Vegan Airline Passenger Was Given Fruit and Nuts Instead of Meals

A vegan passenger said she was given fruit and nuts in place of a hot meal during a six-hour KLM flight from Ghana to Amsterdam on April 19.

Juanita Headley, a TEDx speaker, attorney, and author, told Insider she is allergic to animal products, including eggs, and has followed a vegan diet for 13 years.

Headley was moved to the flight on short notice after her original flight, from Ghana to London via Kenya Airways, was delayed by more than six hours. Headley said she normally bought her own food but hadn't had time to pick anything up as she had preordered vegan meals on the Kenya Airways flight.

After she was rebooked onto the KLM flight, she said she informed staff she would need a vegan meal. Despite initially telling her they weren't sure if it was possible at short notice, Headley said airport staff later assured her there would be a vegan meal available on the plane.

But when food was served during the flight, she said she was just given fruit and nuts.

"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," she added. "The staff gave me very attentive personalized service and made me feel very special. But the makeshift meal was a joke."

According to KLM's website, the airline can only guarantee vegan meals if a passenger submits the request more than 24 hours before the flight's departure.

"I understand these things can happen because I was not on that original flight," Headley said. "But this wouldn't be an issue if they put a couple of extra vegan meals on the plane."

A representative for KLM told 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."

Headley told Insider she was unhappy with the airline's response to her complaint and that it was "appalling that all KLM did is say sorry."

"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.

This is not the first time vegan passengers have struggled on board long-haul flights. Last summer, an Air Canada passenger told Insider she was initially only offered a bottle of water instead of a vegan meal during a 10-hour flight, despite preordering special meals.

Headley posted about the incident online in a vegan group where she'd seen people talking about similar experiences.

"I see photographs of people's meals often," she said. "Someone posted recently they got a cup of salad and probably fruits as well."