One thing when it comes to vegan meals on Japan Airlines is that they’re not going to let you go hungry! Well, at least in the air. I had the chance to fly the airline’s premium economy product from Tokyo Haneda to Bangkok and back and try several vegan meals on Japan Airlines. If you’re looking for a Japan Airlines vegan economy meal review then no need to stress as premium economy is served the same meal as economy. Premium economy passengers are also granted access to the business class lounge. So this allowed me to explore the various plant-based meal offerings from Japan Airlines from economy to business.
LOUNGE IN HANEDA (TERMINAL 3)
After a 12 hour flight in American Airlines’ premium economy featuring food that was either bland, too salty, or that wasn’t even vegan in the labelled vegan meal, I was looking forward to the vegan food offerings in the Japan Airlines lounge.
Perhaps, I should’ve lowered my expectations, by a lot. The only vegan meals in the Japan Airlines lounge were this pasta dish in marinara sauce with a couple of mushrooms; and there was a salad with lettuce, corn, carrots, a questionable crunchy ingredient which may have been nuts, and a one piece edamame thrown in for good luck.
The serving sizes were also ridiculously small. My friend said she counted eight penne pieces on my plate. I counted 13. And the salad also was small (c’mon, it’s a salad)! While the food was tasty, there was much left to be desired. I was also annoyed as the non vegan meals in the Japan Airlines lounge were large trays of foods with many options.
Unfortunately there was no customizing my own vegan food in the Japan Airlines lounge as I was required to scan an app and order from there and then pick up my order. As the cooks were behind the glass, it was difficult to communicate with them. I would’ve loved to just have ordered other vegan foods that were part of the non vegan trays, such as rice, plain udon, steamed veggies, or a side of edamame.
After getting hangry, I got some hot water from the drinks counter and decided to make my own ramen I had in my carry-on. Less than a minute later, I heard someone’s heels come clicky clacky towards me. I apologized and told her there was a lack of vegan options in the Japan Airlines lounge and that I’ll go, and she said “we have vegan food, come” – gesturing to me to come with her. I told her there was “only that small 🤏🏿 pasta dish” and kindly asked if I could have the 4 minutes left before my flight boarded so I didn’t have to lug my luggage out with the ramen. She said sure but don’t do it again, and then clicky clacked somewhere else. I’m not sure if she could’ve gotten sides for me a la carte given the “dietary restriction” (or just another baby plate size of pasta), but I’m also surprised that it’s not an ordering option by default. Guess I should’ve whipped my ramen out of my bag earlier to find out, but it was time to board my flight to Bangkok.
FLIGHT #1
After the lack of vegan meals in the Japan Airlines business lounge, my expectations were low at this point for the onboard vegan meals. Fortunately, they were incorrect.
They first came by and put a green sticker on my seat, indicating I had ordered vegan meals with Japan Airlines. Although other airlines have done this in the past, I’ve found it to be inconsistent and sporadic and I’ve been fortunate to get it more than once. However I did get the sticker both times on Japan Airlines, which makes me think they’re more consistent with it.
The flight was 7 hours long to Bangkok, with Japan Airlines serving a vegan lunch and a vegan snack.
For my lunch I ended up having:
👉🏿Vegan ham topped with pesto and veggies
👉🏿Yellow rice
👉🏿A bento box style tray with bell peppers and zucchini in one section, rice cauliflower topped with beller peppers and herbs in the middle section, and tomatoes and basil topped in the last section
👉🏿Bread roll with vegan butter
👉🏿Yuzu sorbet
The vegan ham was delicious, had somewhat of a meaty flavor to it, was moist, and the texture was easy to digest with it being chewy and not dense. I found the veggies in the bento box tray to not be bad on their own, but to be tasty with the vegan ham and rice. The yuzu sorbet was too sweet for me to digest (bummer!). Texture wise, it was also extremely icy. Despite that, I was pleasantly surprised with the vegan meals from Japan Airlines so far.
They also walked around as we were eating with the drink cart and I saw everyone getting a brown liquid. I asked “what’s that popular juice everyone is getting?”. The flight attendant replied, “Oh that’s grape juice!”. I asked “No the brown one!”. And then she said “Oh, it’s a Japanese soup, would you like to try it?”. I asked her if it was vegan, and she said yes. Good enough for me. Turns out it was a vegan red miso soup! I love how Japan Airlines made a miso soup that’s plant-based by default and without the fish! 🙌🏿 It had a strong, savory taste, and was tasty.
After Japan Airlines provided that filling plant-based airline meal, an hour later, they started walking around with a menu to buy inflight snacks. As I was full and didn’t intend on buying anything, I went to the toilet, and I had a little too much fun with the bidet. I’m assuming the vegan meals on Japan Airlines’ snack menu must’ve been lackluster, because unbeknownst to me, the FA was waiting outside of the toilet for me to give me a VGML (vegan meal) labelled sandwich while I was busy (unnecessarily) experimenting with the bidet settings (whoopsie 🫢). When I went back to my seat, no one else had a snack.
The sandwich included lettuce, bell peppers, and mushrooms, all coated in a tomato sauce. It was a tasty snack (though unnecessary after just being served lunch and my stomach was about to explode at this point).
