Aeroflot Vegetarian Meal – An Important Advise!
Recently I got a chance to fly with Aeroflot again. It was a long trip from Miami to Moscow to Bucharest and back to Moscow. I must say this time my experience was much better. In my earlier article Should You Fly With Aeroflot? I mentioned how I did not appreciate the service. However, this time on all the sections of my flight I was pretty satisfied and happy, including with the food.
I have flown a lot lately, in all kind of airlines. At the time of booking, I always make sure that I specify my dietary restrictions. If you are following my previous posts, you probably remember how I got chicken last time instead of a vegetarian meal in Aeroflot. Therefore this time I was a bit more cautious. I ordered a Hindu meal and you would not believe what happened! I got chicken again! It was surprising because I am pretty sure I mentioned my dietary restrictions properly. I have done this always, what a coincident that I always get it wrong while flying with Aeroflot? Either their system had some issues, or I did not save my choice properly. Now I have learned what is a Hindu meal.
Nevertheless, the flight attendant was very cooperative with me. I think talking in Russian helps! I told her I specified vegetarian food and I cannot have beef or chicken. She suggested if I can wait for a little and then she will check if there is some vegetarian food. Luckily about 15 minutes later she came back to me with food.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it. It was a traditional Russian vegan meal box. They had some extras in the business class. It had a huge serving of grechka (Russian buckwheat) with salt, I could have it for lunch and dinner. Along with grechka, it had a side of salad, a bun, a loaf of black bread with cheese and butter and fortune cookies as dessert.
If you are booking with Aeroflot, make sure you have registered your meal choices properly. I would recommend calling them once just to verify that it has been registered. If you are booking through an agency, let them know and verify with them.
If you have successfully registered your meal choice, you should get the selected meal for sure. However, the availability of meal also depends on where you are flying to/from. If you are traveling to and from India with Aeroflot, you will get Indian style vegetarian food or a Hindu meal. If you are traveling to Israel, you will have Kosher food options. When I was flying to Bucharest, I even saw Russian food proper for lent (a period before Christmas and Easter when some religious orthodox are mostly vegetarian).
Please write your experience with Aeroflot in the comment section. Did you like your experience on the flight? Did you ever have issues with the meals in Aeroflot?
When I traveled to Israel, I had kosher food options. I booked my choice when I bought the ticket one month before my flight. But I had the experience of flying to Miami when I made my choice two days before the flight, and I only had chicken with rice or beef with pasta. The flight attendant told me that I have to make my food choices for the first month before my flight if the service does not take special meals for two to three days before the flight. I’ve seen special food for other people on my flight to Miami-Moscow like Holi food and kosher food. In general, I liked my experience in Aeroflot flight.
Hey Eka_One thank you for the valuable advise. I think one month prior to boarding should be a good time to register the meal options or calling them in case the flight was booked closer to boarding day.