Last week, DansDeals reader Divora Marinelli reached out about fake kosher meals her family received from Air France on a flight from Mauritius to Paris. She has now shared her experience on DDF as well.
She had ordered kosher meals in advance from Air France, but when she checked in for her flight, they told her that her kosher meals were not available.
She was traveling with 8 people, ranging from 3 to 73 years old, and they were upset that they weren’t told in advance that their 12 hour flight wouldn’t have kosher meals.
(Pro tip: The HotLogic and Hot Logic Max work with the in-flight power from your plane seat and can warm up your own meals that you bring onboard.)
After takeoff, the flight attendant served them meals with “KSML” written on them, which is the industry abbreviation for a kosher meal:
Divora soon realized that the flight attendant had merely taken a regular meal and written KSML on it and told them it was their kosher meals.
She quickly went to tell the others in her party not to eat the meals, but some of her kids had already started to eat the meals. Her son even asked the flight attendant if the meal was kosher and she responded that it was.
She went to speak to the lead flight attendant, who investigated, and confirmed that another flight attendant had just scribbled KSML on the meals and gave it to them. The lead flight attendant wrote up a report, but all Air France did was send them a 30 Euro voucher each for not having the meal.
If this were a nut allergy situation, Air France would have a major PR disaster and lawsuit on its hands. Should kosher meals be different?
Air France did not say they would retrain or even speak to the flight attendant involved or whether they would retrain other crewmembers about kosher meals.
We reached out to multiple Air France contacts last week, but none of them responded to this story, even after repeated requests.
It’s a good reminder to always assume that the airline won’t have your kosher meal and to only eat a kosher meal if it is properly sealed.
In 2018, Wow Air was caught lying about kosher certification on their in-flight meals.
I have been on flights where the flight attendant thinks they’re doing a favor by opening the seal on the kosher meal for me, and are mortified when I tell them to keep it, as it’s worthless to me if served without a seal. Hopefully, they won’t do that in the future.
We were served this “kosher meal” on Thai Airways from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, though I had no idea if the juice or coffee creamer were kosher. We tossed it.
Even Delta has meals scribbled with KSML on it, though at least whole fruits are kosher:
Either way, shame on Air France for this situation and for failing to respond to it. Be sure to keep your eyes open for fake kosher meals.
Have you encountered fake kosher meals during your travels?
You can like, comment, and repost this X post to let AirFrance know that serving fake kosher meals in unacceptable and they need to train their staff better:
This is disgraceful @airfrance
Last week, Divora Marinelli, flew Air France from Mauritius to Paris.
She confirmed kosher meals for her party of 8 ranging from 3 to 73 years old.
But when she checked in for her flight, they told her that her kosher meals were not available.… pic.twitter.com/TogQsclTK4
— DansDeals (@DansDeals) February 24, 2025
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45 Comments On "Shameful! Beware Of Fake Kosher Meals On Air France!"
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Yes this should be different from someone with a nut allergy – that could literally kill someone. Eating a non-kosher meal won’t kill you.
I know an old lady who swallowed a fly and dies.
But €30 doesn’t do it. They should get sued for fraud and deception. Anti semitism as well of course.
Are you religious? Maybe you are unaware of what non kosher food does to Jew.
Might not kill the body but it kills the soul
You may not be aware of this, but for millenia, jews have suffered extreme hardship to avoid eating non-kosher food. They’ve given up thousands of dollars and more to avoid it, and in some cases, have even given up their lives to avoid eating non-kosher food.
So for someone with sensitivity to what this means to an orthodox jew, I think a comparison to an allergy is fair.
I disagree with the original poster, but I also strongly disagree with your foolish statement “given up their lives to avoid eating non-kosher food”. Which source tells us that one must give up their life to avoid eating eat treif, as I’m only aware of 3 sins where one must forfeit his life.
גדול החטיאו יותר מן ההרגו
In some cases it can be fatal
Oh my! That definitely is shameful and worse!!