Japan Airlines’ premium economy seating also surprised me. There was so much legroom to the point that the person next to me didn’t need to get out of their seat (on the return flight, the person was 6 feet and some inches and I just had to stretch over his legs, and on this flight, I was able to just walk past the person in the aisle without hassle to demonstrate the amount of space). If someone was reclined (as the seats in premium economy slide forward instead of backwards), all they had to do if awake was quickly adjust the seat back without standing up.
An hour before landing, Japan Airlines walked around with instant ramen and rice crackers. Unfortunately the ramen wasn’t vegan though as it was animal meat-based, no vegan meals on Japan Airlines for this round. Guess rice crackers will have to do.
After over a day of travelling, I finally arrived in Bangkok and was ready to start my vegan adventure in Thailand by exploring some of the eats in the city, and the vegan-friendly hotels throughout the country.
LOUNGE IN BANGKOK
After ending my last day at a surprisingly vegan-friendly luxury hotel in Bangkok, it was time to head back home. Once I breezed through the airport (after the slow check-in, be prepared for a wait from BKK if flying JAL!), I headed over to the lounge, hoping the vegan meals by Japan Airlines would be more satisfactory this time around.
In the Bangkok lounge for dinner, there’s a selection of meals to choose from off the menu (7 or so), and there were no vegan meals by Japan Airlines on that menu. You would then order it with the person at the bar and they would serve the food in front of you. I then shortly afterwards spotted the makeshift “ask for our vegan options” sign. I asked, and he said he had some noodles for me. And then he also offered me edamame from his hot bar.
Once I got the noodles, I realized they were instant noodles. While I’m thankful to have a vegan food option in the Japan Airlines business class lounge, it’s a shame as other passengers were having freshly cooked meals, and we’re in Thailand where a dish such as veggies and tofu can easily be thrown together (green curry anyone!? 🙋🏿♀️) – it can even be kept simple such as a stir fry, or have veggies and tofu a la carte.
Anyway, the vegan instant noodles Japan Airlines provided was chicken-flavored, and included rice noodles, and although taste wise it wasn’t bad, it was oily to the point where it came with a side of acid reflux.
⚠️If your next flight segment once you reach Tokyo Haneda is on a partner airline, you may not be able to use the business class lounge in Tokyo Haneda. Those of us that got off of the Bangkok flight and were continuing on various American Airlines flights (including business class passengers) were told we didn’t have access as our next segment wasn’t with Japan Airlines. I’m not sure how true that is (especially for business class passengers), but I’d highly suggest using the lounge where Japan Airlines is your next segment and not wait if you’re flying multiple airlines in an itinerary. I ended up enjoying Terminal 3 and the only vegan option available: a lettuce, tomato, and soy-based cheese sandwich.
FLIGHT #2
Due to the acid reflux kicking my 🍑, I wasn’t able to enjoy my late night dinner I received an hour after take off. I only took a bite out of a few dishes that I found interesting to sample. For dinner, I received:
👉🏿Tomato and lettuce sandwich with vegan mayo
👉🏿Vegan fish balls
👉🏿Veggies coated in tomato sauce
👉🏿Potato wedges
👉🏿One random piece of broccoli
👉🏿Bento box tray with a salad with lettuce, carrots, cucumber, in one section with a side of vegan ranch, coleslaw in another section, and mixed fruits in the last sections
👉🏿Bread roll with margarine
👉🏿Boxed soy milk
I thought the combination of dishes were random, but I did enjoy the items I did sample, and overall do find Japan Airlines to surprisingly be innovative with their plant-based offerings.
Enjoy vegan airline meal reviews like this one? Read more here!
ORDERING MY MEAL
Japan Airlines actually has four different vegan meals to choose from! If you go to “special in-flight meal menu” on their website, and then click “vegetarian meal”, you will see:
👉🏿Vegetarian Vegan (VGML) – a meal without animal products
👉🏿Vegetarian Raw Meal (RVML) – a raw meal with mainly fruits and veggies
👉🏿Vegetarian Oriental Meal (VOML) – a meal without animal products that include “Chinese-style flavors”
⚠️Vegetarian meal – THIS MEAL IS NOT VEGAN, and contains dairy and eggs! Make sure it has the word “vegan” in the title too if you’re looking for the traditional vegetarian vegan meal from Japan Airlines.
Under “health conscious passengers”, there is also:
👉🏿Fruits Platter Meal (FPML)
As store bought honey isn’t raw (due to adding sugar to it), this shouldn’t be a concern for the raw meals if you have a short flight and want a light vegetarian meal from Japan Airlines before reaching your destination.
Requesting my vegan meals with Japan Airlines was easy; I simply added it to my booking immediately after purchasing my tickets months out. I did log in once soon afterwards to check and make sure it was saved, and then logged in about a week before my flight to make sure it was still there. All was good. You can also call to reserve your vegan meals with Japan Airlines, but you must reserve 25 hours in advance (not 24, 25!). Although if you read my American Airlines’ economy vs premium economy meal review, then we all know that requesting it that near to departure may not be wise.
