Posted 21 August 2022

British Airways didn't provide a meal as it was finished

My parents travelled to India last week on British Airways flight. Both of them are pure vegetarian and were desperately waiting for a veg meal. But to utter surprise British Airways staff said that vegetarian meals are over and they can only offer non veg meals.

Parents had to travel without a meal and this has brought lot of embarrassment to me as I've sponsored their trip and planned everything.

Is there any way I can ask for compensation and what are the chances of that being honoured?
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  1. psychobitchfromhell's avatar
    According to their website, you can request special meals up to 24 hours before departure, and this includes
    vegan, vegetarian and Asian vegetarian. Did you do this? I would assume Asian vegetarian would be available on a flight to India. The option is available via manage my booking. If not, I doubt you have a leg to stand on but, with this information, you should be able to avoid a repeat performance on the flight back.
  2. Easy.Action.Baby's avatar
    Solve this by making all in flight meals vegan, thus halal, vegetarian etc. Would also offset some of your co2.
    Gollywood's avatar
    The meltdown meat-eaters would have would provide enough energy to propel the plane to the end destination
  3. JJ900's avatar
    You may stand a chance if you requested the meal before the flight. If not, I doubt it
  4. Azwipe's avatar
    Why do people make threads and then not bother to answer peoples questions?
    VeganPolice's avatar

    Replying to

    Well, the OP is online now, so we'll find out.
  5. AndyRoyd's avatar
    I'm guessing the compensatory value for a product that is complementary / free / inclusive will be the amount that the customer has paid for it on the purchase invoice = 2 x £zero ?
    AndyRoyd's avatar
    No. Purely considering compensation options in the context of contractual / t&c obligations, which is as indicated until someone cites credible source of alternative compensatory route.
  6. Backinamo's avatar
    [deleted]
    Backinamo's avatar

    Replying to

    oh maybe. Id disown my child either way for forgetting i was vegetarian.
  7. deleted2130460's avatar
    It's really not outrageous to think that if your fuzzy on the most common food chose or not then you bring your own

    Most flights have 0 food nowadays due to nobody wanting to do the minimum wage job near airports, go figure (edited)
    MadonnaProject's avatar
    Except, I don't think you can carry home cooked meals onto long haul flights. But thanks for being the everyday "I took the effort to tell you, you're wrong" internet genius.

    Vegetarian meal options are quote common for such flights. I think the OP means the flight ran out of veg meals or did not serve them at all which is, once again, ridiculous.

    Flights to India are not your usual ryanair fare to magaluf for a pees-up weekend, fam. Innit.
  8. bozo007's avatar
    Choice of meal is never guaranteed if not booked in advance, so I am surprised why you didn't book it and simply assumed that enough meals will be loaded. It is a different thing if nothing was available but that wasn't the case here - your parents unfortunately couldn't eat what was left. I doubt if BA will offer any compensation in this situation given that it was self inflicted.
  9. Gollywood's avatar
    Did you request vegetarian meals in your booking?
  10. Misslovely's avatar
    When I booked my dads flight on virgin I requested his meal as halal because I knew he may have been offered something else .
    Surprised you didn’t do that/know but now thinking of compo.
    All you could do is Emil them I spose
  11. innocent's avatar
    It's about time OP owned up whether he "requested" vegetarian meals for his parents well in advance before their flight otherwise quietly atone by expiring this discussion. (edited)
    Abbhioye's avatar
    Author
    No, I missed to book the meal in advance.
  12. pfagan10's avatar
    Value your own time OP and don’t waste time chasing this up. As others have stated it’s complementary unfortunately. Can’t have been pleasant but pre-book next time and chalk this one up to experience.
    HappyShopper's avatar
    Thing is, he needs compensation to get over his embarrassment.
  13. tek-monkey's avatar
    Are we expecting an industry that charges you for every extra kg of baggage to just randomly carry loads of spare food on the off chance they have more than average fussy eaters onboard?
  14. Abbhioye's avatar
    Author
    Sorry guys I was really busy with my personal stuff and apologies for the same that couldn't reply on the comments.

    Though I missed to book a meal before the departure which is not a good planning especially when parents are travelling.

    Took a chance by raising a claim for the food not served and to my surprise BA have given me £50 BA e-voucher to compensate the same.
    SaturdayGigs's avatar
    Your fault and you got compensation, not sure why they have given compensation for your error, they must of not seen it was never requested as no compensation is due nor deserved. Trouble is society works like this now.

    You said
    Parents had to travel without a meal and this has brought lot of embarrassment to me as I've sponsored their trip and planned everything.

