An airline passenger received fruit and nuts instead of food during a 6-hour flight. A vegan female passenger says she received fruit and nuts instead of hot food during a six-hour KLM flight from Ghana to Amsterdam on April 19th.
Juanita Headley, a lawyer and writer, told Insider that she is allergic to animal products, including eggs, etc. She has been following a vegan diet for 13 years.
Headley was rebooked on the flight at short notice after her original flight, from Ghana to London via Kenya Airways, was delayed by more than six hours. Headley said she normally bought groceries but hadn’t had time to buy anything because she ordered vegan food on the Kenya Airways flight.
When rebooked on the KLM flight, he informed the staff that he needed vegan food. Although initially told they weren’t sure it would be possible on such short notice, Headley said he was later assured by airport staff that vegan food would be available on the plane.
But when he was served food on the flight, he said it was just him they gave him fruit and nuts.
“I was sitting on a plane, starving, and while everyone was eating hot food, they gave me nuts, about seven pieces of tangerine and four pieces of pineapple. That’s what they served me for hot food,” she said.
“The second meal was a banana, about six pieces of pineapple and walnuts,” she added. “The staff provided me with very attentive personal service and made me feel very special. But the impromptu meal was a joke.”
According to KLM’s website, the airline can only guarantee vegan meals if the passenger submits the request more than 24 hours before flight departure.
“I understand these things can happen because I wasn’t on that original flight,” Headley said. “But that wouldn’t be a problem if they put a couple of extra vegan meals on the plane.”
A KLM representative told Insider: “Due to an unforeseen situation, there was no vegan food available for this passenger on the flight. We are sorry this happened and would like to offer our sincerest apologies.”
“Our customer service team will be contacting this passenger to see how we can remedy this.”
Headley told Insider she wasn’t happy with the airline’s response to her complaint and that it was “appalling that all KLM did was say sorry.”
“In these days when veganism is not a new phenomenon, it is unacceptable that a six-hour long-haul flight doesn’t bring a few extra meals for situations like this, or at least that vegetarian food is also vegan, which would make the things much easier for the crew and passengers,” he said.
It’s not the first time vegan passengers have experienced problems on board long-haul flights. Last summer, an Air Canada passenger told Insider that she was initially only offered a bottle of water instead of a vegan meal during a 10-hour flight, despite having pre-ordered special meals.
Headley posted the incident online, in a vegan group where he had seen people talking about similar experiences.
“I often see pictures of people’s meals,” she said. “Someone recently posted that they gave him salad and probably some fruit too.”
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.