How (and why) to complain when you receive a terrible gluten free airplane meal
Whenever I post about a gluten free airplane meal, whether it’s good or bad, I receive hundreds of comments from you all about your own experiences. These experiences are almost always negative.
If there is one thing that will get any gluten free person talking, it’s the shockingly bad gluten free meals we all too frequently get served on planes. We all can bond over being served rice cakes instead of bread, a side salad served alongside another side salad, or worse: the caterer forgetting our meal altogether.
Many airlines offer a gluten free (or gluten intolerant, gluten free friendly, etc) airplane meal. You can select these meals anytime from booking up until 24 hours before departure. The meal you get can vary wildly based on a few different variables. In my own experience, they occasionally forget my meal, though anecdotally airlines frequently forget special meals selected in advance.
You often aren’t guaranteed any part of the onboard experience - this is stated in the terms and conditions (contract of carriage) of your ticket. In my mind, this isn't acceptable. Fortunately, there at least are avenues to get compensation for when your meal is forgotten, is borderline inedible, or anything in between.
Why is complaining important?
Many, but not all, airlines offer in-flight meals as a standard feature of their experience. Most full service carriers offer in-flight meals on flights over a certain duration. These meals include several options and most will let you pre-book a special meal.
In premium cabins, you can often pick the specific meal you would like to be served. It isn’t an unreasonable expectation that if you are able to select a meal as part of your in-flight service, you should expect it to be on the plane.
Also, nonstop commercial flights in the modern era can last longer than ever. The longest flights in the world can keep you in the air for over 17 hours. That is a long time. There is no way on the ground to know with 100% certainty that your meal is on board.
Call me crazy, but in my opinion ordering a meal in advance only to be told “we don’t have any food for you” 1 hour after takeoff into a flight of any length isn’t acceptable. This is especially true when you have a special dietary need.
While I fully support bringing your own food onto a plane - I often do this myself, or will eat before I get on my flight - the principle of everyone else getting food on board stands.
Airlines, whether publicly or privately owned, offer a service for purchase, and it is reasonably routine to offer feedback for services received. I don’t think it is acceptable for an airline to deny the service to you that they offer to others due to you needing a special meal while offering no recourse.
Be polite, be specific, and know what you want
When you communicate with an airline employees, remember the golden rule - treat others the way you want to be treated. It can be aggravating when the airline doesn't load your meal, believe me I know, but the person you're writing to didn't personally cause that to happen. They are, however, someone that can either escalate the complaint or give you compensation. A negative attitude can result in worse service.
Next, while I know how enticing it is to send your airline an essay on how they always forget your meal, how you selected it weeks in advance, and how terribly impersonal their flight crews are, but that being said I can promise you that the extra detail will get you nowhere fast.
Consider what you want before you write in. Is it frequent flyer miles? Cash compensation? Something else? Obviously the compensation you request varies by situation - forgetting a gluten free bread roll on a one hour flight is different than no meals for a 17-hour flight - so this is in your hands to decide.
When writing an email to an airline, keep this email as brief as you possibly can. The person reading your email is reading emails that could substitute for a manifesto repeatedly throughout their day. The longer your email, the less likely you are to have full attention paid to it.
Document everything before you board - and onboard
I cannot stress this enough - you’re going to want to keep a record of every step of this process, just in case you need to complain. Take a screenshot of your passenger record under your airline’s Manage My Booking webpage that shows a gluten free meal selected, and take pictures of the meal you receive on the plane. Evidence is critical to suppor any complaint that you make.
In very rare circumstances, your gluten free meal request that you make online may not get passed along to the caterer. Your selection may not be visible to someone in the support center who is reviewing your complaint. This is why it’s critical to take a screenshot your passenger record to show that you selected this meal in the first place!
Ideally, include as much information in the screenshot as possible, including your name and six digit record locator if you can. A small screenshot that only includes the gluten free meal selection won’t do much to tie the request to you.
Additionally, a photograph of what you were served will go a long way to proving your case to airline customer service representatives. Saying “I flew 12 hours and all I was served was a banana” will carry more weight if you have a photo of the banana, at your seat, with a GFML sticker on it.
