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Thread: Vegan airplane food

  1. #101
    DancingWillow's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Just flew with Virgin Atlantic...for dinner, they served me a nice vegan curry with rice and a small salad (the dressing however was not vegan). For breakfast, they served me a banana, orange juice, and a small fruit salad. I was happy Excellent service from the line in all respects.

    My next flight, with a different airline, also served me vegan food... all kinds of veggies and a salad and a cup of fruits. However, they also had two cheese sticks, which I had to throw away...
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  2. #102
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    What was that green stuff, Kiran? As long as it tasted good that's all I'm saying.
    "Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends". ~ George Bernhard Shaw.

  3. #103
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Quote kriz
    What was that green stuff, Kiran? .
    It was just salad Kris.. It tasted like salad, so it was safe.

  4. #104
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    Default Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    I've travelled on four international airline flights in the last week and a bit. As frequently mentioned all over the internet, the food I was given wasn't vegan even though I specified the vegan meal before leaving, received the "appropriate" VGML, and had it confirmed by documents on board that this food was suitable for vegans.

    Except of course it wasn't. OK, there have been threads on this before, but I'll ask the moderator to refrain from merging this one, as I want to talk about something different ... how to complain.

    I had the same trouble as this eight or so years ago when I last travelled by plane. So I complained to the airlines involved, and received a non-committal "apology" by letter. But clearly nothing has changed.

    If this were regular food sold in a supermarket, then it would be easy as the description of it as "vegan" would contravene food labelling regulations, and the Food Standards Agency would hopefully act on complaints. But for an international flight, who do you complain to?

    I've taken the policy of complaining to every organisation that I can think of. Starting with the New Zealand equivalent of the FSA, as the worst of the meals (rolled pasta covered in cheese) was served coming out of New Zealand. I'm complaining in the UK, to the Civil Aviation Authority, and elsewhere. Hopefully, if I complain all over the place, and if there is an organisation that can do something about this, then eventually I'll find them.

    But in the meantime, does anyone have additional information on this? Has anyone ever complained and had something happen about it? Does anyone have any particular knowledge of the complaints procedure, and which organisations would actually have power to act on complaints and stop them serving food with dairy (and other dairy products) to passengers who don't want it? There must be somebody...
    Last edited by flutterby; Jun 24th, 2007 at 12:01 PM. Reason: this was the 1st post in a similar thread

  5. #105
    BlackDog
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    If you complain in writing to the airline and mark your letter 'CC The Vegan Society' it might get their attention.

  6. #106
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    I don't have any idea. But, I'd love to complain to someone who could make a change. I flew from Korea to the US and then back again with no food whatsoever because my "vegan" meals were not vegan. One was not even vegetarian. I'm flying to the US and back again in August and fully intend to carry all my food on board as the airlines clearly can't be trusted.

    Another reason to bring my own food is that one of my flights got cancelled and I got switched to another airline so that I could make it back to Korea on time. Needless to say, they certainly didn't have my pre-ordered "vegan" meal on board. THe only thing they could offer me was a "fruit cup" of canned fruit that looked revolting. One airline attendant tried to reassure me that the Korean dish of bibimbap would be fine. I told her that I'd bet a hundred bucks there would be either an egg or some cow on top. There was. Both. She offered to scrape it off for me. I declined. In this instance, it was totally not their fault that they had nothing I could eat. But, it really brought it home to me that I'm better off carrying my own food whenever I travel...especially when I'm trapped inside a speeding metal object with no chance for a pit stop to grab a banana.

  7. #107
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    i traveled on united to australia last summer and was happily surprized to find my vegan specified meals were actually vegan!!!

    and they were yummy and plentiful!

    the people i sat next to were jealous!

    i think the best way to complain would be to write them a letter with your concerns, and tell them that you are a frequent flyer but will not be traveling with them anymore.

    i dont know what else you can do????!!?!?!?
    Last edited by tipsy; Jun 24th, 2007 at 06:24 AM. Reason: im silly
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  8. #108
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    Clearly there is a problem. Clearly, looking at a lot of comment on the web as well as here, complaining to the airline itself doesn't help. In the 8 years between my two recent air journeys, there must have been hundreds or even thousands of people having difficulties and potentially complaining onboard or by letter/email. But nothing seems to have changed. So clearly, complaining to the airlines doesn't make a difference. So who else should be contacted?

