Vegan airplane food

[bradders]

Virgin atlantic spinach and wheat risotto was delish but not enough of it and they don't do soya milk for tea

[bradders]

I will say one thing, order your meal at the travel agent and check again with the airline. The reason I say this is when my mum ordered a diabetic meal the agent just cancelled the meals and they were left on a five hour flight with not so much as a glass of juice and when I booked my flight I requested a vegan meal, the agent had put it through as no meal but thankfully this was sorted out in advance by checking with the airline.

[mariana]

Virgin atlantic spinach and wheat risotto was delish but not enough of it and they don't do soya milk for tea
Agreed! That stuff was good. :D And they even gave me vegan margarine (labelled with the Vegan Society label and everything :)).

[Roxy]

I will say one thing, order your meal at the travel agent and check again with the airline. The reason I say this is when my mum ordered a diabetic meal the agent just cancelled the meals and they were left on a five hour flight with not so much as a glass of juice and when I booked my flight I requested a vegan meal, the agent had put it through as no meal but thankfully this was sorted out in advance by checking with the airline.

Yes, definitely a good idea. When I book the flight I check, and double check with the agent and then triple check with the airline a couple of days prior to leaving.

[bradders]

I'd say a week before to be honest.
I also recommend paying for an extra portion in advance as portions they give are always far too small

[harpy]

As well as checking in advance, they used to recommend also asking whether your meals were being loaded at the time of check-in. Not sure how you would do that though now that check-in is usually automated. Perhaps you could ask at the information desk?

Mind you I still take my own food to be on the safe side.

[bradders]

ditto, had sandwiches the last time, home made going to NYC and three yummy club sandwiches from TeaNY coming back!

[Quantum Mechanic]

As well as checking in advance, they used to recommend also asking whether your meals were being loaded at the time of check-in. Not sure how you would do that though now that check-in is usually automated. Perhaps you could ask at the information desk?

Mind you I still take my own food to be on the safe side.

Yeah, I took my own food (I didn't pre-order a special meal anyway, so I wasn't expecting anything from there). This turned out to be good for several reasons - turned out my flight was cancelled, so I had to stay overnight at the airport (so if I had relied on the catered food, then I wouldn't have had a dinner or breakfast), and I also brought some larabars that I used for breakfast the next morning. Also, it turned out that they only let you pay with a credit or debit card, and I don't have either, so that's another good thing!

[!!]

I have just got back from a trip to Colorado with BA, and on the way out there the food was good. All marked with the ingredients and all the 'standard' sides were vegan too, not just the main part. (had tomato pasta for one meal and hummus and falafel sarnies for the other). Came with dairy free stuff for coffee, vegan marked marg for the roll etc.

On the way back, it was a different story! Got the vegan main, along with dairy/egg everything else. The tray was different to everyone elses, but still wasn't vegan... ie a cake with egg in, bread roll with dairy in, kit kats, feta cheese salad... which makes me think they actually thought this stuff was vegan!

Letter writing time today I feel :) And I'll mention how good it was UK-USA but was crap USA-UK. Will let you all know of any responses.

[harpy]

Yes, that seems quite common. The catering people in the USA seem to know about vegans but the ones who assemble the trays (cabin crew?) often don't.

Please do let us know what they say. I think in the past airlines have resorted to saying that providing meals is an optional extra and a low priority compared with safety stuff (which it obviously is). But if they're going to go to the trouble of preparing vegan food at all they might as well finish the job.

[Gorilla]

yes very interesting, i'm flying Virgin Atlantic to Las Vegas in April, and from New York on the way back - i booked a vegan meal when i booked the tickets and i'm wondering what they'll end up serving me. the tickets were pretty expensive so if i don't get something decent i won't be happy :p i will be packing whatever foods i can though just in case (especially as i'm not holding out a lot of hope for vegan food in Las Vegas either).

[harpy]

Sorry, managed to post the same thing twice.

[horselesspaul]

Yes, that seems quite common. The catering people in the USA seem to know about vegans but the ones who assemble the trays (cabin crew?) often don't.

This must be fairly common since it has happened to me every bleedin' time I fly back from Lala land. That said, the fruit salad is awesomely fresh and not imported..

[bradders]

yes very interesting, i'm flying Virgin Atlantic to Las Vegas in April, and from New York on the way back - i booked a vegan meal when i booked the tickets and i'm wondering what they'll end up serving me. the tickets were pretty expensive so if i don't get something decent i won't be happy :p i will be packing whatever foods i can though just in case (especially as i'm not holding out a lot of hope for vegan food in Las Vegas either).
make sure to check that the airline knows that the meal is vegan.
agents have in the past just cancelled the normal meal and put a note that no-one will read saying vegan. Check your online options to make sure and give them a call. (I very nearly ended up without a meal and my parents ended up with none on a a flight to the canaries when she had requested a diabetic meal)

[harpy]

As already discussed I think, the acronym VGML is supposed to mean "vegan meal" in airline speak - the advice always used to be to look for that on the boarding pass (though it's a bit late by that stage). Not sure if it still works in these days of on-line check-ins and so on.