For a firsthand experience, in early 2024 I booked an American Airlines flight that, for some reason, wouldn’t let me select a special meal on the website. The selection window was completely greyed out. I went to American Airlines’ Twitter support. When I got on the flight, I was told I did not request a gluten free meal, so none had been loaded (despite my ticket saying GFML). I wrote in to complain and, at first, wasn’t able to attach anything to my complaint. The response said that no record existed of my request, and (politely) to pound sand. I replied with a screenshot of my Twitter conversation, and the next reply confirmed that 10,000 AAdvantage miles were on their way into my account as compensation. Evidence was critical for me and could be for you.
Flag the issue with a member of the flight crew
The crew onboard your flight will always be your first line of defense for a situation like this. Some airlines - like Delta - empower their crews to issue compensation on the spot for issues that arise inflight. Many other airlines empower their crews to issue complaints on your behalf when the plane is still in flight. At the very least, they can offer guidance on how to get a resolution for the issue.
I do want to note that your flight crew does not have control over what meals are loaded onto the plane - they are just bringing you what was prepared by the caterer, or are the messenger delivering the news that your meal was forgotten.
If your meal was left behind, or if it’s terrible, frustration is expected, though your flight crew will be more responsive to help you in-flight if you approach them politely. Saying “how can you possibly serve me this?” Versus “I know this isn’t your fault, but what can I do to get a resolution for it?” Will get you a very different level of response and help from the crew.
Contact airline customer relations
Let’s say you were unable to get compensation on the plane, or were unhappy with the resolution. Once you get off the plane, going through official complaint channels is the next course of action to have your complaint addressed. The airline website will list the best ways to contact the airline for a complaint and it can vary by airline.
I prefer to send a text based complaint versus a phone call to have a paper trail of complaints. I have plenty of experience hearing a promise from an airline call center agent, not having the promise delivered, and having to do battle with another call center because the first agent didn't write down the promise. Get everything in writing as it may come in handy later.
Complain on social media
If the airline doesn’t offer a resolution to your satisfaction through email or phone, there is always trial by public fire: good old Twitter (does anyone call it X?). Airlines care about their public image, believe it or not, and they do check the “internet’s public square” (lol) to mitigate PR disasters.
In my experience Twitter is the best for this. Commenting on a Facebook or Instagram post will often go nowhere fast. To pursue this, keep the following in mind:
Many airlines are removing Twitter support as an option to receive official support for the airline. This may not be available for the airline you fly.
Twitter is unfortunately filled to the brim with scams these days. If, for example, you look up American Airlines Support on the platform, you’ll see dozens of fake accounts claiming to be the office American Airlines support account. Check for the “Verified” check mark on the account you’re messaging.
Whatever you do, PLEASE make sure the Twitter account you’re contacting is verified!
If you tweet at an airline’s support account, you can expect they’ll tweet back at you asking for you to DM them with certain information. I’d recommend tweeting this complaint first for visibility.
Never, ever, ever, tweet sensitive information through a public tweet. This includes your full name, six digit flight record locator, ticket number, etc. This can be used to gain access to your booking, frequent flyer account, or more. Only send this information by DM, and ideally only do this when requested.
Escalate to an airline executive team
Still unhappy with your response, or unable to get one? Some airlines publish C-suite leadership’s email addresses for you to contact them in the event something goes wrong. The CEO won’t personally respond, but they do have a team who monitors these inboxes to escalate serious complaints.
To find these, search for the airline in question’s CEO, and then Google their name and “email”. An example is that the United CEO Scott Kirby has an email address that is easy to find with a Google search.
Complain to the aviation regulator
Some countries have strong aviation regulations with strong consumer protections in place for passengers. Unfortunately, I'm not talking about the United States. Especially in Europe where air passenger rights legislation is strong, it is worth contacting the aviation regulator if you have a complaint about a flight you took on an airline of that country.
An example is that if you have a complaint about British Airways, the CAA is the organisation to contact.
Bottom line
There is no secret sauce for getting your complaint heard every time. However, if you follow these steps you're more likely to get in touch with your airline to hear your forgotten meal complaint. It’s important that we flag this with the airlines each time it happens so they are aware it is happening and can improve their services in the future.
Do you have any secret tips for how to get in touch with an airline for a forgotten gluten free meal? Drop me a message or leave a comment here!