Long gone are the days of relying on trail mix and whatever airport food you can pick up for your long-haul flights, since the majority of airlines can cater for vegan diets!
Annoyingly, we don’t yet live in an age where vegan meals are standard as part of an airline’s meal service. The majority of airlines still require you to request one in advance, but this is becoming a lot easier nowadays.
The same goes for British Airways. In this article, I will take you through everything you need to know about their vegan meal offering, including the practicalities of how to order and my honest 2026 review of the food itself.
I hope you enjoy your upcoming travels and your in-flight vegan meal (well, I’m not sure we are quite there yet, where vegan airline meals are actually enjoyable…)
Does British Airways offer vegan meals?
Having flown on various routes over the past year, I can confirm that British Airways does offer vegan meals, provided that you request your special meal at least 24 hours in advance (which is standard across airlines).
I have ordered a vegan meal (VGML) on flights from London Heathrow to Santiago de Chile, São Paulo to London Heathrow, and others. Every time I ordered the vegan meal, I was given a meal just before they ran food service with the correctly coded meals – VGML. Find out below what kind of food I got.
Depending on the route, I have also found they go beyond offering just the usual VGML, and also offer alternative milks like soya and oat for your tea and coffee.
Their special meal offerings are pretty standard, with vegetarian, vegan, Hindu, halal, Jain, gluten-free, and more. However, as with all airlines I’ve flown on, you can’t specifically order a vegan gluten-free meal.
How do you request a vegan meal on British Airways?
Requesting a meal is super simple on British Airways. Once you have booked your flight, you will be given a reservation code which you use to access your booking on their website, under ‘Manage my Booking’.
Either using your last name and reservation code or your British Airways account login (if you have an account), you will find a section that allows you to request extras like seat bookings and baggage. Alongside these, you will see a link to ‘Request a special meal’ (as in the image above). It is here that you can request your vegan meal for your upcoming flight.
If you booked through British Airways for a flight on a partner airline, like Iberia, you may need to make the special meal request on their partner airline’s website.
Keep in mind that if your flight is short-haul and doesn’t include any meals, you won’t be able to request a special meal. You can find out more about what food and drink is available on long- and short-haul flights here.
My review of their vegan meals
I’ve flown on several long-haul flights over the past year with British Airways, including between the UK, Chile, and Brazil. Each time, I ordered a vegan meal (VGML) as detailed in the section above.
Thankfully, I was given a VGML labelled meal each time with fully vegan ingredients. I have been given non-vegan food as part of my vegan meals on other airlines, so I always see it as a win when I’m not!
I will now go into detail about my experience with their breakfast, dinner, and drinks, all served as part of the British Airways vegan meal.
Breakfast
The vegan breakfasts that I received on British Airways varied greatly depending on where I was flying out from. Typically, most flights I’ve taken from London have included a vegan fry up, made with scrambled tofu, vegan sausage, beans, tomatoes and mushrooms. Which is honestly pretty good and very filling.
However, flying out of other countries, I’d get slightly less filling meals. For example, flying out of São Paulo, I got served potatoes, pitta bread and lentils. But thankfully, at least, there was some protein, which is often the biggest issue with vegan meals on airlines!
Dinner
My experience with the dinners on British Airways has been a lot more consistent. It typically involves a rice dish with curry and vegetables. Which are often quite tasty!
A few times flying out of London, I’ve been served a squash curry with a side of bean salad, a bread roll and margarine. Plus, a coconut dessert, which is a big plus. Usually, vegan meals come with no dessert, just fruit!
When flying out of other countries, I usually still get curry. For example, I got a chickpea curry when flying out of Brazil, with vegetables, hummus, and crackers on the side (I rarely get bread when flying out of non-UK countries).
Drinks
I usually hold out no hope for milk alternatives when flying, but I have been pleasantly surprised by British Airways on all my recent flights. They typically carry a few milk alternatives, including oat milk for my coffee (when flying London Heathrow to Santiago de Chile). I have also been served a soya milk tub during a dinner service.
Top tip: I like to hold on to any milk tubs I get served during dinner. I typically like to sleep after a dinner service (depending on the flight), so I won’t use the milk in tea or coffee. I have had a few situations before on other airlines where I haven’t kept hold of the milk tub, and then, for whatever reason, when it comes to breakfast, they no longer have soya milk to offer. I now always store the tubs away for later, just in case!
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