Vegan plane passenger baffled to be served banana as main

Plane food is never much to sniff at, is it?

But this one passenger’s meal might just take the biscuit (and they weren’t even given one of those…)

After ordering a vegan meal on their Japan Airlines flight, disgruntled passenger Kris Chari says they were given a singular banana. You honestly couldn’t make this up.

Even more confusingly, they were given chopsticks to enjoy the banana with. You can see how the banana was presented for yourself, by clicking here. 

READ MORE: Try Twisted’s Za’atar Aubergine Schnitzel recipe

The banana was all that was offered to the customer (Credit: Alamy)

Kris was flying business class on a seven hour journey from Jakarta, Indonesia, to Tokyo when they were served the banana.

“Before takeoff my flight attendant confirmed that I ordered VGML and that my breakfast was a banana, by which I mistakenly assumed she meant that breakfast included a banana,” they told others on air travel forum, FlyerTalk.

“When she served the banana after takeoff I thought it was just an underwhelming appetiser, but it was in fact the entire meal service!”

On the journey, Kris was meant to receive a full meal and a snack, and the banana was categorised as the latter by the airline.

But before you assume that makes it okay, meat eating passengers had been treated to a seared tuna and Moroccan-style aubergine salad, with cheese, orange salsa and a baguette, according to the airline’s menu.

The banana was served on a Japan Airlines flight (Credit: Alamy)

READ MORE: Try Twisted’s Saucy Vegan Chocolate Pudding recipe

Not quite the same standard, is it?!

Speaking to Insider, the vegan passenger said they would have liked to receive a vegan salad, sandwich or a baguette like his fellow passengers.

“It’s a bit insulting to be served a single banana while others are given a far more substantial and flavourful menu,” they said. “It seems especially important given the growth in the number of vegans and vegetarians.”

Japan Airlines has since spoken out about the mishap, saying: “We apologise for not being able to meet expectations.”

Confirming that they did serve a single banana to the passenger, a representative added: “We will continue to respond to our menus in light of the growing interest and diverse needs of customers requesting special meals, including the valuable feedback from this customer.”

Luckily Kris’ other vegan meal was a little more substantial, with spaghetti on the menu. However, he added that this was also “barely seasoned.” Sounds like they didn’t have a good flight, did they? 

The airline has since apologised (Credit: Alamy)

It comes after other airlines have also come under fire for their vegan offerings, with Air Canada previously apologising for only offering one plant-based customer water during a 10 hour flight.

Sounds like these airlines need to read up on the abundance of naturally vegan food they could offer their customers (ahem, read our article on that here).