Man asks for gluten-free meal on flight, says he received a single banana

One gluten-free banana, coming right up. One gluten-free banana, coming right up. Photo: Getty Images/PhotoAlto Photo: Getty Images/PhotoAlto Image 1 of / 19 Caption Close Man asks for gluten-free meal on flight, says he received a single banana 1 / 19 Back to Gallery

Well, at least it was gluten-free.

A man on a nine-hour flight from Tokyo to Sydney says he was served a single banana, adorned with a sticker that said "GF" for gluten-free, as his breakfast meal. The banana also arrived with the usual packet of cutlery, complete with salt in case the gentleman had unconventional banana-eating preferences.

The Telegraph reports that Martin Pavelka, who suffers from celiac disease, received a perfectly nice gluten-free dinner on his ANA flight. But when it came to breakfast, the staff had limited options.

Airline apologises for giving banana to customer as gluten-free meal https://t.co/fclsJzDk3U — Evening Standard (@standardnews) May 4, 2017

"All other passengers were served a full breakfast meal consisting of eggs, sausage, mushrooms, bread, and yogurt," Pavelka told the Evening Standard. "This was a nine-hour flight. Although definitely gluten-free, the banana did not keep me full for very long."

Pavelka seemed to have a good sense of humor about the episode and said he didn't blame the flight attendants for the gaffe.

"The fault must be somewhere in management," he told the Evening Standard.

ANA issued an apology to the customer and are now "reviewing [their] policy" on gluten-free meals, although they clarified that the second meal was a snack, rather than a full-sized meal.

"ANA takes great pride in providing an exemplary customer experience for all passengers, and for this one passenger we did not meet his expectations," the company said in a statement emailed to SFGATE. "We have apologized to him personally and as a result of his experience we are reviewing our policy on gluten free options and how they are served."