    If a restaurant or company selling packaged foods continued to put dairy products in their "vegan" food, in most countries I'd imagine that they'd be forced to stop, or closed down. But airlines seem immune. I'm not aware of the law concerning airline meals, but I have asked each organisation I've contacted what the situation is and for advice of whom else I should contact.

    With all due respect to jjdaiquiri, how can you be sure that your "vegan" meal actually was vegan? The way I see it, if they're making mistakes with one part of the meal, they're likely not taking proper care with the rest. I quote from this page which claims inside knowledge of airline meal preparation:

    http://www.vegantravel.co.uk/travelfood.html

    More often that not the majority of food is not suitable for vegans. I know this. I used to work at an airline catering company. I discovered that the chefs and other meal makers did not know what a vegan was or what they ate. This meant that supposedly vegan meals weren't always so. The pasta would be egg or the salad dressing would contain dairy by-products and, although it is required by law, meats and vegetarian/vegan foods were all cooked in the same fryers.
    But I must resit from digression. This thread is meant to be about what organisations to complain to given there are problems, which there are for many vegans travelling.

    If we could find the proper way of complaining, then not only could I and Klutz complain, but we'd be able to advise others who post.

  9. #109
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    Airlines are useless.
    I was on a flight last year and when the stewardess came to me she said she had given my vegetarian meal to someone else so I asked her if I could have an extra little bottle of wine instead (which she gave me after giving me a dirty look. )

  10. #110
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    I'd agree that many airlines are useless. But other organisations that serve food are checked up for cleanliness, safety, labelling, etc., by organisations that you can complain to and which have teeth in getting restaurants (etc) to clean up their act, or closing them down. There was a television programme on UK TV (Sky Travel) called "Filth Files" showing New Zealand environmental health officers at work. I can't believe that the airlines are unaccountable.

  11. #111
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    Quote jjdaiquiri View Post
    i traveled on united to australia last summer and was happily surprized to find my vegan specified meals were actually vegan!!!

    and they were yummy and plentiful!
    I've had a similar experience with United, and my vegan meal was vegan! And no problems with Malaysian, Thai or Lufthansa either.

  12. #112

    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Until fairly recently I was travelling all over the world recording and the in-flight meals were either excellent or simply not vegan.
    BA/Quantas forgot my meals on 3 flights and made me some up specially from the First Class food, which was nice.
    Most of the extras with the meals: spreads, salad dressing, nibbles etc were not vegan on any flight.
    RossClement has a good point in that the airlines don't seem to know what vegan food actually is quite often. What a ridiculous oversight on their part.
    Fwiw American was the worst. Cheese on everything despite being marked vegan... f*cking idiots. Matronly apologies from the flight attendants and some peanuts did nothing really to assuage my hunger on an 11 hour flight. Twice.

  13. #113
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    What I found especially silly was the roll of bread on my tray. I eyed it suspiciously and asked, "Are you sure there is no butter or milk in this?" (ignoring the little pat of butter next to it) The attendant said, "Don't worry; you have a vegan meal." Since I was served first, I sat back and waited.

    When everyone else's trays came around, they all had identical rolls of bread. Since I highly doubted that they ALL had vegan bread, I certainly couldn't even think of eating mine. This made me suspicious about the rest of the meal. How was I supposed to know if that was "vegan" cheese"? And that really looked like a meat-based broth. If they could screw up the bread and give me a pat of butter, how could they possibly get the rest of it right?

    I will ask for the vegan meal on my upcoming flights, not because I think I can actually eat it, but because I want them to know that there IS a demand for such food and to give me the chance to educate them about what is and isn't vegan when they screw up my meal.

  14. #114
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    Quote RossClement View Post
    I'll ask the moderator to refrain from merging this one, as I want to talk about something different ... how to complain.
    I'd complain if I were you
    "Mr Flibble - forum corruptor of innocents!!" - Hemlock

  15. #115
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Quote Klutz View Post
    When everyone else's trays came around, they all had identical rolls of bread. Since I highly doubted that they ALL had vegan bread, I certainly couldn't even think of eating mine. This made me suspicious about the rest of the meal. How was I supposed to know if that was "vegan" cheese"? And that really looked like a meat-based broth. If they could screw up the bread and give me a pat of butter, how could they possibly get the rest of it right?
    Most airlines have a generic tray with just the basics. The speciality food for passengers with special requirements is always assembled in-flight by the flight attendants. The generic tray contains the snacks, butter, sugar, water, bread rolls. There is no gurantee that these could be vegan. If you opt for a vegan meal, then a meal box/package is given on the same tray as others. Plus you usually get some salad and fruits. Hence, the main contents like the meal itself, dessert, salad should be vegan. The rest of the contents of the tray is the same for everyone on the flight.

