Published: 26 October 2026
Airline Food and Drink Prices Compared: Who’s Cheapest?
Fancy a coffee, a gin & tonic or something to eat on your next flight? You might be surprised at how much prices vary depending on which airline you’re flying with.
We have researched onboard catering prices across six of the main short-haul airlines serving the UK: British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, TUI, Vueling and Wizz Air.
Our comparison covered 16 commonly available food and drink items, ranging from tea and coffee to wine, snacks and hot meals. We wanted to find out which airlines offer the best value and whether there really is much difference between them.
We also compared some of the onboard prices with equivalent products available at Tesco to see just how much extra you’re paying to enjoy your refreshments at 35,000 feet.
And the results were interesting. British Airways was the most consistently competitive airline, while Wizz Air was generally the most expensive.
Headlines
- British Airways was the cheapest overall when we ranked the prices of 16 common food and drink items.
- Vueling offered the cheapest combined basket, helped by particularly competitive alcoholic drink prices.
- Wizz Air was the most expensive overall.
- A selection of seven common drinks and snacks cost almost 2.5 times as much onboard as at Tesco, rising to more than three times as much for wine and Prosecco.
How We Compared Onboard Catering Prices
We compared published onboard menu prices for 16 products across four categories: non-alcoholic drinks, alcoholic drinks, snacks and meals.
For each item, we ranked the airlines from cheapest to most expensive, with joint positions where prices were identical. We then calculated the average ranking for each airline across all 16 products.
This approach gives equal weight to each item rather than allowing more expensive products, such as alcoholic drinks, to dominate the results.
We also calculated the combined price of all 16 items to show how much the same basket would cost on each airline. Prices for Vueling were converted into sterling at a rate of €1.19/£.
While we selected broadly comparable products, there are some differences between airlines, particularly for meals. Portion sizes, brands and ingredients may vary, and we have used the nearest available equivalent where necessary.
Non-Alcoholic Drinks
Whether it’s a morning coffee, a can of Coke or a bottle of water, drinks are among the most common onboard purchases.
Our research found some surprisingly large differences, particularly for tea and coffee.
| Item | Cheapest airline | Most expensive |
| Cup of Coffee | Vueling – £2.52 | Wizz Air – £4.00 |
| Cup of Tea | Vueling – £2.52 | Wizz Air – £4.00 |
| Can of Coca-Cola 330ml | BA / TUI – £2.70 | Wizz Air – £3.50 |
| Bottle of still water 500ml | Jet2 – £2.15 | Wizz Air – £3.00 |
Vueling was particularly competitive for hot drinks, charging just £2.52 for both tea and coffee – considerably less than Wizz Air, which charges £4.
A 330ml can of Coca Cola was sold by all airlines and ranges from £2.70 with British Airways and TUI, to £3.50 at Wizz Air.
Across the four drinks we compared, Vueling came out cheapest overall, with a combined cost of £10.92. Wizz Air was the most expensive at £14.50.
Cheapest: Vueling – particularly competitive on hot drinks.
Most Expensive: Wizz Air – the most expensive for every drink we compared.
Alcoholic Drinks
Fancy something a little stronger? We compared the prices of four popular alcoholic drinks: a gin and tonic, Prosecco, wine and lager.
| Item | Cheapest airline | Most expensive |
| Gin and Tonic | easyJet – £8.70 | Vueling – £9.66 |
| Small bottle of Prosecco 200ml | Vueling – £6.72 | TUI – £8.60 |
| Red or White Wine 187ml | Vueling – £5.46 | Jet2 – £7.25 |
| Can of Lager 330ml | Vueling – £4.20 | Wizz Air – £6.00 |
Vueling was the cheapest for three of the four drinks, with a 200ml bottle of Prosecco costing £6.72, wine £5.46 and a 330ml can of San Miguel £4.20.
At the other end of the scale, Wizz Air was the most expensive overall, with its four alcoholic drinks costing a combined £31 (including £6 for a can of Bavaria beer). Vueling’s equivalent total was £26.04, almost £5 less.
