Airline Vegan Meals Showdown: How the Big 3 U.S. Airlines Stack Up

My wife and I have been vegan for over 20 years. If there’s one thing we know about travel, it’s that vegan food on planes and at airports has come a long way.

Even still, some trips are better than others. Airlines still mess up our meal requests, and the on-the-ground lounge experiences aren’t consistent.

How do American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines stack up when it comes to vegan options in their lounges and on their planes? Let’s compare these legacy carrier offerings to see what they provide — and what they can’t promise.

Best Vegan Options in Airport Lounges

American, Delta, and United all have 2 versions of their lounges, offering a standard and premium lounge product. Let’s start with the standard options to see what the airlines offer.

American Airlines Admirals Clubs

At an American Airlines Admirals Club, guests will find signs indicating ingredients and common allergens. Unfortunately, my experience is that the lounge staff puts dairy in most of the dishes.

A spokesperson from American Airlines couldn’t confirm whether lounges will always have at least something for vegan travelers, and options are often limited. Rice, cabbage, fruit salad, and sometimes grilled vegetables should be available on most Admirals Club buffets. Lentil dishes are common, but verify what they’re mixed with.

If the Admirals Club you’re visiting has made-to-order guacamole, that’s another vegan-friendly option.

United Clubs

United Club lounges are hit-and-miss for vegan options. Recently, at dinner time, I visited a lounge at Washington Dulles (IAD). There were vegan-friendly vegetable wraps, along with chips, salsa, and guacamole. However, visiting the United Club at Chicago O’Hare (ORD) provided a surprising find: vegan French toast.

However, these options don’t exist at all United lounges. Other times, the options may be plain lettuce and grapes. The same buffet that provided the French toast had no vegan options when the trays changed to lunch items an hour later.

A spokesperson for United says the airline offers “a range of vegan options including a full salad bar, vegan sandwiches and select hot items” in the lounges. However, not all of those options may be available at the same time.

Delta Sky Clubs

Delta sets the standard for vegan options at its Sky Club lounges. Breakfast options regularly include Beyond sausages, which customers can eat as-is or use to build a bagel sandwich.

Other finds at Delta lounges can include a plant-based crispy chicken, like this offering on the buffet at Salt Lake City (SLC). While it was labeled as vegetarian, staff members confirmed that it was actually vegan.

Best Vegan Options in Premium Lounges

These airlines also offer a more premium lounge, reserved for those with the highest elite status levels or traveling in premium seats on long-haul aircraft.

American Airlines Flagship Lounges

AA Flagship Lounges rarely offer vegan options beyond salad and a vegetable dish. Again, dishes are labeled clearly with allergens and ingredients at most locations, which makes identifying vegan dishes easy.

However, lounges also do some confusing things, like putting “vegan” in the name of a non-vegan product, so read carefully. The Flagship Lounge in Chicago advertised a toasted baguette with “vegan sausage gravy” on a non-vegan baguette.

United Polaris Lounges

Unfortunately, I’ve never found anything vegan except fruits and salad at a United Polaris Lounge. United’s team couldn’t confirm whether these lounges could take special requests, but you can ask.

It’s disappointing that the menu at United’s premium lounges does not offer anything for vegan travelers — not even on the new menu at the recently renovated Polaris Lounge in Chicago.

Delta One Lounges

Delta One Lounges set the standard among premium lounges. The lounges advertise vegan options on the buffet and on menus in the sit-down dining area.

The sushi bar at the Delta One Lounge in Los Angeles (LAX) easily provides vegan options. Additional Delta One Lounge options include truffle parsnip soup, autumn harvest bowls, and wonton salads, though options vary across lounges.

While the Delta One Lounges don’t yet offer vegan dessert options, the menus consistently offer vegan starters and main dishes, which is more than United and American offer on the ground.

Requesting Vegan Meals Before a Flight

All 3 airlines offer special meal requests, which must be submitted at least 24 hours before departure. Otherwise, the airline likely can’t accommodate your request.

That said, airlines do mess up vegan meal requests. It’s worth bringing a few snacks just in case. Here’s a look at what the airlines offer and what you can expect during your flight.

American

Customers traveling internationally can request a special meal at least 24 hours in advance, and information is available here.

A spokesperson for the airline says the standard menu on transcontinental routes across the U.S. also includes a vegan option.

Aside from some non-vegan condiments, American consistently honors vegan meal requests for international flights.

Delta

Delta makes most of its special meals in-house, and customers traveling internationally can view options here.

Special meals can be requested by contacting Delta or using “My Trips” in the app or online at least 24 hours in advance. In my experience, Delta consistently delivers on vegan meal requests.

United

United says that its meals vary by route and time of year, regularly rotating menus “to ensure we’re offering variety,” according to a spokesperson for the airline.

The airline offers preorder meals on all international flights over 2,000 miles.

United is getting better at delivering on those requests, but the airline still regularly mishandles them. Guests may receive meals marked with a “vegan” sticker that clearly have cheese, eggs, or meat despite confirming preorder requests with the airline.

However, the experience is improving, save for sometimes receiving non-vegan condiments.

Best Vegan Inflight Snack Options

American

AA offers pretzels and Biscoff cookies, which should both be vegan — though always check the ingredients on the package.

Delta

Delta offers 4 snack options on board, several of which are vegan: Biscoff cookies, 88 Acres Bar, Fit Joy Pretzels, and Vego Gummy Bears (found in the premium snack baskets).

United

The Tapas Snack Box (available for purchase) is vegan. The Undercover Quinoa Crisp cookies (complimentary) don’t list any non-vegan ingredients, though they are flagged as “may contain dairy” because of the facility producing them.

Best Vegan Dining Options in First and Business Class

If you book a flight in or are upgraded into these cabins at least 24 hours in advance, it’s possible to request a special meal. If you’re upgraded at check-in or shortly before departure, none of the airlines can guarantee a vegan meal will be available.

American

American offers a vegan snack option in the premium snack baskets here. The airline also consistently accommodates special meal requests.

The airline performs better at dinner than breakfast, sometimes messing up morning meals. For example, this meal was vegan on my outbound flight.

On the return flight, multiple items weren’t vegan. AA is improving in this regard lately, however.

Delta

The airline has recently revamped its special meal offerings for first and Delta One customers departing the U.S. Delta does well in honoring advance requests.

However, the airline tends to offer plain rice cakes with its vegan meals in business class for some reason, but the meals typically only include vegan elements, including condiments.

United

United has a vegan meal available in domestic first class, and special requests are possible when flying in Polaris business class.

The airline does better with vegan meal requests for its premium passengers, though meals aren’t always flavorful.

Neither the noodles-with-veggies dish above nor the veggies-with-tomato-sauce breakfast below had much flavor, but getting a vegan meal was the most important part.

Final Thoughts

American, Delta, and United compete in many ways — seats, routes, lounges, you name it. They also compete for customers, and vegan travelers should understand that the airlines provide varying offers for inflight meals, snacks during the flight, and lounge options before departure.

If you ignore preferences about seats, routes, and other aspects of flying and only consider the vegan food options for passengers, Delta is setting the standard. It provides the most consistent (and abundant) options in its lounges and does the best job honoring vegan meal requests on flights.