Ordinary Gweilo

Via Simon, a bit of a diatribe about Emirates not offering a kosher menu. They don’t seem to make any secret of this fact, listing the various special meals that are available. So travel agents and anyone else should easily be able to find out what is available. Bruce is indignant that his request for a kosher meal was converted into a request for a vegetarian meal, even though it appears that this is in fact kosher food, but just not labelled as such!

And people wonder why the problems in the Middle East are so difficult to solve.

What I find slightly surprising about this is the suggestion that airlines have an obligation to provide special meals. I had always assumed that they indulged their passengers in this way because it was good for business. Most food on most airlines is fairly horrible anyway, and budget airlines in Europe simply don’t provide any free food or drink (but sometimes have drinks and snacks for sale). During the SARS outbreak, Cathay started serving sandwiches instead, and I believe they have now made that permanent on shorter flights (e.g. Hong Kong to Manila or Taipei).

If I take a 4 hour train journey no food will be provided (except perhaps in First Class), so why do we expect a meal on a flight of a similar duration? Wouldn’t it make more sense for people to eat at the airport before leaving? Then they could exactly what they want to eat, and wouldn’t be able to moan about discrimination.