There’s a story making the rounds in recent days, of how a passenger ordered a vegetarian vegan meal (VGML) on a Japan Airlines business class flight from Jakarta to Tokyo-Narita, and was served a single banana for breakfast. Kris_Chari on Flyertalk first mentioned his experience in this thread, and the story has been picked up by several news outlets.
You have to say though, the banana was beautifully presented. completed with a spoon and chopsticks. Very elegant and Japanese presentation. The banana itself seems fairly substantial too, for a banana.
Now, the incident has been taken in quite good humour by the passenger and on Flyertalk, so I would say it’s all good, no harm no foul. The passenger even said it’s possibly the best banana he’s ever had!
Personally, I don’t really find this newsworthy, so it must have been a very slow news down for the various news outlet to have picked this up. I don’t normally pay attention to such tabloid-ish stories, but having had fairly recent experience with JAL’s catering, I do want to share my personal take on this incident, and also clear up somethings that may not be known, if one hasn’t bothered to read the Flyertalk thread.
My take on this story
Based on the meals served, this incident occurred on a JL720 flight. That’s a 6.35am departure from Jakarta. Based on the menu for this flight, the post-takeoff service – when the banana was served – is just a snack service. The main meal is lunch, served later on in the flight closer to arrival at Narita. Having a snack service plus one main meal is typical for flights between Japan and Southeast Asia. My experience of ANA, on a similarly timed SIN-NRT flight, is that they do it the other way around, with breakfast being the main meal.
Here’s the menu for JL720 in February:
As you can see from the menu, the post-takeoff snack service is really not a meal at all. It really is just a small bite, or cup noodles from the anytime menu. So in all honesty, it’s not surprising that the special meal for this “meal” was just a fruit. Perhaps they could have been more generous, and given two bananas, or some other fruit in addition to the banana.
If you’ve read my review of my JAL business class flight from HND to SIN, you’ll know that I considered the meal service on the flight to be a mixed bag. The main meal, lunch, was excellent, but the pre-landing snack was disastrous. I had the “Udon de Sky” which looked nothing like udon, and most damningly, was served straight from the packaging. That’s not acceptable for business class on top carrier like JAL in my opinion.
Looking at it now, I have to say the banana was better presented than my cup noodles! In all seriousness, given how low effort JAL’s normal snack service is, I’m not at all surprised to see a single banana for the VGML. I do think the regular main meal was great, but JAL clearly needs to step up as far as snack service is concerned.
I’m actually flying JAL business class to Japan and back in a few weeks time. I’ve taken a look at the menus from JAL’s website already. Thankfully I don’t have any dietary restrictions, so I’ll be happily sticking to the regular meals, which look quite good. The snack service is of course weak, but considering one sector is overnight, I might give that a miss anyway.
Conclusion
JAL served a single, beautifully presented, banana to a business class passenger who ordered a vegetarian special meal. It’s all been taken with good humour, so ultimately no much harm done. Still, I can’t say it makes good publicity for the airline, especially since several news outlet have taken this story up on what must have been a slow news day. I’m flying on JAL again in March for Sakura season, and I’m definitely sticking to the regular menu!
Featured image: Kris_Chari on Flyertalk