    I found the situation to be same even on Lufthansa, British Airways, BMI Baby.

    Please see this post
    http://veganforum.com/forums/showpos...8&postcount=94

    As the above explains, although I got a main vegan meal, the margarine was not even vegetarian because it was the same for everyone on the flight. Ironically, Flora spread which you can see in the photo contains Pork Gelatine. This was given on Emirates (an Arab airline), which I assume would honour atleast Muslim sentiments. Whats the pork gelatin about?
    Life is like a boomerang: What goes around comes around - "Karma"rocks!

  16. #116
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    Quote RossClement View Post
    But for an international flight, who do you complain to?
    I would imagine that airlines are bound by the laws of the country in which they're based, so you could probably take action against say, QANTAS under Australia's Trade Descriptions Act.
    Given that, in the US, you can claim millions against someone who lost your trousers, you could probably make a whole swag of cash by suing airlines for wrongly describing meals.

  17. #117
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    Quote BlackDog View Post
    I've had a similar experience with United, and my vegan meal was vegan! And no problems with Malaysian, Thai or Lufthansa either.
    How do you know it was vegan? Did you get a full ingredients list plus an assurance that it was prepared to prevent cross-contamination?

    I realise that we all take prepared products on a certain degree of faith. But given the sloppiness and ignorance displayed by many caterers preparing airline meals, plus inside information from people who have worked in the industry (see previous quote), the faith displayed by some posters seems remarkable.

  18. #118
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    Quote Mr Flibble View Post
    I'd complain if I were you
    To be honest, I think the moderators here merge threads that are too different. I had a thread asking about emergency information for someone visiting New Zealand on two days notice. It was merged into an old thread asking about living long term as a vegan in New Zealand. They really are quite different things.

  19. #119
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    Quote RossClement View Post
    the food I was given wasn't vegan even though I specified the vegan meal before leaving, received the "appropriate" VGML, and had it confirmed by documents on board that this food was suitable for vegans.

    Except of course it wasn't.
    What did they attempt to feed you?

  20. #120
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Quote Kiran View Post
    Please see this post
    http://veganforum.com/forums/showpos...8&postcount=94

    As the above explains, although I got a main vegan meal, the margarine was not even vegetarian because it was the same for everyone on the flight. Ironically, Flora spread which you can see in the photo contains Pork Gelatine. This was given on Emirates (an Arab airline), which I assume would honour atleast Muslim sentiments. Whats the pork gelatin about?
    Your "Nestle Coffee Creamer" isn't vegan either. It contains "Sodium Caseinate (milk protein)".

    The main meals I was served sometimes appeared vegan. But without ingredients lists and other assurances, claims that these meals were vegan are on shakey ground. Leaving from New Zealand I was given stuffed pasta rolls with Ricotta cheese on top.

    But this gets away from what I was trying to do. Clearly there are major, major, problems with airline food. Complaining to the airlines doesn't do any good, so if anything is going to be solved, then complaints need to be taken elsewhere.

  21. #121
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    Quote BlackDog View Post
    I would imagine that airlines are bound by the laws of the country in which they're based, so you could probably take action against say, QANTAS under Australia's Trade Descriptions Act.
    Given that, in the US, you can claim millions against someone who lost your trousers, you could probably make a whole swag of cash by suing airlines for wrongly describing meals.
    Thanks for this post, which addressses the point I was trying to make in the original thread. I've contacted the Food Standards Authorities (or similar organisations) in several countries to see if they will accept a complain. I certainly cannot afford to take on a large company in a legal battle. I've not received any replies yet.

    I've also contacted Auckland Airport to ask who provides food for airplanes leaving that airport. That'll give me more information to work on.

