While airplane food will rarely be of the same quality as what’s available on the ground, I think there’s a basic standard that most of us expect, especially in business class. Along those lines, this is pretty bad…
In this post:
A disappointing vegetarian Finnair business class meal
Twitter/X user @aaltoantti flew Finnair business class from Osaka (KIX) to Helsinki (HEL), which is quite a long flight, and pre-ordered a vegetarian meal. Online he shared pictures of the meal he was served on this 13+ hour journey, and it’s most definitely not something that you’d expect to be served in business class.
The main course simply consisted of rice, broccoli, and baby corn. Perhaps even worse, the salad just had two pieces of lettuce and a lemon wedge. Honestly, this would be disappointing in economy, let alone in business class. The only place I’d expect to be served something like this would be at Fyre Festival.
After reaching out to the airline, the traveler was reportedly offered 3,500 Avios as compensation…
How can airlines get things so wrong?
Airline catering is complicated under the best of circumstances. As much as everyone likes to complain about it, personally I’m consistently impressed by the logistics, both in terms of preparation and how it’s served. The fact that airlines are able to serve semi-decent meals (at least in premium cabins) takes a lot of effort.
So, what exactly went wrong here, and how can Finnair pass off something like this as a premium cabin meal? Obviously this was catered at an outstation, so the airline doesn’t have the same level of control and oversight as you’d find at a hub catering facility.
Still, airlines work with airport catering companies to design meals, so it’s not like Finnair should be surprised by what’s being served. That raises the question — is this actually what Finnair agreed to with its catering company as the meal for business class passengers, or was there some sort of a catering snafu? Is it possible the standard vegetarian meal wasn’t prepared for some reason, and this was substituted in?
Now, in fairness, last year I stayed at Shisui Nara, a Marriott Luxury Collection property (Nara is also in Japan, and not far from Osaka, funny enough). I ordered a vegetable appetizer, which looked like the below.
So maybe Shisui Nara and Finnair in Osaka share a kitchen? I don’t know. 😉
To be constructive, I think this is also a good reminder to always pack snacks when you fly, especially if you have any dietary restrictions. You never know when you’ll have a serious flight delay, so a protein bar (or something along those lines) can always come in handy. It shouldn’t necessarily be that way, but…
Bottom line
While airplane food is rarely anything to get excited about, there’s a certain standard of quality you expect, especially when traveling in a premium cabin. A Finnair business class passenger on a recent flight from Osaka to Helsinki was offered what looks like an inexcusably basic meal, which you wouldn’t even expect in economy.
Here’s to hoping this was some sort of a catering mistake, rather than what Finnair actually intends to serve business class passengers.
What do you make of this Finnair business class meal?
People with dietary restrictions should always bring your own food. Please slap yourself for wanting airlines to have delicious special off the menu meals. Fly Air India. It will really humble your business a**.
I understand that the person was disappointed in what they received especially for a business class meal, but in some way I think this was a set up so they could just post some negative feedback and get attention. First, there are many details of the story not included in the article or in the posts. Second, he orders a special meal that the airline can do but does not normally do or is not...
I understand that the person was disappointed in what they received especially for a business class meal, but in some way I think this was a set up so they could just post some negative feedback and get attention. First, there are many details of the story not included in the article or in the posts. Second, he orders a special meal that the airline can do but does not normally do or is not known for. Experienced fliers know that if you want a special meal, there are other types of meals that would be better for the same reason/outcome/result.
And also like just enjoy the J-class lounge and find whatever fits them and their dietary restrictions cause whether it’s vegan or vegetarian or kosher or halal or “normal”, like plane food is 99% supposed to be bad
I flew DFW-HEL in business class on Finnair last summer and ordered a vegetarian special meal. The special meal delivered to me was ... a piece of chicken. Obviously, mistakes happen. For me, it was the reaction of the crew that was odd. The serving flight attendant called the purser over and they both just looked at me, not offering an alternative. I think they either just expected me to eat the chicken or eat...
