A mother of two has claimed her holiday was ruined by British Airways after they left her 'starving' on her long-haul flight to the Dominican Republic.
Amber Fisher, who suffers from coeliac disease, was shocked when she was informed by cabin crew that she should have booked a meal in advance of her nine-hour flight.
Eventually, staff on-board the flight managed to pull together a 'pitiful' meal of crisps, popcorn, celery and chocolate before the mum almost passed out.
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The 32-year-old had visited the British Airways website, but was led to believe that she simply had to inform crew of her food requirements to be provided with a gluten-free meal.
However, upon boarding, Amber was told by an air hostess that she should have used the website to book her meal.
The handful of snacks that cabin crew managed to scrape together left Amber so hungry that she began vomiting, and almost fainted. She claims that the experience gave her 'major anxiety' for the rest of her holiday.
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Reflecting on the experience, she said: "I was like 'for nine hours you expect me to eat this?' and she was like 'that's all we have'. It was a pitiful amount of food. I ate the whole lot but it's like what you'd give a kid while watching a film, it's not an adult meal that's going to fill you up.
"I was on really strong antibiotics and hadn't eaten in the morning so I was just starving and it was a nightmare. I nearly passed out at the end because I hadn't eaten and felt really weak because of the antibiotics. I actually started vomiting into a bag as we were coming down - it was just water because my stomach was so empty."
The hairdresser went on to explain: "On the BA website it states that you have to ask when you get on board and when I told the flight attendant she started arguing with me as if I was lying. I showed her what it said on the website and she just said 'oh that's confusing isn't it'.
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"I emailed and complained and they just said: 'We're very sorry about this, this isn't our usual practice. We hope you have a better flight next time.' - no compensation, no nothing.
"You're paying to be on a flight, you don't expect someone to basically tell you that you're lying. It's massively put me off going with them again."
Amber added that, despite the flight attendant assuring her that her dietary requirements would be logged for all future BA flights, the crew again failed to provide gluten-free food for her on the return flight ten days later.
"The airhostess said 'don't worry we'll get it registered so every time you come on a BA flight you'll automatically get it' but when I got on the flight back they just automatically gave me normal food.
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"So they didn't even look into what was on my chair or that I'd applied for this meal. I just gave it to my partner."
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When she posted about her experience online, Amber was met with little sympathy, and branded a 'dramatic idiot' by commenters.
One commenter said: "You're an idiot then. Everyone knows to preorder food if they have a special diet… Personal responsibility is a wonderful thing."
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Another said: "Wow! Seriously, take your own food if you have allergies/intolerances. Get a grip of yourself no one would feel faint after eating all that food, albeit junk.
"Take some personal responsibility, you didn't order a meal and the crew have managed to provide you with the best options they had in a metal tub, 40,000 feet up in the air!"
Amber said: "I was annoyed by the comments I got. I think people who don't have allergies just don't understand. I think BA handled it in a very inhumane way, expecting a grown adult to eat barely anything for nine hours on a flight.
"It makes you feel like you don't matter and you're not as good as everyone else because you have an allergy."
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A spokesperson for British Airways said: "We take all of our customers' allergies and dietary requirements extremely seriously and our catering teams work extremely hard to ensure everyone has the meal they want, every time they travel.
"All our customers can pre-request one of 15 special meals free of charge, including gluten-free meals, up to 24 hours before their flight."
Topics: Life, Food and Drink
Ali Condon