Pay more for vegan
Here’s some news that is certain to ruffle your faux-feathers.
My buddy Brendan has just told me that an airline is expecting him to pay €15 for a vegan meal when non-vegan passengers get a meal included in their ticket price.
Check out what he says about the incident:
Seema and I are going to Lisbon in August and booked our trip with TAP Portugal through Expedia. I requested vegan meals for both of us at the time of booking.
The Expedia sales person told me to contact TAP myself in order to request the vegan meal option.
When I contacted TAP by phone to confirm we wanted the vegan meal option, I was shocked to hear that we would have to pay €15 each (€60 in total) for our vegan meals. Not impressed. I think this is ridiculous and blatant discrimination. We love Portugal but will not be flying TAP to get there again.
What do you think of this policy where non-vegans can eat for no extra cost when vegans are asked to pay €15 per meal?
The TAP special meal policy applies only to flights under four hours and the following table shows the categories of food affected.
Table sourced from flytap.com and applies to special meal requests on TAP flights shorter than four hours. Special meal requests on flights longer than four hours do not attract an extra fee.
How about they make every meal gluten-free and vegan, charging extra to passengers wanting to consume meat?
If you would like to express your feelings about the special meal tariff, you can do so on the TAP Twitter account.
That is fucking disgusting, thanks for letting me know this so I never fly with them!
I had this with that airline – I didn’t book my own ticket cos there is no way I’d pay that much for any airline food. Anyway it turned out it was just a houmous roll. AND they did not have a vegan option for me on the return flight. My advice? Bring your own sandwich.
(This reminds me I must chase up my complaint, I don’t think they responded but as I didn’t book it myself I’ll need to look into that.)
This is a lie!!!! All meals are included there is no extra charge, you can choose any meal you want if it’s provided by the campanie, there is a diabetics meal, theres a non meat meal, theres a fish meal and meat meal and there is a meal you can create regarding your own needs no extra charge and by the way children’s meals are free!
You should inform yourself better before posting something like this!
Huh? It says it clearly on the TAP website. I have seen emails from TAP informing people of the charge. Why do you say this is a lie?
A lie? That’s pretty strong, I think you are misinformed Celia. On what do you base your assertion that there is no charge? I wouldn’t want to call YOU a liar but I was definitely charged this extra amount.
Perhaps you did not read the post properly? This charge applies to flights under a certain duration. If you took a flight and we’re not charged is it possible your flight was over three hours?
Looking forward to your clarification.
(I meant to type four hours, not three.)
I live in Portugal I often use TAP for long flights and never ever, have I been charged for a meal, and yes I’ve already asked for specific foods in my meal due to food restrictions. So therefore and by experience I can say that it’s a lie. I don’t owe you any explanation, I am stating a fact!
And by the way have you ever used TAP?
Célia, nobody here is telling lies to you or anyone else. Please see this link on the official TAP website that lists the charges for special meals: https://wws.flytap.com/Portugal/en/Informationandservices/Onboard/economy?tab=t3
Have I ever used TAP? Yes, as I said above I was charged using this airline.
You often use TAP for long flights? Over 4 hours? As has been said by me & FGV the charge is for flights less than 4 hours.
Maybe you should take the time to actually read what is being said before you react in such an unpleasant and argumentative manner.
You have serious problems!!!
Hilarious!
First of all I use TAP for long flights and short ones 3/4 hours! As I said before, here in Portugal and in TAP’s website there is not a single mention to this subject, all meals are included there is not an extra charge!!!
Assuming you are flying economy and have flown since July 2015 and not been charged on short flights I can only assume TAP discriminate against those booking flights who are based in the UK and give free meals for all those based in Portugal.
“Please note:
An extra charge is payable for some special meals on flights lasting up to 4 hours (medium-haul flights), since 1 July 2015.
All special meals served on long-haul flights are free of charge for TAP passengers.”
(I have discovered TAP have not responded to my complaint about not receiving a meal I paid for even though we actually complained to the cabin manager and filled out all the complaints forms on the flight.)
Célia… here is the link in Portuguese explaining the cost of special meals: http://www.flytap.com/Portugal/pt/informacoes-servicos/servicos-a-bordo/classe-economica
Celia, if you go into their social media TAP have been confirming that they charge for this service.
It is new pricing since last summer and its discriminatory. It’s black and white on their website too 🙂
Have a great day
It happened to me as well, even slightly worse actually…
I booked a flight 2 / 3 months prior to changing their special meal policy (we weren’t aware as no disclaimer was on the website). We flew in July and during the flight booking we could actually select and confirm the veg meal option.
All the details were on our boarding passes, so we didn’t pack any food to eat during our trip expecting that we’d have a meal suitable for us.
Much to our surprise, turns out they served us the same meal as everyone else, a rancid tuna roll.
Even the staff was surprised when we said we clearly specified a veg meal to be served, showing our boarding passes details. Like this was an alien request. What a shame, a complete joke.
There were at least 5 – 6 vegetarians / vegans on board which have requested a special meal. At some point we were all starving (it was past dinner time) and all they could do was literally “steal” an apple from someone else’s meal tray, like we were beggars. Believe me, with all the tension we’re *this* close to starting a riot. Ridiculous really.
TAP is one of the worst airlines I’ve ever flown with, and will continue to be so as long as the senior management and stakeholders have the old-school Portuguese way of thinking and of how to run a business.
And Celia, this is a policy from TAP, and something that a few of us experienced in person. Contradicting stated facts (including the official airline policy) is a waste of everyone’s time.
I’m flying with TAP next week and am in the middle of a heated discussion with them about this. It’s not right at all! We booked before they announced this, and the special meals were one of the reasons we chose them. So frustrating.