Gluten free meals on airplanes?!
Question: Air New Zealand is a major airline in the southern hemisphere, they have just announced they will no longer be providing gluten free meals on flights
When you pay for your ticket some money goes towards fuel, employee's salary etc AND the cost of your meal.
Celiacs have asked 'seeing I am unable to eat the meals you are providing can my ticket fare be reduced?'. Air New Zealnd said no
So celiacs are expected to pay for a meal which they will not be eating because of medical reasons....... They are paying for a service they are not being provided with
It has made me and a lot of others in the celiac community in New Zealnd very angry because in most cases we cannot just use another airline because of how small New Zealand is
Do you think this is fair?
Answers: Air New Zealand is a major airline in the southern hemisphere, they have just announced they will no longer be providing gluten free meals on flights
When you pay for your ticket some money goes towards fuel, employee's salary etc AND the cost of your meal.
Celiacs have asked 'seeing I am unable to eat the meals you are providing can my ticket fare be reduced?'. Air New Zealnd said no
So celiacs are expected to pay for a meal which they will not be eating because of medical reasons....... They are paying for a service they are not being provided with
It has made me and a lot of others in the celiac community in New Zealnd very angry because in most cases we cannot just use another airline because of how small New Zealand is
Do you think this is fair?
Ok, Here are some things you can do:
- Set up a facebook page and a "Air NZ Celiac lobby" group on facebook. Or myspace. Or bebo. Or all three.
- Surf around for all the travel blogs you can find that mention Air NZ and post a comment - link back to your facebook group.
- Social bookmark the blogs you post comments on with Digg and other sites
- Better still, set up a blog or web page (Hub pages? Squidoo?) of your own about it. Digg it. Link to it in any posts on other blogs you make.
- Get all the people in your area who feel the same way to do the same sort of things.
- Get all your friends to Digg your posts as well.
Also contact the local government, the national government and any disability discrimination groups about it. If you have time, set up a lobbying group, announce it to the press and see how much coverage you can get. Get everyone to be active on this and see if you can't get the decision overturned.
In the meantime, I am going to post a blog post about it on my Travel News blog (see below).
are there any lawas against (disability) discrimination in New Zealand?
If so you may be able to so somethign about it-
especially with antiterrorism laws-can you even bring your own meal on the plane?
no so just order the veggie meal and hope there is something you can eat.
Or the kosher meal or some other meal that is special.
Whether we like it or not, they can run their business the way they want. Gluten free might be difficult for them and sufficiently unusual. I view airplane food as a complimentary service, not something they must provide. It makes me feel better if I think of it this way. If their food is something I can eat I consider it to be a bonus.
Some american airlines don't provide passengers with any meal, but the food is available for purchase on board. I think it's more fair but not fun at all. Somehow, after paying the ticket cost, I'm too stingy to spend another $5 on a pack of half-edible stuff. On the other hand, silly as it may sound, if an airline provides really good food I'm left with a very good impression of them overall, and next time I travel I prefer to fly with them. So if Air New Zeland doesn't feel the need to advertize then very little you can do.