Air travel to San Francisco

[Pansypuss]

I just returned from a holiday in CA. We flew Virgin Atlantic who offered (and assured us) vegan meals. On the way out I ate the meal without reading the (very) small extensive print on the labels. On the way back having often eaten veggie through no choice I was feeling pretty fed up and decided to read the labels. This is what I found. The balsamic vinaigrette dressing (Naturally Fresh from Atlanta) for the salad contained ' nonfat dry milk'. The coffee creamer (coffee-mate, Nestlé) which clearly stated on the label, 'This product is non-dairy' had sodium caseinate (a milk derivative) in the list of ingredients. The margarine (Promise, Unilever) contained whey (from milk) in the ingredients.
The main meal - well was it really vegan? No list of ingredients on it to check and judging by what I had just read on the other things, it probably wasn't.
The salad was just lettuce and tomato (very boring especially without dressing) and my sister who had the vegetarian meal had lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, cabbage etc in hers. Not sure quite what wasn't vegan there!
Also, apart from the non vegan aspect of the meals, I would prefer not to be supporting Nestlé and Unilever.
I have written to the airline and hope they take the matter up with their suppliers. In the meantime, be aware that a vegan airline meal probably isn't vegan and apparently most people don't know (or care) what vegan means. But then we knew that already didn't we?

[Frosty]

That's disgusting, pansypuss. I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. Please make sure you mail Virgin to complain some more about this if you get one of their stock generic letters in return. I have been looking at flights to San Francisco this week, and that will be enough for me to not ever book with Virgin.

[Mila]

I booked a round trip from San Francisco to Las Vegas with Virgin America some time ago. I checked their site, but they hadn't any information on any food in the plane. I guess it's not that big of deal since the flight is only an hour-and-a-half, but they were very happy to point out that their seats were all leather. /shudder

[Risker]

Their website clearly states;

Vegan vegetarian - contains no meat, meat products, fish, fowl, eggs or dairy products.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb...ealth/diet.jsp

So it's not like they don't know...

Just found this interesting site where people review airline meals, there's a couple of vegan ones on there, neither of them actually vegan.

http://www.airlinemeals.net/indexSpecialmeals.html

EDIT: LSG Sky Chefs is the supplier for virgin atlantic in case you're interested.

[bryzee86]

I just returned from a holiday in CA. We flew Virgin Atlantic who offered (and assured us) vegan meals. On the way out I ate the meal without reading the (very) small extensive print on the labels. On the way back having often eaten veggie through no choice I was feeling pretty fed up and decided to read the labels. This is what I found. The balsamic vinaigrette dressing (Naturally Fresh from Atlanta) for the salad contained ' nonfat dry milk'. The coffee creamer (coffee-mate, Nestlé) which clearly stated on the label, 'This product is non-dairy' had sodium caseinate (a milk derivative) in the list of ingredients. The margarine (Promise, Unilever) contained whey (from milk) in the ingredients.
The main meal - well was it really vegan? No list of ingredients on it to check and judging by what I had just read on the other things, it probably wasn't.
The salad was just lettuce and tomato (very boring especially without dressing) and my sister who had the vegetarian meal had lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, cabbage etc in hers. Not sure quite what wasn't vegan there!
Also, apart from the non vegan aspect of the meals, I would prefer not to be supporting Nestlé and Unilever.
I have written to the airline and hope they take the matter up with their suppliers. In the meantime, be aware that a vegan airline meal probably isn't vegan and apparently most people don't know (or care) what vegan means. But then we knew that already didn't we?

We had the same thing coming back from New York. Fine on the way there, the margarine was even labelled vegan. I just assumed on the way back that all the trays are made up by the crew with the standard dressings,creamers and spreads, so I shoved them to one side once I'd read the ingredients.

[harpy]

Yes, unfortunately it seems to be common for the trays assembled on board to include non-vegan items, but as the catering people go to the trouble of making separate vegan dishes and labeling them as such I think/hope they probably do make sure the contents are vegan.

[Digital Ghost]

When I fly I ask for a fruit meal or raw vegan meal (basically just cut up vegetables, fruit and nuts).

Sure it isnt all that interesting but at least I know that it's vegan.

[Frosty]

I have stumbled across a list on Viva! for airlines that offer vegan meals...
Airlines providing vegan meals:
Aer Lingus
Air Canada
Air Malta
Air New Zealand
American Airlines
British Airways
Cathay Pacific
Continental Airlines
Lufthansa
Malaysia Airlines
Qantas Airways
Qatar Airways
United Airlines
Vietnam Airlines
Virgin Atlantic
Tour operators providing vegan meals:
Direct Holidays
My Travel
Thomas Cook
Thomson
Tour operators that don't provide vegan meals:
First Choice
Please let us know if you discover others that do (or don't!) cater for vegans and we'll add them to the list!
Also check out http://www.airlinemeals.net/indexSpecialmeals.html to find examples of meals served by airlines and to post your own review.


