Airline Food Reviews & Nutrition Facts

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Airline meals have always been notoriously unhealthy. Though some airlines have begun to advertise menu changes, few travelers will likely change their minds about the lack of healthy airline food. Not all the dishes that the flight attendant plops down on the little plastic table in front of you will send you to your grave prematurely. However, it is hard to ignore the numbers.

Here are the stats on seven meals you might find put in front of you on your next flight. Though none of these choices are overtly damaging to your health, they can wreak havoc on a diet.

Continental Airlines offers ham or turkey sandwiches on its flights of 2 or more hours. The turkey sandwich contains 170 calories and the ham at just over 200 (including a topping of mayo or mustard). These are accompanied by carrots (35 calories) and a mini candy bar (80 calories). This is definitely one of the healthier offerings in terms of calories, especially if you leave the candy in its wrapper.

American Airline's "snack pack" is sold on short flights. The good news about this meal is that passengers have lots of snack-sized items to choose from. The bad news: eat it all and you will be consuming more than 700 calories. However, the package of Lorne Doone cookies and the container of mixed nuts account for nearly half of those calories. The meat, crackers, cheese spread and raisins are the pack's lighter items.

Delta Airlines offers an 800-plus calorie snack pack on shorter flights. It seems that all the worst "diet wreckers" made it onto the menu: chips, peanuts, peanut butter crackers and cookies. A granola bar (made by Quaker) is the healthiest of the bunch, but passengers have to buy the whole snack pack to get their hands on it.

United Airlines offers 800 calories snack packs on shorter flights. On flights over 5 hours, meals like a turkey breast with salad set a passenger's calorie count back by only 200 (as long as they skip the mayo, dressing and whatever starch is offered as a side dish).

JetBlue allows fliers to choose their snacks individually. There is no tempting, high-calorie all-inclusive snack pack like those found on Delta or American flights. That might not be good news for hungry fliers, but, on the other hand, it is ideal for waistline watchers. The 100 calorie Wheat Thins are the health conscious traveler's best option. That said, slightly more decadent offerings like chocolate chip cookies (a pack of 4) and a snack sized bag of Doritos Mix are under 150 calories each.

American Airlines premium class meals prove that upgrading might not necessarily be healthier. A chicken or fish entree plus salad with dressing and rolls or rice contains about 500-600 calories, depending on the use dressing, toppings and butter. Add virtually any desert that the airline offers and calorie count shoots north of 800.

"Special meals," such as vegetarian meals, kosher or halal meals, and gluten free meals often offer a smaller calorie count. Bean-based dishes such as American's bean and pepper medley, with fruit and rice as sides, is a 300 calorie offering. Passengers should keep in mind that vegetarian meals must be ordered in advance. This can be done by calling the airline.