Airline Serves Man With Celiac Disease Gluten-Free ‘Meal’ Made Of A Single Banana

Man who ordered gluten-free meal on flight is given a single banana – and cutlery to eat it with https://t.co/GYC3cKBqPD pic.twitter.com/QbpSXxPMiA

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) May 3, 2017

Imagine that you have Celiac disease and eating gluten is literally toxic to you. Now imagine you’re on a nine-hour flight. You request a gluten-free breakfast, and get treated to a “meal” consisting of a single banana with a fork, a knife, and a packet of salt.

Kinda insulting, right?

Unfortunately, that’s what happened to All Nippon Airways passenger Martin Pavelka, who was on the second leg of a roughly $1300 flight to Australia when he was offered the sad excuse of a meal. Pavelka, who has Celiac disease, told The Standard that he had gotten a decent dinner on the flight the night before, but the banana breakfast didn’t fill him up for very long.

When he complained about the “meal” to flight attendants, Pavelka said that passengers around him were disrespectfully laughing at him as they enjoyed their full breakfasts of eggs, sausages, bread, mushrooms, and yogurt. What a bunch of jerks.

At least the flight attendants felt bad about it, as they did apologize to him as he was given All Nippon’s gluten-free offering.

The airline itself has since apologized and issued a statement to Telegraph Travel that they would be reviewing their “policy on gluten free options and how they are served” as a result of Pavelka’s experience.