Vegan traveller says Air Canada served her a water bottle, napkin as a “meal”

A Canadian writer travelling from Frankfurt, Germany, to Toronto with Air Canada says while other passengers on the flight were handed their hot meals, she just sat with a bottle of water after her vegan meal never arrived.

Miriam Porter, also known on TikTok as The Kind Traveler, posted a video last month on her 10-hour flight showing the “meal” she was offered: a small bottle of water and a napkin.

As of Tuesday, the video has garnered over 133,000 likes on TikTok.

@thekindtraveler shout out to the kind flight attendant that got me fruit & dinner rolls from business class ❣️ #aircanada #vegan #plantbased #veganfortheanimals #airplanefood #aircanadafail #toronto #frankfurt #hungry #airplanemode #keepsmiling ♬ original sound – TAILS

Porter told Daily Hive that because her flight was delayed several times, she ordered and confirmed her vegan meal three times.

However, the meal did not arrive.

“My vegan meals did not make the flight, I was told, and there was nothing they could do,” she said.

Porter reached out to several flight attendants until one attendant was able to bring her an apple, banana, dinner roll, and granola bar from business class.

“I was very grateful.”

On Porter’s flight with Air Canada to Germany, she says most of her first meal was frozen solid and her second meal was completely frozen. “It was a slab of ice,” she said, adding the food was inedible.

“I asked the flight attendant and they told me it was from the dry ice and sometimes this happens,” she said. “The person across from me had ordered a Kosher meal and her fruit salad was also frozen. We laughed about it.”

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This trip was not the first time Porter has been left out when the meals are handed out to passengers, she said. This is why she has prepared meals in the past.

Unfortunately, between the delays and rushing to the airport to catch her flight to Toronto, she says she didn’t have the time to prepare her own meals for her flight back home.

“I was hoping the vegan meals I ordered were there since I had just confirmed them and I was hoping they would not be frozen, there was really not much more I could do. ”

Out of the 1,000+ comments on Porter’s TikTok video, many have said they’ve experienced the same while boarding their flights with a number of airlines.

One person said when they flew with Air Canada, the vegetarian meal offered was a shredded carrot on white bread.

Another person commented they flew with Delta Air Lines and received a small bun with three slices of zucchini.

Many others with a vegan diet say they’ve had to go without food because the airline mostly catered to vegetarians instead of vegans.

Porter says she understands airlines are short-staffed and are facing a lot of criticism due to the high travel demand. So she does not blame employees that are doing their best.

She adds that many passengers have cancelled flights, lost luggage, and had longer delays than her. But she says the lack of food options is much harder for travellers with severe allergies.

Porter has reached out to Air Canada about the food she was served and the delay she faced when travelling back home.

Daily Hive has reached out to the airline but has not heard back.