One thing I have noticed is that it lists Virgin Atlantic on there. Hmmmm...

[Marrers]

With BA going to New York I noticed the meals on the way back were way better than the meals going out (on the way back I got a vegan cookie!)

I presumed the meals come from kitchens in the city the plane leaves from and that I got a better return meal cos NY are more clued up and vegan friendly.

[Digital Ghost]

The Viva! list is so not complete.
Pretty much every airline offers vegan meals the only exception is if you are on a very short flight (around an hour) or with a low cost airline then some do and some don't.

Marrers is right - the meal generally come from the city the plane has left, except if you are on a flight where it has landed in two places i.e. Hong Kong to Paris to New York - then the meals would usually be all from Hong Kong.

Generally around Asia vegan meals are pretty boring - Usually rice with vegetables and tomato sauce. You get a bread roll with butter or margerine that isnt vegan and some cut up fruit. India is ace if you like Indian food and America is (in my opinion) the best.

I'm quite fussy with picking which airline I fly on. There are several that I feel offer poor service or have lost my luggage (never to be found) that I avoid. Obviously if they offer fruit meals then I'm more likely to book them also.

Finally any airline that looks dodgy on here http://www.planecrashinfo.com/rates.htm is a no go.

[bryzee86]

With BA going to New York I noticed the meals on the way back were way better than the meals going out (on the way back I got a vegan cookie!)

I presumed the meals come from kitchens in the city the plane leaves from and that I got a better return meal cos NY are more clued up and vegan friendly.

my NY-bound flight meal was faaaar better.

[Risker]

Finally any airline that looks dodgy on here http://www.planecrashinfo.com/rates.htm is a no go.

The list seems pretty random, there's no obvious pattern going on there (to me) to use that list to decide on flights would be a bit paranoid imo. Delta are at the top and the last time I used delta they were flying an obviously faulty plane.

[Risker]

I don't know if this is still up to date in any way but I did some research into airline food a while ago.

http://www.veganforum.com/forums/sho...6&postcount=43

[ellaminnowpea]

I've been on like hundreds of flights and lots of airlines and have to say they're all pretty shitty except British Airways. KLM is okay as well. But otherwise, the people have no clue how to make vegan meals and the seats are for short people. Plus, I hate those planes that make you feel like its rocking about and you could crash at any moment. The larger ones owned by British Airways are always more stable feeling and much more accomodating than the tiny American or Asian ones.

[Digital Ghost]

to use that list to decide on flights would be a bit paranoid imo.

Thanks for that!

Your probably right though - I think I get more worried about it the more I fly.
It only gives fatal accidents not ones that you really felt you were going to die on. Plus it doesn't list half of the airlines.
I try and avoid all America based airlines as I think they are mean and nasty.

I love this bit -
'If a passenger boarded a flight at random, once a day, everyday, it would statistically be over 21,000 years before he or she would be killed.'

The list is good but there are more airlines out there - note I can't be bothered to list them all (to be honest they seem to come and go all the time).

[tipsy]

I have been looking at flights to San Francisco this week, and that will be enough for me to not ever book with Virgin.

finally decided to come for a vist, frost?

[tipsy]

I've been on like hundreds of flights and lots of airlines and have to say they're all pretty shitty except British Airways.

i flew lax to sydney & back on United.
i was absolutly ASTOUNDED when my meals were perfectly vegan, perfectly edible, and all the passengers around me were jelous of the food i got!!!

although the calorie content of the desert they gave me (a pre packaged cinnamon bun sweet) blew me away!! it was enough to be the entire meal!!!

[Pansypuss]

We found a really cheap airline for our next trip (silver wedding anniversary to The Lodge, Grenada). It's XL.com, once we'd booked we found that there were no meals apart from bought ones and there was nothing on the menu I would eat. I can't say I'm too worried, we will take all our own food in a small cooler box and have a yummy vegan picnic. Just hope we don't have to flap our arms.......

[Pansypuss]

We were lucky, xl.com cancelled all flights to the Caribbean so refunded our flight money - last week! We're thinking of going to the Lake District/Wales instead. Environmentally a much better option so I am feeling good about it despite losing our hol. in Grenada:smile:

[harpy]

Yes you were lucky - you probably would have had to flap your arms otherwise!

[xwitchymagicx]

That xl thing is stupid.

I feel bad for the people who didn't even get a holiday.