If this were a Halal meal and the contents included pork, there would be an uproar proclaiming this as a hate crime and abhorrent Islamophobia.
I flew with Air France in Business class 2 weeks ago from Budapest to JFK via France, I
ordred and confirmed Kosher on both flights, on the first leg they did not serve kosher at all saying that they do not serve Kosher on local flights within Europe althogh it was confirmed on my boooking for both flights and most other Europian Airlines do serve Kosher on local flights, on the Paris-JFK flight the meal was subpar even for an economy meal.
Seriously, Jews and their ridiculous demands. The FA went out of their way, found a marker, wrote KSML on the meals, and you insist you want kosher food? The nerve.
🙂
I have received real Kosher meals where the liquid had seeped out of one of the seals and rendered it non-Kosher.
But then again, I don’t expect the FA’s to have Smicha (like Dan does) 🙂 .
Anyways, airlines need to know that for the Kosher consumer, eating Kosher is as important as an allergy and they shouldn’t do anyone any favors…
That is a great question to ask flight attendants on my next flights on various airlines….whether they are aware not to open up the kosher seals/packaging..
It’s possible that this bit of minutiae was not properly relayed on various airlines to their fight attendants…
They are told. I have heard stories where the FA’s asked the passenger who requested assistance in the meal to open in themselves because of orders
They can’t sue?
It’s been a long time since I’ve flown Airfrance last.
Somehow, I just don’t see myself making that mistake again.
I don’t fly often enough or to exotic enough places to where Airfrance would be my necessary option.
I’m sure many people will disagree with me on this, but I consider Airfrance to be the higher end of B tier airlines at least with regard to quality of communication and reliability.
Who remembers when Wow Air z”l put a fake OU on meals
Yup, that’s right!
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/news/airline-news/wow-not-kosher-wow-air-busted-using-unauthorized-ok-kosher-symbol/
Someone wrote in a comment on that link that $10 for a sandwich is expensive. In 2025 a $10 sandwich would be a DansDeals front page deal.
I have family members who work in kashrus now and then.
A few years back they were hired to work in hashgacha at a facility making kosher food for El-Al. Absolutely hair raising stories of corner cutting and decrees from higher-ups overriding what the mashgichim were flagging on the floor.
They don’t work there anymore and have pledged off kosher airline food.
If even El-Al can’t get this right, no one can.
El-Al changed hands now…
Wow
There’s no reason it wouldn’t be possible to file a serious lawsuit about it.
At a minimum, like a food allergy.
I wonder if Muslims were served food that goes against their religion, how they would react to it. We shouldn’t be silent about something like this.
I was flying air Canada business class. I had strictly kosher food (which was deplorable btw)
.In front of me was an obviously chareidi guy. He asked if he needed to order kosher meals in advance to which the flight attendant said “no, all our food is kosher.”
He was happy with the response, ordered his probably treif steak and relished it. I was so bothered and didn’t know if it was the right thing for me to say something. It’s been nearly 2 years and i still think about it. There was no wifi on the plane so I couldn’t message my husband to ask him his opinion.
Ofc you tell him something! What’s the question?!
I hope you weren’t thinking your too religious to speak to men…
I was offered a plated meal and told it was kosher, I explained that I needed to receive it sealed and it should be marked and the FA acknowledged that she was familiar with the practice having done it out of NYC. They explained though that on THIS flight the kosher meal was just wrapped in foil and marked KSML with no plastic and no instructions and they presented a package that fit that description, one fail cover (torn) with a piece of tape marked “KSML”. I wasn’t too surprised though the flight was from Mumbai on Air India LOL!. They did have fresh fruit though so I had something!!
While this is disgraceful, I agree with the other commenters that comparing to a nut allergy is not exactly accurate. it would be more comparable with giving practicing Muslims non-halal, or a vegetarian a non-vegetarian meal. It is an ethical/moral issue, not to be confused with a health issue. Even Orthodox Jews don’t put halacha and live/death situations up to same standard.
while I generally agree, there are health implications as well. For example – if i were highly lactose intolerant and got a KSML meat meal that turned out to have milk in it – that could be a serious health issue. I do know someone who does not keep kosher but buys kosher non-dairy food exactly because of this issue.