    I'm unlikely to be flying again soon. But after having the same experience eight years apart, I at least want to try to do something for my fellow vegans. But if the thread becomes partially a thread saying whether or not certain meals people ate were vegan, and then gets merged into another thread containing more of the same, then this is not exactly the thread development I was hoping for. Though, I'm going to try and take this further. Responses from Food Safety authorities will hopefully inform my next steps.

  22. #122
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    Quote BlackDog View Post
    If you complain in writing to the airline and mark your letter 'CC The Vegan Society' it might get their attention.
    Again, than you very much for this. I'm going to contact the Vegan Society and see what they say.

  23. #123
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    Quote Mahk View Post
    What did they attempt to feed you?
    I've forgotten what the Italian name for it is, but take a flat piece of lasagne pasta, wrap it around cooked spinach to make a roll, and then put ricotta cheese on top. There is a specific name for this. Eight years ago I received stuffed ravioli, and vegetarian passengers, who received exactly the same meal, confirmed that it tasted exactly like cheese.

    Some of the side dishes also had milk products in their printed ingredients list.

  24. #124
    BlackDog
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    I don't think it matters if you contact the Vegan Soc or not. What matters is that the airline(s) think that you will / have.
    They'd worry at the prospect of hundreds of people hearing about their failure to provide vegan food.
    Another good mob to CC your letters to would be Lonely Planet.
    Oh, and food standards people are only really concerned about health issues.
    If you ever get a chance, asking any travel experts who take talk back calls on the radio, to advise on airlines that cater to vegans would also be effective.
    Most big companies monitor talk back.

  25. #125
    BlackDog
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Of course, naming the airlines that failed to provide vegan food, here would probably also get back to them.

  26. #126
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Quote RossClement View Post
    Your "Nestle Coffee Creamer" isn't vegan either. It contains "Sodium Caseinate (milk protein)".
    Yes I know. But I avoid Nestle anyways - vegan or not!
    Life is like a boomerang: What goes around comes around - "Karma"rocks!

  27. #127
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Quote BlackDog View Post
    Oh, and food standards people are only really concerned about health issues.
    Surely this affects those with dairy allergies though - wouldn't they expect to be safe if they ordered a vegan meal when flying?
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  28. #128
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Quote Marrers View Post
    Surely this affects those with dairy allergies though - wouldn't they expect to be safe if they ordered a vegan meal when flying?
    Excellent point. I hadn't thought of that. It could be really serious, even life threatening I imagine.

  29. #129
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Quote Marrers View Post
    Surely this affects those with dairy allergies though - wouldn't they expect to be safe if they ordered a vegan meal when flying?
    I always go down the "allergy" route whenever I'm trying to explain what I can and can't eat. People are more likely to listen to you if they worry you could drop dead (and they could consequently face legal action) because of their food! I imagine this would work equally well with the airlines - if you add to your complaint that they put you at risk by ignoring your dietary requirements and providing misleading information about your meal, then I would hope that would scare them into making some changes!

    I guess another tactic would be to mention religion, e.g. buddhism or hinduism, for example, to make them take you seriously. Unfortunately veganism is too often seen merely as a "lifestyle choice" by many people, and therefore it's not such a big deal
    "Born on the same planet, Covered by the same skies..."

  30. #130
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Funny you should post this as I have just called First Choice to request a vegan meal and have been told that vegan meals aren't available and I can't get a refund for my meal alone, only for the whole party. I am so hacked off

  31. #131
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Quote Linxie View Post
    Funny you should post this as I have just called First Choice to request a vegan meal and have been told that vegan meals aren't available and I can't get a refund for my meal alone, only for the whole party. I am so hacked off
    I would much, much, prefer to be told honestly that vegan meals are not available than to be booked in for a "vegan" meal that isn't vegan when it arrives. At least you can make your own arrangements.

  32. #132
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Quote BlackDog View Post
    Of course, naming the airlines that failed to provide vegan food, here would probably also get back to them.
    Cathay Pacific. But they are likely to be using the same caterers as other airlines, so it's the airports that are more important.

    On the leg out of Heathrow, my margarine had "suitable for vegans" written on the packet. Nothing dodgy looking anywhere that I could see, so I ate the whole meal.

    Out of Hong Kong, there was some Dutch margarine without ingredients (I've emailed them) and the Nestle coffee creamer as previously mentioned. Main course looked fine so I ate that assuming that it was only the extras that were sloppy.