Cheapest: Vueling – cheapest overall, particularly for beer and wine.
Most Expensive: Wizz Air – the highest combined price across our four drinks.
Note: TUI’s wine serving is 200ml rather than the 187ml offered by the other airlines.
Snacks
If you’re just looking for something to nibble on during your flight, the differences between airlines are generally smaller.
| Item | Cheapest airline | Most expensive |
| Tub of Pringles 40g | TUI – £2.60 | Wizz Air – £3.50 |
| Bag of Crisps / Mini Cheddars | BA – £2.00 | easyJet / TUI – £2.60 |
| Kit Kat / Twirl | BA / TUI – £2.00 | Vueling – £2.52 |
| Cake | BA – £2.50 | Wizz Air – £4.00 |
Pringles were sold by all 6 airlines and ranged from £2.60 on TUI to £3.50 on Wizz Air. Each airline has a different cake offering which makes exact comparisons difficult but the £2.50 Pullin’s Brownie sold by BA was the cheapest overall.
Across the four snack categories, British Airways came out cheapest, with a combined cost of £9.20. Wizz Air was once again the most expensive, at £12.50.
Cheapest: British Airways – the cheapest overall for snacks, particularly cakes.
Most Expensive: Wizz Air – the most expensive across the four items combined.
Meals
If you’re hungry enough to want something more substantial, most airlines offer a selection of sandwiches, hot meals and snack boxes.
We compared four categories: the cheapest sandwich available, a hot pasta or rice dish, a tapas or ploughman’s-style box and a toasted sandwich.
| Item | Cheapest airline | Most expensive |
| Sandwich | TUI – £5.25 | Wizz Air – £7.00 |
| Hot pasta / rice meal | Wizz Air – £4.50 | TUI – £8.50 |
| Tapas / ploughman’s box | TUI – £5.75 | Wizz Air – £8.50 |
| Toastie | Jet2 – £5.60 | Vueling – £7.14 |
TUI’s Mature Cheddar Ploughman’s sandwich was the cheapest overall sandwich at £5.25, while the Turkey Salami & Edam Delight Baguette from Wizz Air was the most expensive at £7.00.
For hot a rice or pasta based hot ready meal, prices did not vary so much, ranging from £7.14 to £8.50. The exception to this is Wizz Air who do not offer hot food but will offer you a “Pot Noodle style” pasta cup which has been heated with boiling water – not really a like-for-like comparison to the others but the closest match we could find.
Overall, Jet2 was the cheapest across the four meal categories, with a combined price of £24.50, followed closely by TUI at £25.35.
Cheapest: Jet2 – the lowest combined price for the four meal categories.
Most Expensive: Vueling – the highest combined price, particularly for its sandwich and hot toasted option.
One important caveat is that meals are not always directly comparable. Portion sizes, ingredients and the type of food offered can vary considerably between airlines, so price alone doesn’t necessarily tell you which offers the best value.
Which Airline Has the Cheapest Onboard Food and Drinks Overall?
So which airline offers the best value when it comes to onboard catering? There are two ways of looking at our results.
If we simply add together the prices of all 16 items, Vueling comes out cheapest, narrowly beating Jet2 and British Airways. However, this approach gives greater weight to more expensive products, particularly alcoholic drinks, where Vueling is especially competitive.
We therefore also ranked each airline from cheapest to most expensive for every product, giving equal rankings where prices were identical. We then calculated the average ranking across all 16 items.
| Rank | Airline | Average price ranking |
| 1 | British Airways | 2.50 |
| 2 | TUI | 2.81 |
| 3 | Jet2 | 3.06 |
| 4 | easyJet | 3.31 |
| 5 | Vueling | 3.56 |
| 6 | Wizz Air | 5.13 |
Using this method, British Airways comes out on top, with an average ranking of 2.50, followed by TUI (2.81) and Jet2 (3.06). This reflects BA’s consistently competitive prices across the different categories rather than being particularly cheap for just one or two expensive products.
