviews With Photos!
For our last flights to Korea and then on to Japan (and home again), we opted to fly with Korean Air. And we liked the experience so much that we have just booked Korean Air flights for our next trip to Japan in March!
You can read our full review of our Korean Air flight experience here.
But one of the questions we are asked more than any other is ‘What are the Korean Air economy class meals like?’ I get it! When you’re stuck in a flying tin can for 12+ hours and are reliant on the airline for your meals, the food they serve is important. But the good news is that we were pleasantly surprised by the Korean Air economy class meals for adults as well as the Korean Air kids’ meals.
Wondering if the Korean Air meals will be right for you and for your kids? Read on for our full reviews, including photos of the food we ate on our flights. I’ve also added the Korean Air full economy class menus, and other tips to make food while flying as enjoyable an experience as possible.
- Korean Air Menus
- Korean Air Economy Class Meals For Adults
- Korean Air Kids Meals (With Honest Opinions!)
- Do You Get Free Drinks On Korean Air?
- Further Reading
Heads up! This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and make a purchase, I might earn a very small commission – at no extra cost to you. This helps to keep the blog going. Thanks for the support!
Korean Air Menus
If you use this link to visit the Korean Air website, you can enter your departure and arrival city (or flight number if you know it) to view the menus for your specific flight.
For example, if you are flying from London to Seoul next month, you will be served two meals. For your first meal, you will have a choice of Bibimbap, Chicken Goulash, or Tortellini in an olive and tomato sauce. For your second meal, the options are scrambled egg with spinach or continental breakfast (a croissant, muffin, and yoghurt).
From Seoul back to London, you’ll also be served two meals, but these differ slightly. For your first meal, you will have a choice of bibimbap, beef goulash, or tofu curry. For your second meal, the options are steamed rice with Korean glass noodles or stir-fried beef with black bean sauce.
💺 Have you booked your Korean Air flights yet? We always book our flights with Expedia because they offer great deals and last-minute savings, instant booking confirmation, and in some cases, you can even pay with a payment plan (great if you’re booking expensive flights for a big family!)
If you’ve booked your flights, then you can also log into the Korean Air website and change your meals for vegan/vegetarian, gluten-free, kosher, low-fat, low-salt, nut-free and kids’ meals from as soon as your flights are confirmed.
Korean Air Economy Class Meals For Adults
As I’ve already mentioned, the meals you’ll be served depend on the time and length of your flight. For our evening flight from London to Seoul, we were served dinner and breakfast. For our evening flight from Seoul to Tokyo we were just served dinner. And we had a daytime flight from Seoul to London on which we were served a main meal followed by a smaller, lunch-style meal.
Above is the evening meal we were served on our flight from London to Seoul. We fly a lot (always in economy class, because we aren’t rich!) and I will say that this was probably one of the best meals i’ve eaten on a flight: a category that has a notoriously bad reputation.
I opted for the chicken dish which was served with carrots, brocolli, and a wonderfully creamy mash potato topped with bacon. I would happily eat this again! It was served with a grain salad and a classic salad to start, the obligatory bread roll, a glass of orange juice, and a chocolate brownie for dessert. I won’t say this was the best brownie I’ve ever eaten, but it was nice, and overall the meal was good! The quality was excellent.
For our second meal on the same flight, we had breakfast. This was a scrambled egg with spinach, and was served with a surprisingly nice fresh fruit salad. Breakfast is consistently my least favourite meal to eat on a plane (no one does it well) but this was amongst the better breakfasts I’ve tried at 30,000 feet.
Korean Air Kids Meals (With Honest Opinions!)
One of the things we liked most about the Korean Air kids meals is that the boys could choose what they wanted to eat in advance! When you book kids meals for your flight, you are given a drop-down menu of available meals to choose from. For all four of our flights, the options were the same: hot dog, spaghetti bolognese, BBQ beef bulgogi, and pasta with tomato sauce (the vegetarian option).
It’s also worth noting that the dishes that accompany your chosen main will vary depending on your departure point. For example, the meal above is the one the boys were given for the journey from Seoul to Tokyo. This means that they were given a pickled salad, a crispy roll, and a ridiculously cute sweet bun shaped like a bear.
The meal below was for the flight to Seoul departing from London Heathrow. This was prepared by a provider in the UK and means the side dishes were familar to the kids. As well as the hot dog they had chosen, they also got a bread roll with butter, bag of quavers, cucumber salad and a fruit salad, then they were given a cheese string, a yoghurt, and a bag of skittles.
I will say that we were very pleasantly surprised by the sheer volume of food that they kids were given, which meant that even my 12 year old (who has a big appetite) was happy! Worth noting that, at 12, we had paid adult prices for him and he was eligible for an adults meal, but we chose to swap this to a children’s meal because he is quite a plain eater and liked the idea of knowing (and choosing) what he would eat in advance.
Because I didn’t actually eat any of the kids meals, I thought it would be useful to ask my kids what they thought!
The youngest says “It was good. I especially liked the sweet stuff like the cute bear bun and the cookies were very buttery and nice.”
The oldest says “The corn dogs were epic: better than the ones we had in when we were in Korea. I thought the hot dogs would be better than they were, because the buns were a bit soggy (mum note: this is probably because they had been steamed from being wrapped in tin foil) but the Beef Bulgogi was really nice.”
It’s also worth noting that, because airline food can be hit and miss, I always pack a snackle box for my boys on every flight we take. They each have a Tupperware tub with separate compartments (like this one here) and I fill each compartment with crackers, dried fruit, sweets, and other easy-to-eat snacks that they can nibble on throughout the flight.
If you’re travelling with kids, and especially with fussy kids, then I definitely recommend this as a top tip!
🚗 Another Top Tip? Don’t forget to book your airport transfers! Check availability and BOOK HERE.
There’s nothing worse than having to get on public transport after a long-haul flight (especially with kids!)
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Do You Get Free Drinks On Korean Air?
Yes, you do get free drinks on Korean Air! There was a free drinks service, where the trolley passed through just before meal times.
We were offered a wide range of drinks that covered beer and wine (red or white), spirits, juices and soft drinks. Then at the end of the meals we were offered tea or coffee. Each meal was also served with juice and water. And as we boarded the plane there was a bottle of water on each seat as part of our amenities offering.
During the middle of the flight, you could walk to the central galley and get drinks and snacks if you needed them, but we were hydrated enough with the drinks we were offered (and we always take our own water bottles on board too).
I avoid drinking alcohol on flights in favour of drinking plenty of water. I know it can be tempting to make the most of the ‘free bar’ but the damage it will do to your skin, and the headache it will give you at such high altitude, just isn’t worth it!
Further Reading
Are you planning a trip to Seoul with kids, or perhaps you want to travel further afield with your family during your time in South Korea? This further reading will help you plan your trip:
🕊Visiting the DMZ in South Korea With Kids: An Essential Guide
🍜 The Ultimate 5 Day Seoul Itinerary With Kids: Our Family Friendly Adventure
🎡The Ultimate Guide to Visiting Lotte World in Seoul
👚 Complete Guide to Renting a Hanbok in Seoul, South Korea
Have you flown with Korean Air? How did you find the food? I’d love to hear your thoughts – please share them in the comments below!
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Heads up! This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and make a purchase, I might earn a very small commission – at no extra cost to you. This helps to keep the blog going. Thanks for the support!
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