    Out of Auckland, New Zealand, they served the main which was pasta with Ricotta cheese. Gave up eating after that, and didn't even eat the main course (same one) served when flying out of Hong Kong. I had my own food on all legs. Once bitten twice shy and all that.

  33. #133
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Quote Marrers View Post
    Surely this affects those with dairy allergies though - wouldn't they expect to be safe if they ordered a vegan meal when flying?
    This is what I said when discussing the problem with cabin crew and in my letter to Cathay Pacific. I'm not going to suffer serious damage by accidentally consuming dairy products, but others who have allergies are potentially being put in danger.

  34. #134
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Quote BlackDog View Post
    Oh, and food standards people are only really concerned about health issues.
    Have a look at the FSA's (UK) website. It specifically goes into issues of labelling food vegetarian and vegan.

  35. #135
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Quote RossClement View Post
    I would much, much, prefer to be told honestly that vegan meals are not available than to be booked in for a "vegan" meal that isn't vegan when it arrives. At least you can make your own arrangements.


    I know what you mean and as its only a short haul flight its not the end of the world. But it annoyes me that a) I have to pay for something I can't eat and b) their website says, and I quote, To request other types of special meal onboard, please call First Choice Airways on xxxxxxxx. We will do our best to provide a meal according to your requirements.

    Well they have my complaint in writing now!

  36. #136
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    I was an airline stewardess for a while in my late 20's. Guaranteed someone would forget to order their veggie meal and I'd have to give up mine and starve for the whole journey
    The veggie/vegan meals were always totally hit and miss and quite often would be missing but there were a good number of passenger forgetting to order and then having a tantrum about it
    Silent but deadly :p

  37. #137
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    The problem I always find is that I order a vegetarian meal, my travel agent tells the tour operator but they don't ever seem to tell the airline! It happens 80% of the time. It happened again on my last trip which was to India - 12 hour flight so I really needed that food! The air stewardess said rather rudely that my travel agent couldn't have passed on the request. That was the wrong thing to say as my travel agent is my sister who was with me, as was her work colleague Luckily they managed to find a spare so I didn't have to starve the whole way!

  38. #138
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    Default Re: Complaining about "vegan" (hah!) meals on airlines

    Quote RossClement View Post
    To be honest, I think the moderators here merge threads that are too different. I had a thread asking about emergency information for someone visiting New Zealand on two days notice. It was merged into an old thread asking about living long term as a vegan in New Zealand. They really are quite different things.
    Hi RossClement, I'll send you a PM.... in general, if we merge two threads about New Zealand, and one especially if one of them is an emergency question, we always try to keep the original thread title alive (with a redirect) for some days (with it's original title) - this way you're original question will be seen by everyone.

    If you want anything to improve re. how the site is moderated, just send us a PM, we don't have time to read all the threads here, so suggestions re. how we can improve the moderating inside a thread about eg. airplane meals probably will have no effect at all.

    Since we still have relatively few posts about eg. New Zealand, maybe it's not such a bad idea to collect more or less related 'info about New Zealand' posts under one thread title - but it's also possible that we did a mistake in your case. If you send me links to the relevant posts we'll look at it...
    I will not eat anything that walks, swims, flies, runs, skips, hops or crawls.

  39. #139

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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    No wonder you´re not getting a vegan meal if you use a travel agent. You should get your ticket directly from the airlines website instead, usually you can pick a seat, order a special meal and its cheaper too

    Speaking of vegan meals on airplanes, I think were unanomous that one should bring some backup food, which i tried on my last trip which was to Spain. All I could find to buy at the airport of Madrid was some weird apples, potatoe chips and dark chocolate Not even bananas. So I will definitely get the food before going to the airport next time.
    Another idea i thought of was to bring one of those dried hiking/trekking meals that you only have to add boiling water into and let sit for 5 minutes, probably one could get hot water since they always seem to be serving tea? At least that would be a real meal and not just fruit and snacks.

    Anyway, my next trip is to Argentina, with either British Airways or Air France, so I thought Id obviously order a vegan meal with them just to see if its edible, have heard mixed reviews about their so called vegan meals but I dunno which airline is the best, or maybe it doesnt matter. Would be cool to get my moneys worth on a 20 hour flight.

  40. #140
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    I haven't flown all that much recently (polishes halo) but I think BA usually manages to produce some kind of vegan meal on a long-haul flight (outwards anyway). Not sure about Air France.

