My RANT
As many of you know I am Vegan. I dont think I am very fussy about it but when I am hungry I might get a tad frustrated. Traveling as a vegan is very difficult at times. I really enjoy traveling to new places and finding new vegan restaurants to try, etc, but sometimes its just not fun to fly and transit while being vegan.
Airlines offer “special meals” for people that are vegetarian or vegan, for religious reason, low sodium etc etc, but as I have found over the last few years as a Vegan, not everyone is on the same page when it comes to these meals and what it means to be vegan.
The day started where I was upgraded last minute from Dallas to New York to first class. Before the upgrade I was in Comfort Plus, and no meal was to be served. Because I was upgraded to First class 5 minutes prior to boarding, I was entitled a meal. I of course could not meet the requirements to request a special meal 24 hours prior to departure because I was only upgraded 5 minutes before.
I was not upset by this and understand in instances like this, there is no way around being without a meal. what was so great was the flight attendant was so nice and offered me a Tapas Snack box. I accepted and to my surprise this jewel was 100% Vegan! It was a perfect Vegan meal substitute and it was non perishable and something every plane should have on hand for these instances.
The Skyclub
When I get to JFK and to my 4 hour layover in the Delta Skyclub I got another surprise. No Vegan options besides Hummus and lettuce. There were other options that were in fact vegan, but the way they were placed next to cheese or chicken, made them no longer Vegan. Why you ask… well when you can see dropped in chicken or cheese mixed in by cross contamination, well that makes in not Vegan.
6 Hour Flight
On my final flight of the day, the longest one, I was surprised that over half my meal was not Vegan. It was labeled VGML which means Vegetarian non dairy, but as you can see it included cheese, and dressing with milk, even a brownie, that was not vegan.
Eat the salad you say?, notice the cheese slathered all over it. I was so upset, but it wasn’t too terribly long of a flight so I survived, just frustrated because it topped off my day of Vegan disappointments.
Delta generally tries to accommodate , and I think care, but its in the execution that they fall short. They (Delta) has many vegan snacks on board the planes, and in the clubs they label (in theory) things Vegan etc, but things never play out like they are supposed to.
In my opinion, its almost 2018 and many people are either Vegan or going Vegan and Delta and all airlines should really do more to implement their good intentions!
As a Platinum with Delta and going for Diamond, I feel like I should at least be able to eat like everyone else. Yes I am Vegan, but its not as hard as it sounds. Many Vegan items can be fed to non vegans and Delta and others could do things like keep non perishable items on each flight that are vegan. Or do things like put the cheese on the side on the Vegetarian pasta, etc. I just hope something changes .
Hotels
This is another article I will have to write, but in general I have better luck at hotels, of course the logistics are much better I know, but I still run into issues.
Wrap-Up
This is just a rant and has no value per se so dont attack me for first world problems or wanting special treatment.
I will stay loyal to Delta because I do feel they care and generally try, they just need to follow through better!
Thanks for reading and TRAVEL MORE!