I flew DFW-HEL in business class on Finnair last summer and ordered a vegetarian special meal. The special meal delivered to me was ... a piece of chicken. Obviously, mistakes happen. For me, it was the reaction of the crew that was odd. The serving flight attendant called the purser over and they both just looked at me, not offering an alternative. I think they either just expected me to eat the chicken or eat around it. When finally I noted that there was a vegetarian option on the menu and asked if one was available, they jumped into action and brought me the meal. I am just too demanding, I guess, but the experience was a strange one.
Finlanders are doing a good job of putting a brave face on things, but many aspects of life there are being severely impacted by Russian sanctions, not least tourism.
"Finlanders."
But sure, yes, tell us more about the situation in Finland. Credible source detected.
In the days of the internet and online connectivity, there is no really good reason for AY not to have sufficient control and oversight at outstations.
Lettuce costs a fortune I suggest they half the portion so the shareholders don't get upset
I will never get on a long haul JAL flight, in 'J', without my own food. I recently flew HNL to NGO, and had pre-ordered veg. What I got was a blob of sticky white rice, and an utterly tasteless tri color pea,bean,carrot mix, that usually sells for 99c in the 'frozen food' section of your local supermarket. No taste, dressing or sauce. If I tell a 10 year old to fix me a quick...
I will never get on a long haul JAL flight, in 'J', without my own food. I recently flew HNL to NGO, and had pre-ordered veg. What I got was a blob of sticky white rice, and an utterly tasteless tri color pea,bean,carrot mix, that usually sells for 99c in the 'frozen food' section of your local supermarket. No taste, dressing or sauce. If I tell a 10 year old to fix me a quick veg meal, he will come up with something wat more sophisticated. Thank goodness I had loaded up on chicken curry and cinnamon rolls in the AA/JAL lounge in HNL beforehand.
ZERO sympathy from us meatatarians.
Cool story - thanks for commenting.
Has anyone tried the new JAL first class vegetarian offering they are bragging about?
The meal should come with news clippings from around the world highlighting the deaths, destruction and poverty many are facing. We have a lot to do to make the world a better place for all. According to the poster, it appears improving business class veg meals is a top priority. Everyone suffering in the world would certainly agree the business class meals are below what is expected.
So should your participation in air travel come with photos of landing in utterly polluted cities, where you can start seeing the ground only when you get below 1,000 feet, i.e. Jakarta
Kathleen K did it everyone. She solved the world's problems on an aviation blog. Get over yourself.
The entitlement of some of the comments here...*of course* the world should revolve around you and your diet. God forbid you might actually pack food that you CAN eat, when it's so much easier to complain about it ad nauseum.
Expecting good vegetarian food (on an airplane no less) in Japan is like expecting a good steak in India. It's just not a big part of the culinary tradition there.
If one has dietary restrictions that are not common in a particular culture, you can't expect excellent food. Being an omnivore definitely makes eating while traveling easier and more enjoyable.
Agreed. Being flexible in EVERYTHING you do while travelling is a good choice. If you are going to be fussy about your food , don’t fuss when what they serve doesn’t suit your diet.
More enjoyable?
For who?
If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian - Sir Paul McCartney
What absolute rubbish. There is a fantastic vegetarian food tradition in Japan that goes hand in hand with its Buddhist heritage. Shojin ryori is one expression of this.
I’m not a vegetarian but some of the best Japanese meals I’ve had have been vegetarian and some of these have been some of the best meals I have eaten anywhere.
@Ed, was coming in here to say the same thing.
The culture of the outstation should be irrelevant; it's down to tge airline ro set and meet appropriate standards.
Would be more cost effective to offer a reduced fare ($5-10)for anyone who requires special meals, put the onus back on the passenger to sort themselves out.
Honestly.....why do you guys order these meals anyway, or order the fish of a menu. You know 9 times out of 10 it's gonna be crap. Just order the steak and eat everything else and leave the steak! What babies.
