Japan Airlines Passenger Served 1 Banana For Vegetarian Breakfast, Mistakenly Thought It Was An Appetiser

Japan Airlines Business Class Passenger Served Banana With Chopsticks For Vegetarian Meal

Now that we’re travelling widely again, passengers can start discussing one aspect of flying that inspires much passion — in-flight meals.

While it may be difficult to cater to all travellers’ exacting requirements, vegetarian meals are quite standard parts of most airlines’ meal service.

Thus, a Japan Airlines (JAL) passenger was surprised when they were served just one banana after ordering a vegetarian breakfast.

Strangely, it came with a pair of chopsticks, too.

Japan Airlines passenger told vegetarian meal was a banana

In a 21 Feb post on FlyerTalk, a forum for air travellers, netizen Kris_Chari said they’d boarded a flight from Jakarta to Tokyo that morning.

Before take-off, the flight attendant confirmed their order of a vegetarian meal for breakfast.

She also said that the breakfast was a banana.

However, they mistakenly assumed she meant that breakfast included a banana.

Passenger thought banana was an appetiser

When the banana arrived on a long plate, though, Kris was still none the wiser, thinking it was an “underwhelming appetiser”.

They noted that the fruit was served with chopsticks, which was “cute”.

It was soon realised, though, that the banana was it — the entire meal.

Banana was ‘really good’

Happily, the OP apparently enjoyed the banana, saying it was “really good” and “one of the best I’ve had recently”.

However, they felt that it seemed to be “more appropriate as a snack”. This was all the more pertinent considering that they were sitting in business class.

They later asked for more and received almonds and some watermelon cubes.

Thankfully, lunch was more filling — “barely seasoned spaghetti”, Kris said.

Though the meals on other JAL fights were bad, at least they weren’t as insubstantial as the banana, they added.

Thus, the OP sought the experiences of other travellers to find out if they had similarly “underwhelming” meals while flying out of Jakarta.

Another netizen allegedly served just a snack on overnight flight

In response, another netizen said he was flying overnight from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo in JAL business class when they announced that they were serving a snack for dinner.

They received two pieces of rolled sushi and a small pack of rice crackers, on a saucer and served, again, with chopsticks.

When they asked the flight attendant what the other option was, she said they could skip the snack altogether.

Before landing, they were then served tea or coffee.

However, a contributor pointed out that JAL’s early morning flight from Jakarta doesn’t have a formal breakfast service, but serves only light snacks.

Thus, Kris could’ve requested cheese or noodles in addition to the banana, they claimed.

Other unsatisfactory plane meals

This isn’t the only time a business class passenger was underwhelmed by their food on an airline from North-east Asia.

In June 2022, a man flying back to South Korea from Hawaii griped about his meal that comprised a piece of steak as small as a credit card.

This is despite spending almost S$7,000 on a Korean Air business class ticket.

Perhaps he should consider himself lucky, though — the flight crew of a Turkish budget airline found a snake’s head in the food given to them.

The next time you fly, it might be a good idea to dabao or pack some food from the airport just in case, especially if you’re a vegetarian.

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Featured image adapted from Kris_Chari on FlyerTalk.