Man expresses anger over Vistara’s no non-veg policy during short flight, airline shares reason behind it

A flyer took to X to share his dissatisfaction over the unavailability of non-vegetarian food on a Vistara flight during a short-duration trip. In his tweet, he added that he doesn’t understand why the airline couldn’t serve non-veg food on a short-distance flight. His post has sparked a chatter with many sharing their opinions. The airline also posted their response in the comments section.

“‘We don’t serve non-veg because this is a short flight’ – stewardess on Vistara flight today. I don’t get the connection between duration & non-veg. Were they planning to fire up a tandoor on the plane if it was a long flight? Vistara should call themselves a half-service airline!” X user Soumitra wrote.

Vistara shared a standardised reply and requested that he contact the airline through DM. In the few following tweets, they also shared the reason behind their decision.

“Hi Soumitra, we deeply care about your preferences and inflight food choices. While we constantly make enhancements, the mentioned flight was a short flight with slightly less flying time. As a process, we currently serve vegetarian meals in your booked cabin,” the airline wrote.

“The services are set, keeping in mind that all customers should be served and necessary procedures to be completed by the crew well within the time. We appreciate your understanding of the same and hope to delight you soon. Thanks,” they added.

Take a look at the X user’s post here:

The post was shared two days ago. Since then, it has accumulated more than 2.2 lakh views. The share has further collected nearly 4,700 likes. People posted varied comments while reacting to the share.

Here’s how X users reacted to the flyer’s tweet:

“Saves a lot of time, I think. They don’t have to ask each person which they prefer – ‘veg or non-veg?’ Then, some ask what the snack/meal is in each of them before deciding. It’s just time saving and practical and everyone can grab a bite on a short flight,” posted an X user. To this, Soumitra posted, “I really don’t buy that”.

Another person added, “It is quite simple to figure out if one applies one’s mind, to be honest. With no choice, it is simpler to serve several passengers in a short period of time- just serve the only available option, instead of having to interact, figure out the choice, then serve, etc”.

“This once happened to me on a Mumbai-New Delhi Air India flight. They gave everyone idli sambar by default and when I asked for non-veg, they gave the same reason. Finally, they gave me an omelette sausage meal after they apparently ‘searched’ for it,” expressed a third.

“Welcome to the ‘flying experience in the 21st century!’ My 10-hour Lufthansa flight from Bangalore to Frankfurt was serving only veggie meals. Lufthansa may have assumed everyone flying out of India is a vegetarian! And the food made hospital food look gourmet in comparison!” wrote a fourth.