Gone are the days when you had to remember to stockpile vegan snacks in your carry-on for every trip. The plant-based movement has penetrated the world of airline food service, which, for a long time, was notorious for less-than-delectable meals and a depressing lack of vegan options. Some of the worst reports include cucumber on bread, a hard dinner roll, plums—yes, just plums—and limp, unseasoned steamed vegetables.
These days, passengers can look forward to more than just vegan snack options. For the most part, on longer flights, completely vegan meals are available when you book ahead, and some have even made it onto the main menu. Bonus: many airlines will serve its “special meals” first.
Specific meal options are always subject to change, but here are the airlines you can rely on to provide plant-based sustenance during your travels.
From vegetable curry and breakfast burritos to brownies and cake: The airlines winning at vegan food
Emirates
1 Emirates Airlines
You don’t have to be in first or business class to get the vegan treatment on Emirates Airlines. In fact, the airline has nearly 500 plant-based options, many of which are available to economy passengers, too. Plus, it’s consistently developing more.
“It’s about transparency for our customers who want to know what they’re eating, as well as have confidence that it’s good for them and the planet,” said Doxis Bekris, Emirates vice president of food and beverage design. “We want to shift from substitutes to a celebration of plants, where it’s not about what’s missing—but instead what is gained in authenticity, flavor, and creativity.”
Exact meals vary by flight, class, season, and destination, but passengers can expect dishes like pumpkin frittata, spinach cannelloni, kimchi fried rice, risotto, coconut cake, and strawberry tarts.
Singapore Airlines
2 Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines always has a vegan meal available, but you’ll need to pre-order it when you book your flight. The options vary, but you can expect a balanced mix of plant-based staples.
For example, when vegan chef Ramya Ramesh documented her experience flying with Singapore Airlines this year, she shared a varied and nutritious selection of dishes, including tofu pad Thai, barley salad with falafel, and toast and jam with soy custard.
American Airlines
3 American Airlines
According to American Airlines, around 23 percent of its customers order a vegan meal, so the airline makes sure to offer plenty of options for plant-based diners. Long-haul passengers who have flown with the airline report being served options like Indian-style curry, breakfast burritos, salads, pasta with tomato sauce, and even brownie bites.
Flying domestic? There are vegan snacks, too. Most airlines stopped serving peanuts around 2019 due to the risk they pose to passengers with severe allergies. But many have replaced them with something arguably even better (and no, we’re not talking about hard pretzels, although those are pretty universal, too). At American Airlines, we’re talking Biscoff cookies.
Swiss Airlines
4 Swiss International Air Lines
When an airline partners with Hiltl, the world’s oldest vegetarian restaurant, you know you’re in good hands as a plant-based passenger. While there is always a hot, vegetarian meal on long flights with Swiss International Air Lines, you can also preorder a vegan à la carte option from Hiltl while booking your flight. Menus vary, but options include vegetable green curry with basmati rice, mesclun salad with Hiltl salad dressing, and mango mousse with fresh mango compote.
“Today, vegetarian food is a natural part of life. What I especially appreciate is that our cuisine saves the lives of millions of animals. And onboard Swiss, an increasing number of passengers are choosing vegetarian meals as well.” —Rolf Hiltl, owner of Hitl
Eurowings
5Lufthansa
This popular European airline offers a range of vegan meal options on longer flights for those who pre-order ahead. Options vary from flight to flight, but you can expect to tuck into pasta, vegetables and rice, salad, and fruit cups.
Lufthansa’s German subsidiary airline—Eurowings—also provides a pretty good vegan selection. In fact, right now, the airline’s bistro menu offers options like banana bread, oat milk lattes, and fries with vegan mayo.
Delta
6Delta
Vegan meals rotate on Delta as part of its special meal program. These meals are available in all classes on international flights and in first class on select cross-country domestic flights. Options vary, but passengers report that dishes often feature vegetable or chickpea curry served with rice. If curry isn’t your thing, don’t worry, there’s always the Biscoff cookies.
Qantas
7 Qantas
Like most airlines, the Australian-based Qantas offers vegan meal options as part of its in-flight special menus. Both the Vegan Vegetarian Meal and Jain Vegetarian Meal are plant-based, with dishes varying by location and season. You can expect combinations of rice, vegetables, grains, tofu, beans, nuts, and fruit.
Passengers who have flown with Qantas report being served options like tofu with noodles, fruit cups, and even vegan egg scramble with tomatoes, spinach, and mushrooms accompanied by bread rolls with vegan butter.
Alaska Airlines
8 Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines is a little unusual in that it doesn’t offer special meal requests. That said, passengers can pre-order food on certain flights, which means you can lock in a plant-based option ahead of time.
On flights over 1,100 miles, for example, guests can pre-order the Med in the Clouds hummus bowl, which comes with quinoa, Arcadian lettuce, pickled Sweety Drop peppers, diced vegetables, olives, and lemon tahini dressing.
Flying less than 775 miles? You can opt for the Mediterranean Tapas Picnic Pack, which comes with hummus, potato chips, olives, roasted almonds, and other fun snacks.
United Airlines
9 United Airlines
Unlike Alaska Airlines, United Airlines follows the formula and offers a special meal service to passengers, which means you can order a vegan meal ahead of time—just make sure to get your request in at least 24 hours before you fly.
Options vary, but passengers report being served Indian-style dishes with lentils, rice, and vegetables, as well as pasta with vegetables, veggie-packed noodles, and oatmeal with fruit and nuts.
All Nippon Airways
10 All Nippon Airways
Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) started offering fresh vegan options in 2022, prepared in partnership with chef Hideki Takayama. And that collaboration is still going strong. Today, passengers who travel with the airline from Haneda or Narita can expect to dine on options like grilled tofu gâteau style, vegetable pilaf, and mushroom and seaweed salad.
“As we worked on the menu development, we were able to reconfirm the appeal of vegetables. And I believe we have completed an in-flight meal that is unlike any other.” —Chef Hideki Takayama
Air Canada
11 Air Canada
Like most airlines, Air Canada offers a special meal pre-order service, but these meals are only available on flights that don’t serve the Air Canada Bistro menu.
Fortunately, if you are flying on a Bistro route, there are still a few plant-based options to choose from. Look out for snacks like MadeGood soft-baked oat bars, hummus and crackers, MadeGood chocolate chip cookies, and potato chips.
Oatrageous
12 JetBlue
Those flying short-haul with JetBlue can look forward to munching on snacks like Partake cookies, Sea Salt Popchips, hummus, and green olives. But if you’re going transatlantic, you’re in for a treat. In-flight plant-based options include a coconut yogurt parfait, chocolate chia seed pudding, watermelon with Tajín, overnight oats, tofu grain bowls, and cucumber with ranch. Of course, you can also book special meals in advance.
Fancy a tipple? Don’t miss the mini bottles of Oatrageous Espresso Bourbon Cream.
Aeromexico
13 Aeromexico
Book a special vegan meal in advance with Aeromexico, and, according to passengers, you won’t be disappointed. Depending on the flight, options can include tofu with teriyaki sauce, flan, veggie burritos, refried black beans, vegetable gnocchi, and even chickpea eggs with hash browns.
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Karen Asp is a VegNews digital writer, regular contributor to numerous other publications (like Forks Over Knives, Eating Well, Sentient Media, O and Real Simple), author of Anti-Aging Hacks, and a vegan lifestyle coach and educator in Indiana.
Here at VegNews, we live and breathe the plant-based lifestyle, and only recommend products we feel make our lives amazing. Occasionally, articles may include links where we might earn a small commission, but in no way does this effect the editorial integrity of VegNews.