Vueling, despite having the cheapest combined basket, finishes fifth in our ranking. Its relatively low prices for wine, Prosecco and lager are offset by less competitive prices for several snacks and meals.
At the other end of the table, Wizz Air is clearly the highest priced airline for on-board catering, finishing last with an average ranking of 5.13 out of the 6 airlines researched. It is also the most expensive airline when we compare the total cost of all 16 products.
Our overall winner is British Airways, which offers the most consistently competitive onboard food and drink prices of the six airlines we compared.
Wizz Air was the least competitive overall, being substantially more expensive than its competitors across much of the menu.
How Do Onboard Prices Compare with the High Street?
It’s hardly surprising that food and drink costs more on an aircraft than in a supermarket. Airlines have additional costs associated with transporting, storing and serving refreshments, and passengers have limited opportunities to shop around once onboard.
But how much more are we actually paying? We compared seven common products with single item prices at Tesco, using the average onboard price across the six airlines.
| Item | Tesco | Average onboard |
| Coca-Cola 330ml | £1.45 | £2.92 |
| Still water 500ml | £1.50 | £2.72 |
| Prosecco 200ml | £2.50 | £7.76 |
| Red/White Wine 187ml | £2.00 | £6.60 |
| Pringles 40g | £1.25 | £2.88 |
| Bag of crisps | £1.35 | £2.44 |
| Kit-Kat 41.5g /Twirl 43g | £1.00 | £2.25 |
| Total | £11.05 | £27.57 |
The difference is substantial. Buying all seven items onboard would cost an average of £27.57, compared with £11.05 at Tesco – almost 2.5 times as much.
Alcohol has an even greater markup. A small bottle of wine costs around 3.3 times as much onboard, while Prosecco is just over three times the supermarket price.
Of course, nobody expects supermarket prices at 35,000 feet, and buying refreshments onboard is part of the convenience of flying. However, if you have a family travelling together, the cost of a few drinks and snacks can soon add up.
There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a drink or a meal during your flight, but if you’re planning to buy snacks or soft drinks, picking them up before travelling can be a sensible option, especially as we are now seeing gradual relaxation of the 100ml liquid restrictions.
You can generally take solid snacks through UK airport security, although liquids remain subject to the restrictions at your departure airport. Alcohol brought onboard must not be consumed unless served by the airline.
Our Take
One interesting finding from our research was that British Airways came out as the most consistently competitive airline for onboard catering prices. BA isn’t necessarily the cheapest for every product, but it performs well across a broad range of drinks, snacks and meals, finishing with the best average ranking of the six airlines we compared.
Vueling tells a slightly different story. It has the cheapest combined basket, helped by particularly competitive prices for wine, Prosecco and lager, but is less competitive when it comes to snacks and meals.
Wizz Air, meanwhile, was consistently at the expensive end of the rankings, despite its low-cost airline positioning.
Of course, we wouldn’t suggest choosing an airline based on the price of a coffee or a sandwich. Flight schedules, ticket prices, baggage allowances and the overall onboard experience are far more important considerations.
What our research does show is that the cheapest airline ticket doesn’t necessarily mean the cheapest onboard experience.
Furthermore, while our selection of food and drinks costs around 2.5 times as much onboard as it does in Tesco, that’s not necessarily totally unreasonable given the additional costs and convenience involved.
If you fancy a glass of wine or a hot meal on your flight, enjoy it. But if you’re travelling with the family and expect to get through plenty of drinks and snacks, taking a few things with you could save a reasonable amount.
Data sources: BA High Life Cafe (taken from ba.com on 20 October 2026), Easyjet Cafe (October 2026), Jet2 Cafe (Sep-Oct 26 edition), Tesco (25 October 2026), TUI Cafe (S26 v2), Vueling OnBoard (Summer 2026), Wizz Air onboard dining menu (September 2026)
