Picture by Dan Probert, 1 November 2008. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

The range of situations in which this will be a benefit includes disability, such as blindness, partial vision, being wheel-chair-bound, or not being able to handle your luggage yourself.  It is useful to any passenger that needs help during boarding or when transiting.

First time travellers could also request it if they are especially nervous, if they are transiting for the first time and need a bit of reassurance.

What will this service do for you?  An airline ground crew staff member will take you from the check-in counter to the boarding gate.  After landing, you will be assisted with disembarkation and taken to the luggage carousel or if you are transiting, they will take you to the check in counter of your connecting flight or the boarding gate if you are checked through.

How does the meet and assist booking procedure work?

1. Advise your agent or phone the airline you booked with and state that you want a meet and assist.  (Confirm that your chosen airline provides this service!)
2. State the reason that you require it.
3. You will be required to give your contact details.
4. The airline or agent will then take between 24 and 48 hours to call you back and let you know if it has been confirmed or not.

Most of the major airlines offer this facility to customers with a genuine need.  The airline will consider the request based on the priority they assign to the reasons you give, and their operational capacity on the day.  While it is offered by the major airlines, usually at no cost to the passenger, it is not offered by all airlines and there may be a charge.  ‘No frills’ airlines usually do not offer the service.

The code used by travel agents to book this service is MAAS.

hors d'oeuvre as seen aboard Emirates in business class

Most major airlines include meals in the fare on all long haul routes and certain regional and domestic routes.  There are certain meals that can be requested, but not all airlines support each request.  For example, the ‘fruit platter’ meal has been discontinued by a lot of airlines.  (It is now doubtful that you will receive a ‘platter’ of anything unless you are in First Class.)

Here is a generic list of meals that can be requested on major airlines.  We have included the code that would be used by an agent or an airline reservations staff member to book them.  If you know the code it may save a lot of explanation.

Here’s a surprise to many: there are six different variations of vegetarian meal that can be requested, depending on the airline.

Vegetarian Vegan meal  (VGML)

Vegetarian Lacto-ovo meal  (VLML)

Vegetarian Oriental meal  (VOML)

Vegetarian Jain meal  (VJML)

Vegetarian Raw meal  (RVML)  [not highly recommended by my vegetarian passengers]

Vegetarian Hindu meal  (AVML)

There is even a specifically non-vegetarian religious meal (no beef).

Hindu (non vegetarian) meal specific  (HNML)

Our next list includes meals for travellers who need to be specific for health reasons.

Diabetic meal  (DBML)

Gluten intolerant meal  (GFML)

Low calorie meal  (LCML)

Low fat meal  (LFML)

Low salt meal  (LSML)

Low lactose meal  (NLML)

Then there are meals chosen for religious reasons and these are available on almost all major airlines and include:

Kosher meal  (KSML)

Moslem meal  (MOML)  (also referred to as a Halaal meal)

The rest mainly falls under what we could call ‘miscellaneous’.  Our reason for calling it this, as with the exceptions of a baby or child meal, some of these would be chosen out of choice rather than biological or religious requirements.

Bland meal  (BLML)

Baby meal  (BBML)

Child meal  (CHML)

Fruit Platter meal (FPML)

Seafood meal (SFML)

You can now phone up your friendly travel agent and ask for the specific meal code to be booked.  These meals are not available on all airlines so you may have to have a second or third choice, or to decide your airline on the availability of the meal you choose.  (Why not? – It is your money after all.)

There is one meal code we left until last because it is hardly ever confirmed.  This is a SPML (special meal request) where you can stipulate what you want.  With cost cutting at an all-time high in the industry, you are very unlikely to get this confirmed unless you are travelling first-class and the airline is really keen to please.  Passengers allergic to nuts could try this category, but success cannot be guaranteed.  Of course, if you wish to test the limits of how flexible the catering is at your chosen airline, you could get really exotic here, and see what happens…