Yup, they really are whiney turds, probably due to their diets.
Sounds like your diet is turds.
@frrp
Womp womp.
Lucky,
I read through the comments here and am surprised that nobody has said this so far: Special order meals, including vegetarian meals, are not actually a part of the luxury amenities an airline offers as a part of a premium experience. For example, if you order a VLML, VGML or AVML, or really any other special meal, the airline will have the same offerings in First, Business and Economy, and they will not be...
Lucky,
I read through the comments here and am surprised that nobody has said this so far: Special order meals, including vegetarian meals, are not actually a part of the luxury amenities an airline offers as a part of a premium experience. For example, if you order a VLML, VGML or AVML, or really any other special meal, the airline will have the same offerings in First, Business and Economy, and they will not be of the same standard as the regular menu. They don't specially cater vegetarian meals for First class or Business class.
I'm a strict vegetarian and I don't ask for vegetarian meals any longer simply because they're 99% of the time completely inedible or simply not worth eating. The other 1% is on Air India, which does cater absolutely delicious vegetarian food. I just order off the regular menu and if there's something I can't eat, I don't. At least the quality of the surrounding stuff is great (e.g., cheese; fruits; salad). I encourage everyone to do this if you wish to avoid this kind of disappointment.
All the best,
Aroon
Agreed 100%! BA, Lufthansa & KLM have some of the worst. Qatar & Emirates know how to do it!
Harder to do if you are a vegan - you need to know that the vegetables were not cooked in meat broth, have no butter, etc.
This. Also, to make matters worse, either for simplicity or as a cost-saving measure, airline catering will usually combine different special meals. VLML, VGML, AVML, LSML, LFML, LCML, BLML would all describe that pathetic assemblage, so I doubt it was a conscious effort to make the veggie meal terrible.
There are so many great vegetarian dishes which are easy to prepare, even from an airline catering perspective.
Exactly! Put about 2 seconds worth of effort into it.
Reminds me of a joke told on Australian TV:
"A vegan and a vegetarian are both jumping off a tall cliff to see who will hit the ground first. Who wins?"
Answer: "Society."
People should really lower their expectations when it comes to vegetarian meals. To think that airlines would put to munch thoughts or effort when it comes to designing their menus.
Airline meals are inconsistent at best and when you throw a vegetarian meal to the mix you're just asking for disappointment.
Ordering a vegetarian option on an airline will only work when there is an "Indian Vegetarian" option. The rest of the world has no clue how diverse and tasty a vegetarian meal can be. There's a lot more than pasta and grilled vegetables.
Picking the vegetarian option on a Nordic airline is asking for disappointment. They probably just lump vegetarian/vegan/gluten free etc into the same dish.
Had my favorite airline vegetarian meal to date on SAS.
"This is the business class dinner you can expect on a 13.5 hour"
He didn't specify this was the vegetarian business class dinner, so he clearly wanted this to go as viral as possible.
I was served a similar meal on SQ ultra long haul. Dessert was - I kid you not - raisins. They the served THE EXACT SAME MEAL pre-landing. My scathing feedback was met with a shrug by SQ.
Flew them again more recently, and it wasn’t any better. Four small tofu squares as a starter…. Four small tofu squares and rice as a main! Three slices of fruit for dessert. “Enjoy!”
At least...
I was served a similar meal on SQ ultra long haul. Dessert was - I kid you not - raisins. They the served THE EXACT SAME MEAL pre-landing. My scathing feedback was met with a shrug by SQ.
Flew them again more recently, and it wasn’t any better. Four small tofu squares as a starter…. Four small tofu squares and rice as a main! Three slices of fruit for dessert. “Enjoy!”
At least on that flight the purser completely got it and did her best to compensate. It’s rough to have to bring your own food on a 17 hour flight in J.
What route was this? Was this in business class? The regular meal or the veggie meal?
JFK-SIN in J - special meal. Return catering from SIN has been slightly better. Slightly.
