Jet Airways has cut its menu options for domestic passengers by more than two-thirds, from 23 to just seven choices, The Times of India reported. This means people who might have food allergies or are vegan or lactose or gluten-intolerant may not have much to eat besides some fruit.
According to the report, Jet Airways is the only full-service Indian airline to have such meagre pickings for its passengers. The options now available are: vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals, child meal, baby meal, jain meal, diabetic meal, and fruit platter.
“Going by trends we have seen certain special meal options have a higher consumption pattern than others on our domestic flights,” a Jet Airways statement said. “While finalising our list of special meals available to our domestic flyers, we have ensured meal options like the fruit platter to be included to serve guests requesting bland food or gluten free meals.”
Vegan passenger goes hungry
A vegan passenger who flew Jet Airways was served a special meal that catered to his request when he travelled to Delhi on July 21, DNA reported. However, when he caught a flight back to Mumbai on July 28, he was told that the airline did not have a vegan meal option anymore.
The passenger Siva also said his travel agents had told him they were not informed about the airline’s meal changes.
“This is a serious issue concerning personal choices, health safety and principles,” Siva wrote in a letter Jet Airways. “To make such a broad policy change without advance intimation is unethical and cruel”.
No money, no meat
Jet Airways’ menu changes come on the heels of national carrier Air India scrapping meat from its choices for domestic passengers. Air India’s move had come to light weeks after the decision had been made, after it was reported in the media. The airline said they had decided to serve only vegetarian food on domestic flights because meals with meat were less popular and often went to waste. They had also said the move would save them Rs 8 crore a year.
“It also eliminates the possibility of mix-up: a non-veg meal getting served to a vegetarian passenger, as it had happened a few times in the past,” Air India’s Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani had told The Hindu.
The airline, which has more than Rs 50,000 crore in debts, is in the process of being privatised.
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