If you order special meals, for example vegetarian, think twice before doing this when you are flying business or first class. As you may know, “special meals” can be pretty dreary affairs, sometimes completely inedible. Many airlines seem to use the same meal in business/first as they serve their economy passengers. They just shovel the mucky mess onto fancier plates!
Most of the time now business and first class menus will have a vegetarian or semi-vegetarian option anyway. If you do pre-order your “special meal,” be prepared to be bullied into accepting the unappetizing, repackaged economy meal even when there is a more appealing item on the menu. The one exception to this rule might be breakfast. Air Canada, for instance, consistently insists on adding chicken sausages to both of their breakfast meal entres. So, this is one case - when you are flying a breakfast flight - that you might consider ordering your special meal.
As we are all well aware, free meals are no longer available in economy class for most domestic flights. And airlines have worked hard to ensure that the “food for sale” is just as bland, tasteless, and unappetizing as the free food used to be. So for economy class travel within Canada/USA, we recommend that you either purchase something inside security to take on board, or pack some food ahead of time that you know will clear security restrictions. (Ie. avoid those liquids and gels!)
For business class or first class passengers, or any passenger on an international flight, there are an impressive array of special meals that can be pre-ordered, in theory. No airline will offer all of the choices below, but here is the official list of airline special meals:
** MEAL CODES **
AVML - VEGETARIAN HINDU
BBML - BABY MEAL
BLML - BLAND MEAL
CHML - CHILD MEAL
DBML - DIABETIC MEAL
FPML - FRUIT PLATTER
GFML - GLUTEN INTOLERANT
HFML - HIGH FIBRE
HNML - HINDU MEAL
JPML - JAPANESE MEAL
KSML - KOSHER MEAL
LCML - LOW CALORIE MEAL
LFML - LOW FAT
LPML - LOW PROTEIN
LSML - LOW SALT
MOML - MOSLEM MEAL
NLML - LOW LACTOSE
ORML - ORIENTAL (ASIAN)
PRML - LOW PURINE
RVML - VEGETARIAN RAW
SFML - SEAFOOD
SPML - SPECIAL MEAL
VGML - VEGETARIAN VEGAN
VJML - VEGETARIAN JAIN
VLML - VEGETARIAN LACTO-OVO
VOML - VEGETARIAN ORIENTAL
* Note: generally a special meal must be ordered at least 12-24 hours prior to departure.
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