Gosh. I hope you're OK.
That plate screams flatulence.
Funny. It looks exactly like the food which was served to me in First Class on Global Airlines inaugural flight from Montreal to Glasgow back in May. The accompanying Laurent Perrier was quite good.
It’s bit challenging to get vegetarian food in Japan, looks like it extends to airline food.
They could have served vegetarian curry or a vegetarian noodle dish of some sort.
Serving curry to anyone in the cabin annoys some of us who absolutely hate the smell.
So people should go hungry so that you are not annoyed.
So what do you on routes and airlines that feature curry on the menu then, Albert?
I think it has something to do with ex-Japan flights. Wasn't there passenger who received a single banana as the "vegetarian meal" pre-request on an intra-Asia flight ?
ANA served a banana as gluten-free meal for red-eye flight from HND to SYD in the past. But it was served as breakfast around 5-6AM local time and substantial gluten free dinner was served around midnight at local time.
Yep that was me, was JL720 CGK-NRT. Was a great banana though!
Vegan meals: Unsurprisingly Disappointing.....since Time began.
That’s actually not even close to true. Putting aside what you can get on the ground, some airlines get it right. Qatar serves fantastic vegan meals, for instance. This is just a no effort non-attempt at a meal.
It may be a thing about ex-JPN flights? I don't think amazing Japanese cuisine extends to vegetarian options, and their 'western' options also tend to be lackluster.
I disagree with Eve in that I've had great veggie meals out of most European hubs, including HEL. I like how many carriers now offer at least one vegetarian option in the main menu.
Finnair, based.
Based af.
They should consider themselves lucky. I flew Osaka to Helsinki in business class two weeks ago and despite pre-ordering and having it confirmed in writing, there was no vegetarian meal on board. 13.5h with no meal. In business class. Have been busy but will write to Finnair soon.
This is not exclusive to Finnair. Vegetarian/vegan meals has always been very poorly served in most European carriers, especially the Nordic ones. It is an easy way for them to cut down cost.
I have flown LH multiple times TATL economy and I was always presented with a quite acceptable VGML.
I love to bash LH but the VGML meals are not their biggest fault.
It’s a Japanese thing. JL F from JFK to HND was equally tragic for a vegan meal.
I agree - unfortunately vegan food in Japan does not receive so much love as other food and you have difficulties find good vegan meal in Japanese restaurant unless you could find a few specialty restaurants for vegan food.
Outside of rice with soy sauce, there is really no dish in Japan that does not include some type of fish sauce, oil etc. Even something seemingly vegan like miso soup has elements of dried fish in making the broth.
I'm sure they can make modifications on board airlines, but the fact is that anything tasty in Asia will have fish/meat in some form.
Not so Daigo (Tokyo, Japan)
Daigo has had two Michelin stars for over a decade
Perhaps the best shojin ryori (Buddhist vegetarian cuisine) on the planet.
Unlike America and a lot of other over consumption countries, in Japan, they often consume food both seasonally and also not in excess.
Meat and seafood is often part of a larger meal instead of a challenge to see how much they can consume, so the idea of being "vegetarian" is a lot different.
It doesn't mean that Japan hasn't adapted somewhat but it is also reflective of the fact that "allergens" are...
Unlike America and a lot of other over consumption countries, in Japan, they often consume food both seasonally and also not in excess.
Meat and seafood is often part of a larger meal instead of a challenge to see how much they can consume, so the idea of being "vegetarian" is a lot different.
It doesn't mean that Japan hasn't adapted somewhat but it is also reflective of the fact that "allergens" are also quite a foreign concept when you go deep local in Asia, the reason being that most people grew up eating a wide range of spices, nuts, etc.
People complain when people don't speak English or whatever language when people visit their country already, but then also complain when they visit a completely different culture and they don't bow down to their requirements.
Lucky, those veg you got close to Osaka, I hope you actually appreciated them because the restaurant probably gave you something nice and at times more expensive to source than meat.