Emirates passenger ‘angry’ at Cajun chicken sandwich served on flight to Dubai

The airline is known for its quality inflight meals

An Emirates passenger was left “frustrated and angry” after being served a disappointing Cajun chicken sandwich on a flight to Dubai.

Paul Carlin said he spent thousands of dollars on the flights from Brisbane to Dublin via Dubai over the Christmas holidays. But on the return leg from Dublin, the inflight meal left a lot to be desired.

He told The Independent: “We paid extra to book with Emirates as we wanted to compare it to the Etihad flights that we had tried before.”

Carlin was so surprised by the lacklustre meal, described as a Cajun chicken and cheese sandwich on a multiseed roll, that he took a picture of the offending item.

“I was looking forward to the meal as I had seen it on the menu,” he said. “Then the air hostesses went around handing out the food.

“At first I didn’t think much of it. My partner opened her sandwich and told me to look at it and I started laughing at the state of it.

“Little did I know what was in my sandwich. I opened mine – I was like, are they actually being serious?”

The picture shows a roll with a square of what looks like processed cheese, with a very small piece of chicken in the middle of the sandwich.

“I went in for a bite only to be left as dry as the Sahara Desert. So I drank the dribble of water that they gave me and that was the end of the meal. My partner didn’t even eat hers.”

While Carlin found the situation funny at first, he was disappointed in the airline’s service.

“I was angry and frustrated because I knew we had paid thousands of dollars for the flight only to get such poor food. In this case, I wouldn’t say you get what you pay for.”

Carlin wrote a complaint to the airline, and was told a consumer affairs officer is looking into the matter. It may be 30 days before he hears a response.

Emirates served Cajun chicken sandwich on a flight to Dubai (Paul Carlin)

An Emirates spokesperson told The Independent: “We are aware of Mr Carlin’s complaint. Emirates takes pride in providing a choice of regionally inspired, fresh made meals for our customers.

“The image of the sandwich that he had posted was certainly not up to Emirates’ usual high standards.

“We are looking into this and will be in touch with Mr Carlin directly.”

Emirates frequently appears in lists of the world’s best airlines, lauded for its high-quality service. It came sixth in AirlineRatings.com’s 2019 rankings.

“I’m not ditching the airline, but when I see everyone’s Instagram posts of the perfect meal on their Emirates flight, I want to make people aware of the reality of what to expect,” said Carlin.

“I read some comments on Facebook, and people are saying to bring a packed lunch…”