A celiac passenger (gluten allergy) chronicled her ordeal on a 15-hour Emirates flight after she was served a standard croissant. What’s the airline’s responsibility?
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Gluten-y, not Gluten-Free
Not all journeys are smooth sailing. Such was the case for Chloë Chapdelaine, a 25-year-old content creator from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who had to endure what she described as “the worst flight of her life” on an Emirates Airlines flight from Dubai to Los Angeles on June 5.
Chloë lives with celiac disease, an autoimmune condition affecting approximately one in 100 people where the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues in response to ingesting gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Its consumption leads to damage in the small intestine, disrupting the absorption of nutrients.
Those with diagnosed celiac disease pursue a gluten-free diet, but even those without a diagnosis can encounter issues when they eat gluten. Some are gluten sensitive which is more common in people and affects their body’s ability to absorb nutrients without all of the components of the autoimmune disease. Blood testing can identify immune responses and the risk of developing a broader condition, as well as ways to treat celiac disease and risk factors.
On her 15-hour flight, Chloë was served what was supposed to be a gluten-free breakfast. However, after eating half of a croissant that was part of the meal, she began to suspect something was amiss. The croissant tasted too good to be gluten-free, leading her to check with a flight attendant. To her dismay, she learned that the croissant was not gluten-free.
Chloë, who is highly sensitive to trace amounts of gluten, described going into shock and panic upon learning she had ingested gluten. She immediately rushed to the airplane lavatory, where she spent an hour trying to make herself vomit in order to prevent further damage to her body. But the ordeal was far from over. She experienced severe abdominal pain such as stomach cramps, diarrhea, and itchy skin, which she says often breaks out in hives or a rash after consuming gluten. Additionally, she anticipated the onset of mental effects like brain fog and depression that typically last several weeks after gluten exposure.
In a video posted on TikTok, Chloë shared her harrowing experience, emphasizing the serious health risks posed by gluten exposure for people with celiac disease. She also revealed that this wasn’t the first time she had encountered problems with in-flight meals. Despite her frequent travels, she’s often found that gluten-free meals are overlooked, and this incident marked the second time she was served gluten on a plane.
@chloe.chapdelaine I’m feeling defeated today. I often share about gluten free travel, but not the struggles. This stuff happens too often 🥺 did you spot the outlier? 🥐 @Emirates #glutenfreetravel #glutenfreelife #airplanefail #celiacdisease ♬ apathy (Sped Up) – Øneheart
Chloë’s experience highlights the challenges people with food allergies and sensitivities face when traveling. She noted that bringing one’s own food isn’t always an option due to travel restrictions and lack of access to kitchen facilities. Furthermore, she expressed frustration with what she perceives as a lack of seriousness regarding food allergies and intolerances on flights, comparing the treatment of celiac disease to that of nut allergies. She believes that the airline industry needs to be more diligent about catering to passengers with medical dietary restrictions and take their needs seriously.
Emirates Response
In response to Chloë’s complaint, Emirates issued a statement expressing disappointment and assuring that the airline takes the safety and health of its customers very seriously. According to reports, Emirates stated that they aim to cater to all passengers’ specific needs with a range of special meals designed to meet various medical, dietary, and religious requirements. The airline confirmed that it is investigating the issue in response to Chloë’s outreach to their Customer Affairs team.
This incident underscores the importance of robust food safety and dietary accommodation protocols in the airline industry. It’s a stark reminder that for passengers with conditions like celiac disease, a simple mistake in meal preparation can have serious implications for the traveler. Further, had a diversion been required, the airline (as the provider of the catering) would have incurred high costs for the oversight.
What Is An Airline’s Responsibility?
Emirates flies about 55 million travelers annually or about 150,000 passengers daily. Most of its flights are long-haul, meaning that there are several meals per flight. Further, flying to more than 80 countries and nearly twice as many airports means that catering consistency and quality is a challenge.
However, as the airline that is selling a ticket including meals, it’s not a free extra. Just as airlines need to treat religious concerns and in the respect as allergies, there is a responsibility to ensure the meal is compliant as it is tagged and ordered. It would have been better to serve nothing at all than to serve something that causes discomfort.
I’d argue that unlike a restaurant, an airline has a greater responsibility to ensure that correct meals are served because of the remote nature of the meal. If one is ill on the ground, they can get to a hospital but from altitude, even the most serious situations might not be resolved in less than 30 minutes. That assumes an available airport (A380s have fewer options), quick agreement that the plane needs to land, expedited descent (not all airspace can accommodate this), and proper handling once on the ground.
How an airline enforces this with its myriad contract caterers is another matter, and what accountability does that food preparation company have to deliver safe meals? Are either company allowed a margin of error?
What do you think?
I think that “Content creator” is a red flag.
Absolutely, I’m sure she considers the adventures worth it in her goal for attention. Hell I wouldn’t put it past these type people subbing the croissant for the publicity.
