[Pro-holidayer]

My partner and I booked return flights from London Heathrow to New York JFK.

We booked the flights online and thought we were flying with Air France. When booking the flight there was no option on the online booking form for dietary requirements. When we flew to Miami in June, we flew with British Airways. The online form for BA had many options for dietary requirements. Being a vegetarian, I always ensure I fill in the dietary requirement selection. I assumed that Air France (like Easyjet and other airlines I have flown with) must carry a small number of vegetarian options for those passengers who do not eat meat.

When we arrived at Heathrow we were informed that we were flying with
Delta. My partner had flown with Delta before and would not have booked
these flights if we had known it would be a Delta flight. I realised his
dismay when we boarded the flight. Having flown longhaul with BA only a
few months earlier, I was shocked at the shabbiness of the flight. I
have flown over 18 times this year and my partner has made even more
journeys and this was by far the worst.

There were no personal television sets for the journey. In fact, on the
return flight the cabin crew actually forgot to switch the in-flight
entertainment system on until over 90 minutes into the flight my partner
asked if there was going to be any entertainment! This was ridiculous
and very poor customer service!

What was even more ridiculous and disappointing was the fact that Delta
did not carry any vegetarian meals and the cabin crew did not care that
I could therefore not eat the food. On the outbound journey I was
fortunate to be able to have the choice of a meat free pasta meal.
However the ‘snack’ was a pizza which contained rennet – and therefore
unsuitable for vegetarians.

On the inbound flight there was NO meat free option for the meal –
either ham or chicken. The snack later in the flight was a chicken
baguette. This was a really poor choice of menu – even those who eat
meat don’t necessarily want to eat it at every meal and I feel there
definitely should have been an alternative. I was left very disappointed
and annoyed – I had paid a lot of money for the flight and was left very
hungry. I did not get a discount booking the flight because I wouldn’t
be eating any of the meals!!!

After arriving in Heathrow after our holiday I was left very
disappointed with the service we had paid for and definitely would never
recommend Delta, let alone fly with them again.

I contacted Delta to complain via email and was given a very standard response which did not answer any of my questions - i feel very let down by such shabby customer service.

[Silent Bob]

I think the only person you can utimately blame for this would be your partner, seeing as how he booked the flight, but did not ensure the code sharing of the airline, which would have stated Air france flight number 1122, operated bt Delta. Secondly, since there was no place online to book a particular meal, did you try and call prior to your outbound/inbound flight to see if there was an option for a meal? Finally, do you not pack extra food for yourself just case of such emergencies? I have a friend who is strictly vegan and though she always orders her meals in advance, she makes sure to carry extra food with her just incase. Other than the lateness of entertainment, (I mean how soon do you wanna watch that crappy, badly edited movie anyway right?), it would appear that your mostly upset because of lack of meal options, which again could have been avoided had your partner ensured the booking was infact through Delta, for which he hates.

[PHXFlyer]

Special meals, which includes vegetarian, need to be ordered in advance. Airlines don't cater flights with vegetarian or other special meals "just in case" a passenger might request it. If you couldn't find where to order the meal on the website a simple phone call would have done the trick.

About your other "complaint" Air France and Delta are partners in the SkyTeam alliance. It's very possible that the Delta flight you were on had a codeshare flight number for Air France. Airlines and other travel websites are required to show the operating carrier when listing flights. Had you bothered to read the information fully, you would have seen something like this:

Air France flight #xxxx (operated by Delta Airlines)

It would also have been listed on the itinerary confirmation you received but again you probably didn't bother reading that either.

Remember commercial aircraft are not restaurants. Airlines provide food and beverages as a service to their passengers but their primary responsibility is to transport you to your destination safely. Even when pre-ordered, mistakes can be made and a special meal might not be loaded on your flight. If you have special dietary requirements I would suggest in the future bringing along some food that you can consume should the food offered by the airline not meet your needs.

[jimworcs]

Often, it is confiscated for "security" reasons. Good luck finding decent vegetarian food in the airport.

[Silent Bob]

You can get food past security without a problem. Families and people who have a specific diet do it all the time. It just sucks you can't bring your own beverage, but have to pay airport prices if you want a drink.