They’re represented by four little letters in your GDS and have the potential to either bloom a smile on your face or cause a shudder down your spine: Airplane meal requests.
Anyone that’s worked in the industry for any length of time knows that Travel Agents love to play games on each other.
Back when I was an agent – and I’m sure it’s still the case today – agents lucky enough to go on a famil had to put up with at least one surprise whilst up in the air. And that surprise was a meal choice that the agent probably wouldn’t have chosen themselves, such as a BBML (baby meal) or a BLML (bland meal) – courtesy of their colleagues!
But if you’re like me, or like most people who have sat in front of their GDS screens and scrolled through the list of airplane meal requests, then surely you’ve scratched your head at the meaning of at least of a few of these meal requests.
Well, in the interests of education and insight into the fascinating world of meal requests (and I say that without the least bit of sarcasm), here’s a short guide on what some of those codes actually mean…
BLML – Bland meal
Basically this is the most boring meal you’ll ever eat in your life – think grilled chicken, white rice and steamed veggies. Meant for passengers suffering from stomach or intestinal problems, a bland meal will be unseasoned, come with no sauce and be without flavour. But it will be easily digestible. So there’s that…
AVML – Asian vegetarian meal
The main difference between this meal and a regular vegetarian meal will be spice – lots of spice. It contains no meat, poultry, or seafood, but may contain eggs and dairy.
HNML – Hindu vegetarian meal
Basically like an AVML, only it contains no dairy or products containing lard. Note: HNML are automatically selected on most flights to and from India on most airlines. So if your clients would rather tuck into chicken than tofu, you’ll have to make a special request in your GDS.
LSML – Low sodium meal
This anti-salt meal is meant for passengers with high blood pressure, heart disease or kidney problems. Raw vegetables, lean meat, fruit, and high-fibre breads with low sodium are staples of this meal type.
VGML – Strict vegetarian meal
This one’s for all the hipsters – err, I mean – vegans out there. It features no meat, fish, eggs, honey, or dairy products, but comes with a big bowl of pretentiousness (no offence).
Remember: meal requests must be made at least 24 hours before the scheduled time of departure. So book ahead, choose carefully, and for god’s sake: don’t make a fellow agent go hungry in the sky!
Click here for a full list of meal codes.