    BTW I think there is some merit in requesting a vegan meal even if one doesn't feel enthusiastic about eating it, as presumably it means that the airline loads one fewer meat-based meal.

  41. #141
    gorillagorilla Gorilla's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    i'll be flying with Virgin Atlantic next year and i'll be buying the tickets soon, hopefully they're still offering decent vegan meals. *crosses fingers*
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  42. #142

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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    As I said before, they're all right. Not brilliant, but they'll do. As before, you'll get non-vegan creamers, dressings and margarines (though we got a vegan marge from LHR-JFK!) however.

  43. #143
    alisont's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Anyone know if you can take say a sandwich/food in hand luggage through customs these days?

    Flying from Birmingham in August and I doubt they sell vegan food in departures but i could be wrong i guess?

    Not a major issue if not Il just miss lunch and grab a smoothie and fruit instead but be interesting to know.

  44. #144
    Rice Dream Digital Ghost's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    I was on an international flight this Sunday and have taken quite a few flights this year.

    I always take on my own food - hummus sandwiches often feature.

    Never had any sort of problems.

    You can't take liquids over 100ml though - also you couldn't take hummus/salad dressing/yeast extract in a tub (over 100ml) as that would be considered a liquid.

    Also (depending on what country you are going to) you may not be allowed to take fruit off of the plane - you are allowed to bring it onto the plane though.
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  45. #145
    alisont's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Thanks, will take a hummous wrap or something then, guess i can take small soya milk in container for coffee but think costas have soya these days.

    Im not going far, only very short hop to Dublin (not good eco wise i know but only flight in 2 years)

  46. #146
    Mahk
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    You can't carry on liquids greater than 4 fluid onces, I thought.

    edit: oops, I guess that was just mentioned as 100ml.

    Also (depending on what country you are going to) you may not be allowed to take fruit off of the plane - you are allowed to bring it onto the plane though.
    That's a weird concept. Say it was fruit you discard the skin of on the plane. Where are they allowed to throw that skin away?

  47. #147

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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    I just booked a first class domestic US flight on Northwest. They offer real food service (no "Food for purchase").

    When I called NWA to request a vegan meal, they told me that they now offer "special meal choices" ONLY on international flights. When I asked them what I should do, they told me to "bring my own".

    When I asked them about food allergies etc, they told me I could fax them a doctors note and then they would "consider" it.

  48. #148

    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    The salty stuff is what I make at home!

    Regardless, the best food I've had on planes has been the food I make myself.

    Back when they fed us on airplanes before the airlines completely lost any sense of customer service, my wife and I'd gotten some excellent vegan meals on "Lan Chile". The meals were excellent, if only too damn small. But that was before Sept11th2001. Since then, rarely has any food been any good, and rarely has it been as explicitly vegan.

    Since then, we've just gotten better at our bringing our own food to the airport, as NEVER has a prepackaged pay meal been vegan on the plane in the last 9 years.

    The longer the flight, the more we make and we just make sure not to bring any bottles with liquid in them. We usually just fill up bottles once already inside the airport.

    It's worked out well so far, even for our longer flights of up to 14 hours to Southern South America from Michigan. Even though now the flights are crowed and the on flight food is worse than ever.
    context is everything

  49. #149
    AnneCE's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    Quote alisont View Post
    Im not going far, only very short hop to Dublin (not good eco wise i know but only flight in 2 years)
    Hi, I fly a lot to Ireland, usually Ryanair, Edinburgh to Dublin, and they charge for everything including the coffee. If you are flying Ryanair, do without coffee etc. on the plane. It's not worth it on any flight from the UK to Ireland - I think the longest trip takes less than 2 hours.

    I have a 4+ hour stopover at Dublin the next time I fly, so I will just have a black coffee at one of the cafes in Dublin airport (a place I hate but seem to be doomed to spend more and more time as I get older). And I will bring a sandwich and some dark chocolate in my hand luggage (I never check anything in) to have with it. I never expect to find anything vegan in Ireland as cheese and/or mayonnaise seems to be everywhere. I am often surprised but never disappointed that way.

  50. #150
    Gets nervous chickpea_chica's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vegan Airplane food

    This website looks pretty useful for airline food: http://www.vegparadise.com/airline.html

    Doesn't look too promising for vegan options though.

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