Flight food doesn’t always conjure the image of the most delicious food. But when it’s Kentucky Fried Chicken’s “finger lickin’ good” fast food, it’s got to be better, right? Maybe not.
A British Airways flight flying from Turks and Caicos Islands to London on Sunday served KFC’s chicken wings due to a food shortage. The national carrier of the U.K. said it faced “unforeseen circumstances” which forced it to resort to emergency measures. But the KFC chicken wasn’t the only part that angered passengers—it was that there was too little of it.
@British_Airways cracking food for an 11 hour flight! No food trolley just 1 piece of KFC chicken per person! #embarrassing #shocking poor kids ravenous and nothing to offer other than a small pack of pretzels! pic.twitter.com/I8Q5HxDyOM
— James Windeatt (@jwwcls2209) July 27, 2023
Disgruntled passengers took to social media to talk about how they only received one or two chicken wings for the entire duration of the flight, which lasted 12 hours and had a stopover in the Bahamas.
“@British_Airways cracking food for an 11 hour flight! No food trolley just 1 piece of KFC chicken per person!” one user wrote.
Another user wrote: “@British_Airways just landed @HeathrowAirport after a 12.5 hour flight BA252 from Turks and Caicos with no catering! BA had to serve @kfc at Nassau giving some lucky passengers 1 piece of chicken. The container with the plane catering wasn’t chilled so all thrown away!!”
@British_Airways just landed @HeathrowAirport after a 12.5 hour flight BA252 from Turks and Caicos with no catering! BA had to serve @kfc at Nassau giving some lucky passengers 1 piece of chicken. The container with the plane catering wasn’t chilled so all thrown away!! pic.twitter.com/U5IcBD2hRy
— Andrew Bailey (@aktivandrew) July 24, 2023
The airline carrier didn’t clarify why it faced a food shortage on the day, but apologized to passengers in a statement.
“Our teams sprung into action and made sure our customers had something to eat. We apologise to customers that their full meal service was not available and we had to wing it on this occasion,” British Airways said in a statement to Fortune. “We’re sorry if we ruffled any feathers.”
To make up for the mishap, British Airways offered passengers vouchers upon arriving in London, CNN reported.
Airline food has come a long way since it was first introduced over a century ago. Some of the initial selections of food included “cold fried chicken, fruit salads and elegantly composed sandwiches, served in wicker baskets on the lightest chinaware servers could find,” Travel + Leisure wrote in 2017.
In recent times, flight carriers have increasingly emphasized the need to return to quality, fresh food and steer away from frozen meals. More of them have partnerships with hotel kitchens and celebrity chefs and try to offer healthier meals to passengers aboard. Some carriers also offer a selection of food options based on different dietary requirements.