Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Woman stunned by vegan plane ‘meal’ served on Air Canada flight

Miriam Porter was travelling from Canada to Germany, but says she was served only a bottle of water

Aisha Rimi
Thursday 11 August 2022 10:29 BST
Comments
Related video
Leer en Español

A passenger on an Air Canada flight was left stunned at the “meals” she was given during the flight after she ordered several vegan meals, but was served only a bottle of water.

Miriam Porter, a travel blogger on TikTok who goes by the name @TheKindTraveler, was on a flight travellling from Toronto, Canada to Frankfurt, Germany when the incident occurred.

In a viral TikTok video that has had over 1.2 million views, Ms Porter explained how she ordered several vegan meals during the more than 10-hour flight, but was left hungry after claiming to be served nothing but water.

“POV: You are on an Air Canada flight for over 10 hours and order vegan meals,” her post begins.

The video then shows footage from the flight of her first “meal” being a bottle of water. For “meal 2” she showed a napkin with nothing on it.

Ms Porter says she was eventually given some food, but it was a makeshift meal a flight attendant cobbled together from leftover business class trays.

In the comments, she wrote: “Shout out to the kind flight attendant that got me fruit & dinner rolls from business class.”

She added: “I love fruit but also like entire meals!”

Passengers can choose from a selection of “special meals” in advance on Air Canada flights, varying from vegetarian to diabetic, kosher and vegan meal options.

“Special meals are available in all classes of service on all flights where a meal service is offered (except on flights offering Air Canada Bistro service),” the website states.

“We won’t be able to guarantee that your special meal request can be accommodated if it’s submitted less than 24 hours before the first flight in your itinerary.”

However, Ms Porter said her order was placed “well in advance and confirmed (many times)”.

“This has happened many times sadly. I always preorder in advance and bring my own food in case. But this time it was impossible,” she said.

Her post has been flooded with comments from users, with some asking why she didn’t just bring her own food this time.

“I always bring my own food in case but I was on a 24-hour delay and couldn’t make food to bring,” she explained in the comments.

Air Canada states: “You may bring your own snacks and food on board, or purchase meals and beverages at the airport before your flight – just make sure to purchase beverages after you’ve passed through security and take into consideration any limitations on bringing food through US pre-clearance when travelling to the US.”

Ms Porter described the situation as “annoying”, especially as she was already delayed and “trying to get home with little food”. She added that it took her two days to get home from Berlin.

The Independent has contacted Air Canada for comment.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in