El_Duderito

I've pre-ordered an Asian vegetarian meal and I simply received the vegetarian omelette on the morning TXL-LHR rotation.
I've also have the ovo-lacto vegetarian meal on the return during breakfast hours in a couple days.
The low-lactose meal that we usually pre-order (my gf is lactose intolerant) has been the soy sauce-less sushi for the past 10 times.

LTN Phobia

I'm going to order a lacto-ovo vegetarian meal for short/medium brunch flight if that's what you get. Exactly the food I would prefer to have on a 'in-between time' flight.

In fact I used to see "fruit platter" on the special meal option and ordered it quite a few times because that's often what I want.

I know it was meant to be a complaint thread but I learned something greatly to my benefit.

And this one. I'd pack some individual sachets of soy sauce... I cannot for the life of me figure out why BA caterers don't organise individual sachets of soy sauce though. They aren't difficult to get.

Jeannietx

A lacto-ovo vegetarian is a vegetarian who also eats dairy and eggs.

Globalist

I so miss the BMI cheese toastie.

Globalist

Vegas Vegan

And here I thought it was only Delta that screwed up veg* meals. Seems its a worldwide phenomenon.

LCY8737

The lacto ovo is very hit and miss. Some of the stuff is very nice, and then there is the fruit plate days.

Lacto ovo breakfast for example is the same as regular cooked breakfast, but instead of sausages of doubtful origin there is usually an extra helping of mushrooms, hash brown, etc. Now if they could replace the omelet with something made from genuine free range eggs instead of the "egg juice" it could be perfect.

florens

Yes it is time to complain. I have been doing it for a long time. If memory serves right, on LHR brunch flights the vegetarian option was the infamous tomato and mozzarella salad. In fact, I have seen this as rest of the day meal.

Whenever I complained, the answer was copy/paste and I don‘t think that it is being taken seriously.

The most annoying thing is that there are so many possibilities in terms of vegetarian and even vegan options. But BA and other airlines just don‘t care.

I strongly suggest that you complain via the ba.com feedback form.

In the future, if you have many upcoming CE flights, I sugget that you try to vary the special meals to get some change, like the vegan meal (sushi) or asian vegetarian meals.

charlie1105

No, that was just a standard "meal"!

orbitmic

There is no mistake. First, crucially, people need to lose the illusion that BA serves a dozen different special meals. They effectively serve about two so you get the lowest common denominator, a meal that can meet the requirement of about 10 different dietary and religious requirements in one go. The only option that is reliably ‘unique’ is kosher because it has separate standards of religious supervision in preparation and te too expensive to offer when not ordered.

Then length: 2 hours or 40 minutes makes exactly zero difference in terms of food unless the 40 minutes happens to be one of the super short domestics like MAN and LBA. Otherwise, the food you get to BCN, OSL, PRG or NCE is exactly the same you get on DUB or BRU. The only difference is the drink service (small individual bottles are replaced Byblos a glass from a large bottle, normally with an offer of ‘anything else?’ When tray is collected.

then time of the day: brunch is a lousy offer on short medium. Your fruit plate just replaces an equally small ham and cheese plate. I suspect you count more pieces of fruit in fact. The other alternative in C brunch is either a full or half panini (nobody quite knows why this varies after months of implementation) but it is either the toaster or the cheese and ham plate, not both so quite frankly not a hugely different offer.

so, i understand why you are disappointed, but don’t think this special meal is actually inferior to the regular, in fact, I’d personally probably prefer it.

mmogdan

memesweeper

Well, that's one more plate of fruit than I was offered on my last CE. Apparently according to the cabin crew if you didn't book > 24 hours ahead of flying your meal requests won't be respected -- I was eventually given a bread roll. Frankly why a 'standard' veggie option isn't always loaded for CE menus baffles me, the UK has a significant minority of non-meat eaters and it would actually simplify the meals options.

I have complained and I'm yet to hear back.

BillyBleach

You had a full breakfast on the previous connection and was still starving?

CCayley

orbitmic

Most services with a hot meal typically include a vegetarian option, and all breakfast services notably do.

That said, there is no such thing as a 'standard vegetarian' conception nowadays: some people do not eat meat, but others do not eat meat and fish, an increasing proportion are vegan etc, so really to catch a wide net, it should presumably be a vegan option. But then of course, BA isn't going to increase meals loading just to please vegetarians either so if one option was vegan, a number of non-vegetarians will be told it's the vegan meal or nothing and chances are that many of them will not be happy about it. Ultimately, all CE services allow pre-ordering of a special meal including the various vegetarians which typically end up being one single type of meal, so it seems to me to significantly curtail the argument for compulsorily making it one of the regular options.

The 24 hour issue is a red herring because not only is the 24 hour cutoff to order special meal mentioned on the relevant BA pages (I am an occasional special meal orderer on CE) but if you book (/switch to) your flight within 24 hours (which is the only case when special meal order is thus impossible) you are actually not guaranteed a meal at all (special or standard) as discussed with much unhappiness on many threads. So basically, if you were eligible for a meal full stop then you also had the time to request a special meal in theory.

florens

I am not sure about that really. Only fruits must be a mistake. I haven't seen that since March 2016.

There are reports of vegetarian meals on brunch and medium band flights here:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28089551-post199.html

and

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28131429-post600.html

How much do we know about LHR vs. LGW differences in catering?

I think it is very simple. The offering shown by the OP is a joke. It is that simple.