Travel Fare for Muslims
Rising Star Newspaper, April 2004

Pickings are slim for halal meals on Canadian and US airlines

Packing your own lunch is often the only option available for Muslim travellers who adhere to the dietary restrictions of their faith, unless you have a ticket on a few select airlines. A few US airlines, namely Continental Airlines and United Airlines, and Air Canada, give verbal assurances that they provide Muslim meals.

But buyer beware! According to one traveller on Continental, " One flight was evening and the returning one was morning, so I sampled both dinner and breakfast fares. Dinner was okay-- it was just the veggie meal re-labeled as "MOML" (Muslim meal). One thing you have to be careful about is the condiments- they often include salad dressing or mustard with wine vinegar or white wine. …" Compare this to comments from Malaysia Airlines passenger Nablan Umar: "Malaysia Airlines always serves halal food. The food [is] tasty and plenty. You will not feel hungry when traveling from the US to Malaysia…"And from another : Food variety is good; not just mid-eastern or Asian fare which you get when you request halal food on most western airlines…" So if you have time, do a little research, shop around.

Many airlines offer several meal options to passengers, including vegetarian, low salt, and the latest -- Atkins approved dietary meals. Some airlines offer halal meals, but in general, they have not been approved by a Halal certifying agency. If it is not certified, there is no guarantee that the meal is free of pork products and alcohol. Airlines are basically transportation companies and, unfortunately, airlines have their bottom line to consider before providing halal meals. For most of them, there isn't enough demand to justify the supply.

The good news: awareness of the needs of Muslim passengers has grown since the 1970s. Airlines had previously offered pork-free meals to their Muslim customers. And in recent years, due to an increase in Muslim travellers, full-fledged halal kitchens have been set up in airports around the world.

Howard Yan is director of operations at Cara, Canada's leader in airline catering, serving over 50 domestic and international airlines out of 12 flight kitchens across Canada. He says they do special meals but not halal. They do however, supply Muslim meals, as all airlines in Canada do. "We prepare Muslim meals in house, and no muslim meals contain alcohol" he says.

When asked if Cara will supply halal meals at a future dates, Yan says that "Cara is looking into a halal meat supplier…with more airlines coming into Canada, such as Singapore Air, our sales and marketing team are getting requests." Cara considers being a supplier of halal meals as " a marketing tool", a way to increase sales. Even after they do source a supplier, (how long can that take) "what's stopping Cara is that we need a special facility…". Again, back to supply and demand, profit and loss.

Yan goes on to say that and Yan goes on to say that Air Canada's current customers are not asking for it…. " We bring kosher meals in from a 'special supplier' but not halal because the airlines has not requested." Yan said he would let us know the name of their kosher supplier…to date, we have not heard back from Mr. Yan.

And according to a report from eat-halal.com, (June 17, 2001), a spokesman for Cara said that the only thing that is checked for being halal in "Muslim" meals is the meat. The report says that:

"haram ingredients could be used to cook the meat and other items in the meal could contain haram ingredients as well. The spokesman also stated that the chickens being used in "Muslim" meals are being supplied by Maple Lodge Farms. Maple Lodge Farms chickens are slaughtered mechanically and mechanically slaughtered animals are not considered Zabihah and should be avoided by Muslims.

Christina, buyer for Alaska Airlines at LSG Sky Chefs, says that the Airlines has never supplied halal. The only special meals they are serving is coming up in April for Passover, supplying kosher meals. Kosher is supplied on certain flights all year round, but a special kosher meal is provided for Passover. When pressed about halal meals, they "don't respond to special meal requests". And neither did Alaska Airlines.

SIDEBAR:
What you can do
• Pack a lunch, especially on short flights. But please consider your fellow passengers, and don't ask the flight attendant to heat your meal!
• If you cannot reach your destination on an airline that authenticates halal, such as Malaysian Airlines, you may have to opt for seafood or the vegetarian meal.
• Make sure you give plenty of time to the airlines - request your meal when you book your ticket, and check again with the airlines a few days before your flight.
• If the airline cannot provide you with a halal meal, make sure your request is recorded -- this will ensure the airline keeps track of the number of requests and will benefit future consideration.
• Request a letter from the airline caterer. This will guarantee that your request has reached the decision makers.

www.zabihah.com: lists 55 airlines and rates them according to halal authenticity.
The highest ranking is Islamic authorization, then lower down the ladder to 'halal certificates displayed' to the lowest rung, which is "unverified".

SIDEBAR:

There is some confusion on the part of the airlines as to what halal really means, mainly due to liberated Muslims divided on the definition of halal meat. Some Sunnis consider an animal slaughtered by a Jew/Christian as halal, but a kosher meal might be marinated in wine. According to Islamic rules, meat must be slaughtered by a Muslim to be deemed halal.