FEW passengers would expect a gourmet meal on a flight given the reputation of plane food.
But one traveller was left shocked when his “diabetic” meal turned out to be different variations of potatoes.
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British music producer James Boyle, better known as DJ Breakage, says he’d asked for a “diabetic-friendly” meal on a Westjet flight from Canada to the UK, the Independent reported.
What he got instead was a very non-diabetic-friendly helping of both wedged and mashed potatoes.
Suffice it to say, James was not happy with the carbohydrate “speedball.”
He tweeted at the Canada-based airline on Monday, saying “Dear WestJet, I’m not one for being a diva, but when I have a diabetic meal request, the last thing I expect is this.”
James added that the meals were “solely based on carbohydrates and sugar, which are the two most dangerous foods to a diabetic.”
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Specifically, they can cause “coma, amputation, blindness and even death,” according to a subsequent tweet by James, who revealed that he was a Type 1 diabetic, reports the Independent.
Although, he added, “even not being diabetic, how is that a meal?”
Unfortunately, the diabetic DJ’s complaints appear to have fallen on deaf ears.
Adding insult to potential diabetic coma, Westjet tweeted that they’d yet “to see the food served on board be a real point of concern for our guests, who are traveling for reasons beyond that.”
The seemingly flippant response didn’t sit well with the social media masses.
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One sympathiser exclaimed: “This is one of the rudest customer responses I’ve seen ever!”
Another chimed in: “so many people have allergies and specific dietary requirements these days. How are you so oblivious to this?”
Westjet has since been shamed into a 180 on their previous responses.
The airline tweeted: “We missed the mark earlier and we’d love the opportunity to look into this further.”
ARE YOU AT RISK? What are the symptoms of diabetes and what are the main differences between type 1 and type 2?
An unimpressed James replied, “No. But how about an actual apology? Accept responsibility for your dangerous & thoughtless actions, learn from them and change accordingly.”
The World Health Organization reports that the number of diabetes sufferers has shot up from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in the past five years.
And the disease was the seventh leading cause of death in 2016.
A spokesperson for WestJet told Sun Online Travel: “This is not the level of service or onboard experience we strive to deliver and we sincerely apologize for our initial response to this guest’s serious concerns.
“We take the safety of all guests and crew seriously and are investigating the situation with our catering team and suppliers to determine what occurred and how this can be avoided in the future.
“We thank our guest for bringing this to our attention. Our team has connected with the guest and their travel agent directly to apologize and provide more detail.”
Some of the most unappetising plane food has been shared by passengers.
One woman was even served a salad that had mould on it.
To make plane food more appetising, a chef has recommended you bring Tabasco on board flights.
Sun Online Travel has contacted WestJet for comment.
This article was originally published by New York Post and was reproduced with permission.