I once got a coffee and the FA asked me if I want milk creamer? I answered it’s not kosher. I can’t! she asked are you allergic? I said yes, I’m allergic to not kosher milk.
but then another FA told her yes it’s like allergic to them and and explained to her that we only eat kosher.
Then we went into a whole discussion what means kosher.
Also,
Every time I fly on short flights, (you cant order any meals) and they offer sandwiches, I always ask for a kosher one, even though I know they don’t have it! And I advised everyone to do the same , maybe one day it would drill into their mind that they should have an option for a kosher sandwich doesn’t have to be meat or milk could be pareve also.
“If this were a nut allergy situation, Air France would have a major PR disaster and lawsuit on its hands.”
And if this were a Halal meal situation, CDG would have been razed to the ground
BTW If you have allergies, make sure to tell the airline before your flight to avoid any issues. And if there are any problems, having notified them gives you a solid basis for a claim against the airline if needed, God forbid.
It’s not life and death. But it definitely warrants a lawsuit, I can’t imagine they can’t sue There is certainly harm involved, even if it’s spiritual… As well as malicious intentions on the part of the flight attendant.
Hey dan why don’t you contact the hechsher for the air france meals?
I’m sure they can take care of such a situation..
There is no single hechsher for any airline. Their meals from the US may be under the OU, but what does this story have to do with the OU?
Maybe get a vegan meal takeah? Eppis?
Vegan meals are loaded with delicious crawly creatures. YUM!
can we tag @Vel??
I had that on elal a few years back. Got a good kosher dinner meal but on the breakfast end “sorry you are not on the list”. She gave me a meal that was not kosher when I complained she took it back cut the plastic and stuck in a kosher certificate. When I wrote elal about it their reply was kosher food is an accommodation not an obligation.
All meals on El Al are certified kosher at the commissary kitchen, though only sealed meals are mehadrin.
I have never received fake Kosher meals and this is a terrible story. However, multiple times, in various classes (ironically this is more common in premium/biz/first as they think they are ‘helping’), they open the meals even after being expressly told not to.
I do think that a lot of this is the fault of the Kashrus agencies. They should have clear instructions in large letters on top of every meal saying not to open the meal. Unfortunately, Kashrus is often treated like a business, and they forget that part of Kashrus is eating the food, not just preparing it.
Every time I fly Air France and made a request for a Kosher meal and they don’t have it! they propose me €30 or 7000 miles. I think 7000 miles is much more worth than €30. It’s worth it to take the miles.
I’m going to change the mood a little. Back in the 1980s, when you could get meals on domestic flights, and I was keeping semi-kosher, I always ordered kosher meals on flights. I ran a state agency in Raleigh, NC, and some coworkers on a trip with me saw that my kosher chicken dinner was far superior to the stale ham-and-cheese they were given.
In fall 1990, I went on a training conference in Orlando and ordered a kosher dinner. I had a lot of my employees go on travel expense orders, and because it was Orlando, many paid for their spouses and children to attend. All together, there were around 40 of us and we occupied a big chunk of middle seats together on that DC-10. As we were boarding, I told a flight attended about my kosher meal. She just smiled. Once in the air, she got on the intercom: “Will the person who ordered a kosher meal, please raise his hand?” I did so, and then a moment later, every one of the 40 in my group did so as well!
40 kosher meals, all properly heated and sealed, were rushed out by all the flight attendants and handed to all of my North Carolina staff and their families! My staff let out a big cheer and everyone else on the flight applauded! I was the only Jew in my group. The others were Protestants and Catholics, black and white, adults and children. My staff had arranged this to honor me, and I was truly honored.
I think about that moment when I have a negative experience.
That’s awesome!
United’s kosher Fresko meals from Newark are higher quality than their non-kosher meals. Same goes for airlines that serve Hermolis kosher meals.
But most other kosher meals are quite bad these days.