Compensation for mistake with special meal
 

I ordered a special meal but the FA told me I'm not appearing as having any special meal, pointing to some hand-scribbled note with some seat numbers that didn't include mine..

I took some regular meal instead, and asked the FA to check whether it was a mistake in how I order the meal, or that it wasn't loaded for some reason. She promised the check and get back to me. Around 3 hours later, no word from the FA. I asked another FA and it turns out that my special meal appeared in the manifest and was loaded on the plane - it was some human error of the first FA (and maybe others as well).

I asked for a complaint form, but the FA tried to persuade me not to file a complaint and asked how she can make it up to me, offered me a "bottle of something" or a "wash kit from first class". I politely declined. The purser later came up and offered me 2,000 avios (ridiculous, I know). I said the minimum I would even consider as decent compensation is 20,000. The purser then said she can give me 10,000 and if I want anything beyond that I would need to contact customer support. I agreed to take the 10,000 for a start, and entered my email on her ipad for it to presumably auto-post to my account.

Now I'm wondering - what is the chance of getting a significant additional compensation and how to best go about getting it?

I fear you may take some incoming fire on this one. 10,000 should be more than enough in my opinion in any class of travel for this issue. Shame it wasn't sorted out, but not sure why there were 3 hours between following up. Were you able to eat something?

I think the special meal is printed on the boarding pass somewhere if printed at the airport, not sure though.

What cabin and where was you travelled too?

T be honest 10 000 Avios is good going for such an issue. How long was the flight and could they give it to you subsequently or was it used. Might be worth having a word with CSM on boarding to see if special meal has been loaded before departure.

if you pursue this it will IMO be a waste of time as typically catering issues is of the 4000 Avios mark. Compensation of the tens of thousands is a thing of the past.

Depends on how you value AVIOS, but you have received an offer of 100 GBP plus... I would take that and just leave it... Are you seriously expecting to get more?

I haven't flown on BA metal for a few years now, and I remember getting something like 20,000 as compensation for a malfunctioning IFE in CW some years back. No IFE is a tiny nuisance in my book, but having to choose between a regular meal (when vegetarian was ordered for ethical and health reasons) and being forced to fast for many hours (I happened to get to the flight after a long day with hardly any food, and skipped the lounge), is extremely aggravating. Not sure if non-vegetarians can fully understand this, but I understand your point about waste of time in trying to get more.

Gosh, take the compensation; it was only a meal.

Could the FAs have put together a meal with a salad and some of the side vegetables - even Y meals come with a salad and some sides in addition to the fish, poultry or meat.

Did you discuss what could be provided?

BA are not responsible for your eating patterns leading up to the flight.

Last time I looked, avios didn't cure hunger retrospectively and 10k is a good result in extracting a gesture of contrition. Take it and move on.

I am strictly kosher and if my meal isn't loaded, I can't pick from regular meals. That being said--I know it can get messed up and therefore travel with some granola bars or something. I AM realistic, its only food--and if there was only 1 meal than how many hours was the flight--c'mon do you never miss a meal at home?

I agree 2000 is low, but I would have taken the 10,000 Avios for sure.

I think 10k is more than reasonable. Certainly worth more than what a meal on board a plane would cost. Think you should accept it without thinking how much more you can get.

Vegetarian of 35+ years here and I never assume there will be a meal for me on a flight. Never managed to get a single vegetarian meal on CX, although it's been a while since I flew with them. If there is one and it's edible, it can seem like a miracle. My mind doesn't immediately jump to "compo, compo, compo", just "that's okay, I have something in my bag". But perhaps that's generational (suck it up, 1st world problems, "in the war...") and/or locational (live somewhere where a compensation culture has yet to take hold).

You were fed, you got 10,000 Avios. Is it because you believe you were truly heinously treated or because you want bragging rights that you want more?

Well done getting 10K, I'll keep that in mind for the next time they mess up my special meal. From one veg to another, my advice is to always bring your own snacks! IME BA has the worst vegan meals so even when they do get my meal right, it may not be edible!

@DragonSoul I fly CX twice a month and never had an issue with the vegan meal, and its always been tasty!

Or you could keep pushing for more. Perhaps they'll decide the 10k was unauthorized or inappropriate and claw back 9k avios.

Sorry. Should have said that I've never had a vegetarian meal on CX because they weren't loaded, and there was never another option.

OP has been asked but not answered questions regarding cabin and route. Does this make a difference? I would say so. A short overnight flight in Y from BOS/LHR is very different to travelling in J from LHR/SIN.

Frankly I find the idea that the OP is demanding 20k avios ludicrous. The offer of 10k is already generous. Of course in context of this being F on a real long haul flight, then perhaps 10k is not so generous. Although I am sure there would have been plenty of options had this been the case.

Last time they forgot kosher meal LHR-BKK in CW as GCH, after much discussion maximum I could get was 4K Avios. I could eat nothing at all for whole flight apart from an apple.
Cabin crew confirmed it was a catering mistake, my meal was listed on the manifest and crew noted both meals were missing when they checked meals but didn't want to delay flight by reporting to catering.

