Should we buy breakfast at the airport? How expensive?

[frannn]

We will be leaving for the airport pretty early for our 8 am flight. None of our usual breakfast haunts will be open yet (including good 'ole Mickey D's). I'm a bit leery about eating at the airport due to price and freshness concerns. We'll be flying from JFK in NY on Jetblue. DH thinks there will be a Dunkin' Doughnuts or similar in the terminal that we can grab standard fare from. This might be a good idea, as it will help pass the hours till we board... Our other option is to get some of those frozen breakfast sandwiches from the supermarket and just nuke 'em at home before our car service comes. This'll save $ but don't know how hungry we'll be between 5-6 AM. We'll be on the DDP at WDW (where we'll have a nice big lunch, hopefully), so ths isn't too big of an issue. So, do we go with convenience & eat a pricey (and possibly blech!) meal at the airport, or nuke some hockey pucks? It'll be DH, DD3, and myself.

 

[HayGan]

JFK has an McD's as well and I'm quite sure that it will be open before 8am. The breakfast places at most airports open at 6am.

Here is a list of JFK's food and retail services:

JFK Food & Retail

 

[shades]

A couple of things to consider -

- depending on the size of your airport (crowds & food service available?? or not... that early) you may not be able to grab any breakfast before your flight.

- Airport food is EXPENSIVE. Plan on $3-5 per big muffin depending on where you are at in the world. Drinks will add on another $2.50+ per person.

- If you want donuts, why not just buy some at your local grocery or donut shop to eat the next morning? They are light weight and easy to carry in a grocery bag. I wouldn't take drinks unless you are certain you will have time to drink them prior to clearing security.

- I've traveled a LOT and have never seen a donut shop in an airport. Typically, other than full service type resturaunts, there are counter service/cafeteria style and they usually have bagels, croissants, muffins out for breakfast. Although, they never look very appetizing to me and I question the freshness of them, myself

- I ALWAYS take food on airplanes - even for my family members who say they don't want anything because I know when I pull something out of my bag to eat, they ALWAYS want to share. It doesn't matter if the flight is one hour or 10 hours, I always have pretzels or Cheezits (somebody always gets queezy), can of nuts, and something sweet. The last time we flew, I bought each kid a box of those pretzel sticks with the little cheese dip thing. They loved it - as did I

Just edited my post to add...that I see you are flying out of JFK. Looks like you can visit a McD's if there is one in your terminal. Still, I think I'd rather take some food along with us rather than plan on arriving early enough to eat breakfast just incase there isn't enough time. Have a fun trip!!

 

[gris gris]

OP on your way to JFK you won't pass a Dunkin Donuts? They seem to be everywhere and are usually open 24 hours. Is it possible the car service can run through a drive through for you?

We're breakfast skippers anyhow (I know, bad bad) and are usually so excited to be going on vacation we don't eat that morning!

But I agree it's too expensive to eat at the airport. Although we have a Dunkin Donuts in our airport in CT I don't recall how much more expensive it was.

 

[NYPOOH]

Jetblue's terminal and JFK is big and has a lot of options. There are about 10 places to get food including a Dunkin Donuts.

 

[OKWAnneMarie]

We flew JetBlue out of JFK a few months ago. The have a Dunkin Donuts and plenty of other options. We had Dunkin Donuts and then a saw a place with MUCH better bagels. Next time I will look at everything before ordering. We had a 7 am flight and everything was open. Have fun.

 

[Trixiezzz]

The last time we had an early flight ~ had to leave our hotel at 5:30 am (Yikes!) I packed some little tubs of yogurt, an orange juice and bagel for each member of our family. After we got to the airport we sat and ate a quick bite before going through security. It worked out fine for us. And you could get it ready the night before and save more time that morning. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[Jen_in_NH]

DH and I usually bring a bottle of juice (which I suppose is a bit of a problem now), an apple or an orange, and some poptarts. It doesn't take up much space, and helps to clean out the fridge before we leave for vacation.

Have a great trip!!

Jen

 

[Chicago526]

Food at airports are a bit more expensive, but there are times when time is more valuable than money. I personally feel that days you are traveling are one of those situations. Have McD's or DD's at the airport and kick off the start of a great vacation!

 

[PrincessIsis]

Whenever we have a very early flight, I always make a trip to Krispy Kreme the night before. I usually buy some doughnuts and little jugs of milk. That way we don't have to worry about paying airport prices for breakfast! Leaves more $$ to give to the mouse!!

 

[amwhitaker]

The prices at the Pittsburgh Airport aren't bad for any of the food establishments. I would rather eat something there than on the airplane. The food for purchase was extremely high the last time I flew.

 

[crl]

How about a bag of cereal for your little one. And some bagels or donuts for you and DH. We have an early flight out of DIA in a couple of days and I plan to have some cereal and breakfast cereal bars to munch on. I'll have to suck it up and buy the juice once we're through security, but packing some munchies will save some money.

 

[pweyl36]

How about some pbj samwiches,dry ceral in baggies,pre-made bagels,etc.
you can get drinks at the airport.

 

[karynnix]

You may want to check the updated rules, but last week you could not take any outside drinks onto airplanes for security reasons. There was another incident in a West Va. airport today with a woman carrying explosives.

 

[HayGan]

There was another incident in a West Va. airport today with a woman carrying explosives in a drink, I believe.

Haven't heard about that one but there was a crazy lady who peed on the floor of a flight that was diverted to Boston.

You can not take any liquids beyond a security checkpoint so if you want to take along beverages to have for breakfast you will have to consume them before you go through security.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

OP - why not bring something from home? Better tasting by far, probably better for you, and cheaper.

 

[HayGan]

No she did not. She just threatened to do so.

Funny in an affadaviit filed by FBI Special Agent Daniel Choldin filed in U.S. District Court in Boston today she actually did ...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,208943,00.html


Sorry for the hijack OP! Now back to your regularly scheduled topic

 

[disneyjunkie]

My son flew from NY to NC on Jetblue this afternoon. This was our first experience with Jetblue. I was very impressed with their wide variety of food options.

I'm planning to book with them for our February trip to WDW. I was planning to pack a few things in our carry on to eat on the plan. After seeing all the wonderful options in the terminal, I just buy something there.

 

[OKWAnneMarie]

My son flew from NY to NC on Jetblue this afternoon. This was our first experience with Jetblue. I was very impressed with their wide variety of food options.

I'm planning to book with them for our February trip to WDW. I was planning to pack a few things in our carry on to eat on the plan. After seeing all the wonderful options in the terminal, I just buy something there.

The JFK JetBlue Terminal also has a place called Aunt Butchie's. The original Aunt Butchie's is in Brooklyn and sells cheesecakes, chocolate mousse cakes, etc. to the public and to restaurants. Their products are VERY DELICIOUS. They just opened up a place at the JFK JetBlue Terminal. You might want to check that out.

 

[My2Cinderellas]

The prices at the Pittsburgh Airport aren't bad for any of the food establishments. I would rather eat something there than on the airplane. The food for purchase was extremely high the last time I flew.

DH's cousin used to work at the Pittsburgh airport - they write clauses into the contracts requiring food vendors to charge the same prices there as they do in other locations in Pittsburgh. So if a BigMac is $2 all over the Pittsburgh metro area, then it's $2 at the airport. It's the only airport I've ever heard of having decent food prices.

I always try to bring food with me, not only to save $$, but to control the quality. for breakfast, we do PBJ sandwiches, poptarts, homemade muffins, etc. bring apples and bananas, granola bars, and buy drinks there.