Not sure which is worse, these lazy clowns who consider themselves important for contributing nothing to society or those who follow them and make them “famous”?
Who is Emirates accountable to that’s going to make sure they enforce standards on something that most (especially older) people think is a fad diet? The government of United arab emirates? Good luck
“Its consumption leads to damage in the small intestine, disrupting the absorption of nutrients.”
In all people or just in people who suffer from celiac disease?
Only those who have the disease.
lol another entitled yt woman.
“look at me, look at me, i’m such a victim”
Stupid hole.
Why bring your own food for dietary certainty when you can bring your camera for shake-down results?
I have great sympathy for those with celiac disease. It takes an incredible effort to avoid gluten contamination in your own kitchen let alone traveling. Celiac damage is cumulative. There are dry functional foods (think protein shakes) that are available that I had survived on for two years. No gluten and all nutrition.
That said, I cannot imagine someone with celiac mistaking a croissant for a gf anything. Even by touch you would know. Celiac requires personal responsibility as do many issues in life. Dramatic rants will not help you.
My daughter-in-law is gluten intolerant. She is exceptionally careful about this kind of stuff. So I call bulls**t on this content creator. Eat a little gluten, create a little content on TikTok, make a few bucks.
I’m in horrible pain-quick better document every second!
She is definitely all about getting attention. If she was that sick she would not be able to make TikTok videos. BTW, if you really have severe food allergies, bring your own food to eat onboard. I would not trust an airline to manage my health.
The airline is not a hospital. When you decide to fly, you are putting yourself at risk. Anything can happen with your health; a heart attack, a fall, and vomiting. Maybe there should be a health questionnaire, both mentally and physically, when you purchase your ticket. No, the airline is not totally responsible. She should have known to be more careful about what she is eating.
To be fair to her, though, if the airline presented the meal to her as a Gluten-free meal, if the meal has gluten, that’s entirely on them – they shouldn’t advertise it as such.
WRONG! we must disparage this person! Who cares what the airline advertised, she’s a millennial content creator so we must all hate her!
TWO points. A) If a small amount of gluten can have such terrible results, then bring your own food. Be an adult.
B) Kosher meals are pre-frozen, and TOTALLY sealed, and served in foil with full security.
This would work well, but you cannot expect a gourmet meal. The passenger is an adult.
Kosher and Halal meals can be made to equal, or even better, standards to the regular meals. In the US, non-kosher folks ordered kosher meals for decades in economy, because the meals were universally considered to be better quality than the regular food. The kosher and halal caterer Hermolis, based at Heathrow, is legendary among FFers for the quality of their business and first class meals.
The same can go for gluten free meals, if the airline is willing to 1) supervise and 2) spend money with their caterers.
My dad was diagnosed with celiac disease over 40 years ago so I’m acutely aware of the issue. I’m sorry she was sick but each person must take responsibility for their health. If there was a beautiful croissant on the tray and I was celiac I would definitely be suspect that it was GF. I am allergic to almonds and am sick for days if I ingest them and live by the motto “trust but verify” and always bring snacks with me on the plane. I agree with many of the others that if she was that sick it would be tough to be creating TikTok content. Hmmmm…. I wonder how many clicks I could get if I ate almonds and made a TikTok on an overseas flight?
An airline which poisons someone, as Emirates did, deserves what it gets. And, for the ignorant bigots around, you cannot bring your own on board as airports, especially in North America, sell nearly nothing that is gf, and you can’t bring it from home because your journey time is too long for the shelf life.
Might Emirates have erred in the packaging, yes. Might the passenger have erred in eating a croissant (a pretty self-evident gluten-based item regardless of gluten-free advertising), definitely.
Look, I have nut allergies to several different types of nuts, but not all. So, I avoid all nuts, especially while aboard a plane. It is incumbent on the individual to assume responsibility for their welfare. Frankly, it sounds like a ploy to extort a settlement from Emirates and sadly, for expediency’s sake, it probably will work.
Gluten free croissants do exist.
Religious or Health issue – if the airline is going to offer a religious based or health type meal it NEEDS to stand by it or not offer the choice. If customer orders Halal, beef free, gluten free etc. It needs to be.
Exactly. If you advertise it, follow through and don’t make excuses.
Why would anyone disparage her about this? Because she might have made a few bucks from her terrible experience.
This woman was the victim of poor catering decisions here, not the other way around. Emirates promissed her a gluten free meal and needed to deliver that. As a result of them not doing so, she got sick.
I will also say that she is probably a bit of a victim of the low carb/anti-wheat garbage that has sprung up among charlatans in the fitness space. The 0.5-1.5% of the population that have celiac disease have a very real, very serious disability and society has a duty to not make their lives worse. The problem is that there are so many people out there who pretend gluten – which is literally protein – is some boogie man, but will still eat it and don’t need to be protected from exposure that society has become partially desensitized to this issue.