You got 10k miles for eating a meal that you didn't choose... Good result IMO.

You ate another meal, it later turned out that your ordered meal was actually on the plane so presumably you could have had that as well if you wanted, AND you've been offered 10k avios. Nice work if you can get it.

10,000 avios at 1p/point is £100, unless it's a common occurrence just take them and be grateful they cared enough to offer compensation at all!

Each to their own, no IFE is a real pain IMO on any flight over a few hours, the last time that happened to me (last month) I received 20,000 avios. Not having your special meal, but eating a regular meal anyway, and getting 10,000 avios sounds more than generous. Particularly as it sounds like you weren't that fussed about sticking to your ethical diet when offered an ordinary meal.

What else is there to say...I think at 10,000 Avios and a meal, which must have included some non-meat bits, you came out ahead in my book.

"Bear equal responsibility"? Seems a bit harsh. If I know I'll be getting a meal on board I won't eat before. Last thing I'd want to do is to order a special meal and then get most of it thrown away because I'm already full.Packing your own food may not be so clever. If you do get the special meal on board and then turn up at customs at the other end with prohibited items. So might have to throw away your own food before you get to customs. As you may gather I seriously oppose wasting food.The good thing about BA in OP's post is that at least they admitted responsibility. 10k Avios seems reasonable compensation. This is a welcome change from BA's attitude of late.

Chances of "significant extra compensation" - zero. Don't waste your time. 10,000 Avios is enough.

Not surprising to see the usual defence tactics though - OP should have eaten before etc etc. OP ordered a special meal....it should have been available at the right time. Simple as that.

If you wanted to buy 20,000 Avios from BA it would cost you £335.

In terms of valuing Avios spending, at 1p per Avios, 20,000 Avios is £200.

Your £100 worth of Avios for a missed meal is plenty compensation IMO.

The OP has been severely over compensated and should keep quiet, CR have been known to reduce the amounts offered if incorrect.

Good point.... have the points actually posted yet?

For a website dedicated to travel and a forum particularly focused on maximizing BA benefits and otherwise providing guidance on keeping a step ahead of BA, surely the sentence ‘you have been severely over compensated’ does not belong?

There are many things I find excellent about this website but this is one of the reasons it bugs me and cringe when I read certain posts.

My wife is a vegetarian and has managed to eat more than me on flights before even without special meals so the sensationailized view of "I was hungry for hours" is overboard in my opinion. Unfortunately from someone who used to regularly review customer complaints, the sort of attitude shown here is the reason that companies reduce compensation offers for everyone which effects people with real more serious reason to complain.

(These are all my opinions and not looking for a flame war)

Truth be told, I don't think I've cringed that hard in my life.

I find it hard to understand people complaining about such trivial issues, especially when adequate alternatives were made available. There are places I have been to in Asia where I have seen such poverty (and its the smell that hits you) it would make me be ashamed to ask for compensation in such a case.

And from my own experience, on two separate AA flights HKG-DFW flights which is a long, long flight:

1. Every single meal had Cheese, and it was not just meals with Cheese, but the Cheese was the meal, which I have a problem with. For all cabins, apparently a quirk. Never thought of compensation other than a few jokes with the crew.
2. No IFE for anyone on the flight for the entire journey, nobody complained.

Sorry, for me compensation is for non-trivial restitution.

you want 20,000 avios for a lack of SPML, even though you actually got a meal??

I flew 5 flights in CE in Jul/Aug last year. Not once was my vegetarian meal (that had been ordered well in advance each time) loaded. CS refused all compensation that i requested (i didn't complain until the 3rd time and even then i said i would be happy with 2,000 per flight) and told me tough luck, BA can't guarantee SPML. I couldn't eat anything else on board so that you got 10,000 for one missing meal when you did in fact get to eat during the flight was extremely generous.

people are generally compensated for what they have lost. You lost nothing. So my advice is take what you have been given and be pleased with that.

I don't subscribe to the view that we should never complain about customer service failures because there is someone worse off somewhere in the world. Yes, this is a first-world problem, but (thankfully) we're living in the first world.

Perhaps the OP's expectations were set a little high, but this is the sort of avoidable failure that is all too common on BA these days.

And what is more, there have been plenty of reports on the forum from people who've likewise been at the wrong end of a mistake made in loading or serving their special meal. One common feature of these stories is that the cabin crew are usually very happy to try to make on-the-spot amends by cobbling together some meal that the passenger can eat, raiding the galleys of all the cabins if necessary. (I was half expecting to read something like that here.) In contrast, the OP actually got a meal that they could eat from, and has already been given a generous amount of compensation.

On the contrary comments like that do belong as a reality check as to what people should expect.

20k is far too high an amount of compensation / customer service gesture.

I was on a flight from SFO where the previous days flight had been cancelled due to snow. 70 Kosher Meals should have been onboard the previous days flight which had been cancelled. There were lots of hungry folk :-(