    Is there any way I can ask for compensation and what are the chances of that being honoured?
    Though I missed to book a meal before the departure which is not a good planning especially when parents are travelling.
    Will they feel better now you have got £50 off BA in compo? (edited)
  15. hootz's avatar
    You can complain and may receive Avios, depends on distance and class of ticket usually, but in future pre book the meals (edited)
  16. jase.2's avatar
    I’m a fussy eater and although I eat meat I don’t exactly go looking for compensation if an airline doesn’t have anything I don’t like

    instead I prepare in advance just on the off chance

    so I think the op is barking up the wrong tree
  17. innocent's avatar
    Obviously the cabin crew in this instance were completely in the wrong for not providing fruit salad or a vegetarian sandwich instead. Reminds me of the recent case in press of the lady who had requested a vegan meal and was just given a bottle of water for the entire flight!
  18. dazigster's avatar
    Basically: no. The meals are described as complementary for precisely this reason ie no obligation to provide them if they can't.

    On top of that, it sounds like you didn't specify a dietary requirement at booking (if you had, they would provide that meal before main service, to avoid disappointment)

    The only situation where you would have a valid complaint was if it was the kind of (budget) airline where you order (and pay extra) for a meal at the time of booking, in which case a refund on the meal cost would be reasonable.

    Just have to mark it up to experience next time and make sure you specify dietary requirements at booking. In my experience it's also worth double checking they have the requirement too, either at check-in or the day before by phone - preferably both!

    Luckily I'm not vegan, so when they screw up anyway - which is frequently - despite all preparations, we can at least get two reg meals, my vegan wife can at least eat the veg bits and I eat the meat/dairy bits from both.
    hootz's avatar
    Have you actually tried or been denied compensation before due to meals not being received on a British Airways flight?
  19. AX31's avatar
    Odd. They have at least 2/3 choices in economy. They could have gone to other cabins. I’ve seen crew work hard to help customers with allergens and dietary requirements. I can’t imagine they would just say sorry. All gone. If so that is awful.
  20. fisco2001's avatar
    As others have said big Question is did you Pre Book the Meal Request ?
  21. innocent's avatar
    As far as I know, meals are complimentary from the airlines and not part of your tickets. However if you had requested the special meals in advance and they didn't provide them, you can write to their customers relations department and they might compensate you as a matter of good will gesture. This happened to me with Lufthansa once and they compensated me well clearly stating that they didn't have to. However nothing can compensate for the fact that I had to sit there hungry and watch others enjoy their meals.
  22. IAmATeaf's avatar
    When this happened to me and the wife, even though we had both booked with a veg meal the stewardess was very apologetic, seemed like somebody who hadn’t booked took the meals they gave up a tray but with the meaty elements removed and kept coming back asking if we wanted 2nd helpings of anything.

    So it seems very strange that your parents weren’t offered anything at all.
  23. DisagreeableRunt's avatar
    I had to involve Bott and Co to get compensation for a last-minute cancelled flight that ruined our wedding anniversary and resulted in losing a £400 non-refundable hotel booking. That was after being fobbed off for months and getting nowhere. Good luck chasing it for a meal!
  24. DangerousBeans's avatar
    Also I think the meals are just pre prepared and loaded onto the aircraft, it's not as if they've got a kitchen where they can just rustle something up.
  25. IAmATeaf's avatar
    What I was told was that the meals are based upon what people have pre booked with a few extras of standard veggie and standard meat just in case they have an accident when serving or meals get spoiled. Issues crop up when they start serving the “special” meals at the start and people then randomly insist on being served a veggie meal even though they never bothered to book.
  26. jinkssick's avatar
    Your fault and not BAs. Plus £50 comp. I think youve come out real well in this scenario.
  27. xenole's avatar
    Airlines do carry a certain number of meals. For say 200 people in the economy cabin, there might be 120 veggie curries and 80 meat curries. If you're near the back of the cabin and the meal service starts from the front, then you'll get what's left.
    As said earlier, if the demographic flying are vegetarian, then the veggie options will go quickly even if they do over-cater.
    Somewhere like New York may have a great % choosing the chicken over a chickpea dish for example.

    Even premium cabins run out of food. Many times with BA in first class where they load 2 steaks for a cabin of 8 people, and if you're not in row 1, forget it.

    If there's something you really want, pre-book it.
    Bring snacks as well as the food on the plane will never be enough and it does cover you if things occasionally go pear shaped.

    £50 is good considering the meal probably cost a £ or two
    PS5's avatar
    Nice job of resurrecting a 9 month old thread
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