[Gorilla]

make sure to check that the airline knows that the meal is vegan.
agents have in the past just cancelled the normal meal and put a note that no-one will read saying vegan. Check your online options to make sure and give them a call. (I very nearly ended up without a meal and my parents ended up with none on a a flight to the canaries when she had requested a diabetic meal)

i didn't book through an agent - i booked it online on Virgin Atlantic's own website. i'm not quite sure what you mean as i haven't been on a plane for over six years :confused: i would imagine the procedure has changed a bit since then and i wasn't vegan then either (i was veggie and didn't have any problem getting a veggie meal).


As already discussed I think, the acronym VGML is supposed to mean "vegan meal" in airline speak - the advice always used to be to look for that on the boarding pass (though it's a bit late by that stage). Not sure if it still works in these days of on-line check-ins and so on.

no online check-in last time i flew either! i'm not a good flyer as it is and this is all making me feel nervous already :o

[horselesspaul]

i didn't book through an agent - i booked it online on Virgin Atlantic's own website. i'm not quite sure what you mean as i haven't been on a plane for over six years :confused: i would imagine the procedure has changed a bit since then and i wasn't vegan then either (i was veggie and didn't have any problem getting a veggie meal).



no online check-in last time i flew either! i'm not a good flyer as it is and this is all making me feel nervous already :o
I shouldn't worry, Virgin are usually pretty clued up. If you can, find a telephone number and ring to check a day before you travel. As has been mentioned, it may be too late at check-in time since they probably don't carry any "spare" vegan meals, at least this has been my experience (with American, a cheap but sh1t airline).

[harpy]

Relax, Gorilla :) (But perhaps take some emergency grub along so you don't have to worry about the meal aspect )

Sounds like a great trip - are you going to bus it across from Las Vegas to New York?

[bradders]

I will say it was Virgin I flew with the last time. You can log into their website and view your flight/ seat options and meal requests etc.

[clare155]

I had problems with Air New Zealand flying from London-Los Angeles-Fiji.... i was given things like scones and clotted cream, cheese and crackers, salad with creamy dressing, custardy cake, etc etc.... I was pretty hungry on the flights to say the least!!

I even checked with the airline repeatedly, and it said they were vegan meals on the slip that comes with the meal :rolleyes: Im not sure what else I couldve done.....

[Gorilla]

thanks Paul and harpy :) i'm not too sure on the rules about what you can take on the plane - how much food are you allowed to bring and does it all have to be pre-packaged or anything?

i'm staying in Las Vegas for four nights for my friend's wedding (hopefully getting a bit of sight-seeing in while i'm there, the Grand Canyon etc), then flying to Vancouver to meet Roxy. :D i'll be there for another four nights before flying across to New York, staying there for three nights before flying back from there to Heathrow.

i'm looking forward to it overall but i've never been on such long flights before and i've never been away from home for such a long time before either. the flights to and from Vancouver shouldn't be too bad as i think they're only 2-3 hours so i won't starve if they don't have any food for me on those flights ;)

eta: i know you can check your booking online Bradders, but that doesn't give me any confidence that they'll do what i've asked for.

that sounds awful Clare! :rolleyes: did you complain to the airline?

[matt35mm]

I flew with Virgin from LAX to London and the vegan meal was fine except for the margarine, which had some milk powder or something in it.

ENJOY VEGAS! It's a ridiculous place where the alcohol is very cheap and the activities are very expensive! Don't drink too much and your wallet should stay fairly full (impaired judgement is how they git ya!). And April is a good time to go because it's way too hot in the summer and way too cold in the winter.

[bradders]

you can bring pretty much as much solid food as you want in the cabin on the condition that you eat every last bit of it but they can refuse to let you bring it at their discretion. Liquids are subject to the 100ml rules.

[Gorilla]

I flew with Virgin from LAX to London and the vegan meal was fine except for the margarine, which had some milk powder or something in it.

ENJOY VEGAS! It's a ridiculous place where the alcohol is very cheap and the activities are very expensive! Don't drink too much and your wallet should stay fairly full (impaired judgement is how they git ya!). And April is a good time to go because it's way too hot in the summer and way too cold in the winter.

thanks Matt :) i'm not in the least bit interested in gambling or shows... i'm actually wondering what i'll find to do while in Vegas apart from the wedding-related activities! did you find it easy to get vegan food (sorry slightly off-topic now)?

[harpy]

That sounds grand!

As regards what food you can take, you're safe with anything you buy after going through airport security (and you can usually find the odd hummus sandwich IME). If you bring stuff from home anything wettish is liable to be confiscated, but nuts and things should be OK.

There is some stuff on the BAA website and it lists the following as permitted in hand luggage:

Food
• Sandwiches
• Crisps
• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Other solid foods

but these are not permitted:

Food
Any liquid-based food products in packets,
tubes, plastic or tin containers, for example:
• Pasta or any other foodstuffs in sauces,
gravies or other liquids
• Jams and syrups
• Sauces
• Pastes
• Yoghurts
• Soups (carton or otherwise)
• Stews or curry

You might want to read the whole thing sometime

http://www.baa.com/assets/B2CPortal/Static%20Files/NewSecurityRulesV1_220906.pdf

as they have these pesky regulations about cosmetics etc in hand luggage now