- A passenger says she was initially only given water during a flight despite ordering vegan food.
- Miriam Porter was traveling from Frankfurt to Toronto on a 10-hour flight.
- She said that a flight attendant eventually bought her a granola bar and fruit.
An airline passenger says she was initially only offered water during a 10-hour flight, despite pre-ordering vegan meals.
Miriam Porter, a writer from Toronto, was traveling from Frankfurt to Toronto Airport on the flight, which was supposed to include two hot meals.
She said she ordered the special meals from Air Canada at least a month prior to traveling and had them confirmed three times.
However, when the first meal came, she said she was bought a bottle of water. For the second meal, she said she was just offered an empty napkin. Porter documented the incident in a popular TikTok video, which racked up more than 130,000 likes.
She said the flight crew told her the vegan meals did not make it onto the plane and that "this sort of thing happens."
According to Porter, a flight attendant later found some snacks for her. "I was grateful to the kind flight attendant who brought me fruit for the first meal, and also a granola bar when everyone got their second hot meal and I didn't get anything again," she told Insider.
Air Canada did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Its website states vegan meals can only be guaranteed if the request is submitted more than 24 hours before the flight's departure.
Porter said that it wasn't the first time her food at been forgotten by airlines and that she normally packed her own but a delay on her connecting flight from Berlin made this impossible.
"I think a lot of people can relate to challenges when traveling these days," Porter said, referring to the popularity of her TikTok video.
The aviation industry has struggled to keep up with travel demand. With issues of understaffing leading to long delays, flight cancellations, and lost luggage.
Air Canada has reportedly lost or misplaced multiple passengers' items in recent months, including a wedding dress and sending a man's pet cats.