Londoner who ordered gluten free meal on nine-hour flight is given a single banana to eat with knife and fork

Mark Chandler4 May 2017

A plane passenger was left stunned after being served a solitary banana for breakfast as the nine-hour flight’s only gluten-free option.

While other people on the All Nippon Airways flight from Tokyo to Sydney tucked into a full English, Londoner Martin Pavelka was left with just the small yellow snack.

The 32-year-old’s bite-size meal –which had a sticker slapped on it saying “GF” for gluten-free - even came with a packet containing a knife and fork, napkin and salt.

Mr Pavelka suffers from the digestive condition coeliac, meaning he must avoid gluten to avoid experiencing the same symptoms as food poisoning.

But the auditor, from Shoreditch, couldn’t believe his eyes when the banana arrived during the second leg of his £1,200 trip to Australia on April 20.

He told the Standard: “As a coeliac, I always order gluten free meal on my flights. Sometimes they are bland, sometimes they are actually much better than the ordinary meal service.

“On this flight, I was left literally speechless. One single banana arrived.

“All other passengers were served full breakfast meal consisting of eggs, sausage, mushrooms, bread, and yogurt.

“This was a nine-hour flight. Although definitely gluten free, the banana did not keep me full for very long.”

Although he had been given a larger meal the previous evening when his flight left, Mr Pavelka said he was expecting something more substantial for breakfast.

He explained: “When the stewardess came to me, she said ‘we’ve got a special meal for you’ and I got the banana.

“I asked 'is this a joke?' She just said ‘I’m really sorry, that’s the gluten-free meal’.”

“In my opinion, I don’t think they really get the concept of allergies and alternative meals,” he said.

“It’s so extreme. A banana, that’s good for about 15 minutes, then you’re hungry again.”

He said: “The other passengers were laughing a little bit at it.

“I think the stewardess realised something wasn’t right too. The fault must be somewhere in management.”

Mr Pavelka has put in a complaint to the airline about his experience but is yet to hear back.

He said: “At the price I paid, you would expect something more than that. This isn’t Easyjet or RyanAir.”

A spokesman for All Nippon Airways said the company had apologised but insisted every other passenger was only given a snack for breakfast.

He said: “ANA takes great pride in providing an exemplary customer experience for all passengers, and for this one passenger we did not meet his expectations. We have apologised to him personally and as a result of his experience we are reviewing our policy on gluten free options and how they are served."

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