A vegan passenger had an experience on a recent flight that can be best summed up with the phrase “you can’t always get what you want.”
Motivational speaker Juanita Headley remains livid that the airline did not have ample vegan meals for her when she took a flight from Ghana to Amsterdam on April 19.
There were extenuating circumstances, according to Business Insider.
Headley’s initial flight from Ghana to London was delayed, which meant the KLM booking took place on short notice. Headley, who had ordered a vegan meal on the Kenya Airways flight, also did not have time to get her own food.
Headley said that KLM staff at first said they were not sure a vegan meal would be ready for her, but then said those immortal words everyone hears now and then that there would be no problem.
Well, there was.
“I was sitting on a plane, hungry, and while everyone was eating hot food I got nuts, about seven pieces of tangerine, and four pieces of pineapple. That’s what I was served as a hot meal,” she said.
“The second meal was a banana, about six pieces of pineapple, and nuts. The staff gave me very attentive personalized service and made me feel very special. But the makeshift meal was a joke.”
“Thank God I don’t have a nut allergy or I would have been on fruit rations,” she said according to the New York Post.
KLM says it can serve vegan meals but needs a little notice.
“On each flight, there’s a limited number of vegetarian meals available. Want to make sure you get your vegetarian meal or do you prefer a vegan meal? You’ve got the option to reserve a vegetarian or vegan meal. Make sure to order at least 24 hours before departure,” the airline said on its website.
KLM was apologetic in a statement, according to Business Insider.
“Due to an unforeseen situation, there was no vegan meal available for this passenger on the flight. We regret that this happened and would like to offer our sincere apologies. Our customer care department will be in contact with this passenger to see how we can make up for this,” its statement said.
Headley found the comment even less appealing than her meals saying it was “appalling that all KLM did is say sorry.”
“I understand these things can happen because I was not on that original flight. But this wouldn’t be an issue if they put a couple of extra vegan meals on the plane,” she said.
“In this day and age where veganism isn’t a new phenomenon, it is unacceptable that a six-hour, long-haul flight doesn’t carry a few extra meals for situations like this, or at a minimum that the vegetarian meal is also vegan which would make like very simple for crew and passengers,” she said.
She insisted she is not alone, noting photos of vegan offerings provided on other airlines.
“I see photographs of people’s meals often,” she said. “Someone posted recently they got a cup of salad and probably fruits as well.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.