SHOCKING: Air France served fake Kosher meals to Jewish travelers on flight

Air France is grappling with accusations that its crew deceived Jewish passengers by serving fake kosher meals on a flight from Mauritius to Paris, a 12-hour journey that has sparked outrage and questions about airline accountability. The incident, first reported by DansDeals, has drawn conflicting accounts from the airline and a passenger, deepening a public relations crisis.

Divora Marinelli, traveling with a family of eight ranging from 3 to 73 years old, said they pre-ordered kosher meals for the flight. At check-in, they were told no kosher options were available due to a catering shortfall. Once airborne, flight attendants presented trays marked “KSML”—the airline code for kosher meals. Marinelli alleges the crew hand-wrote the label on standard meals, misleading her family into believing they were kosher-compliant.

“I rushed to stop them, but some of my kids had already started eating,” Marinelli wrote on the DansDeals Forum. She claims her son asked a flight attendant if the meal was kosher and was falsely assured it was. Confronting the lead attendant, she says the crew admitted another staff member scribbled “KSML” on the trays—a detail allegedly confirmed in an onboard report.

Air France disputes this narrative. In a statement issued after the story gained traction online, the airline said a local caterer’s supply issue prompted the substitution of vegetarian trays, marked “KSML” for identification, not deception. “Customers were informed at the airport that kosher meals were unavailable,” the airline said, adding that passengers knew they were receiving vegetarian replacements. Air France insists the crew acted in good faith, offering “suitable catering items” and issuing €30 vouchers per person as compensation.

Marinelli rejects this, asserting she was never told about a vegetarian substitute and would have declined it. She says the lead attendant’s report supports her claim that a crew member misrepresented the meal as kosher to her son. DansDeals pressed Air France for the report and further comment, but on February 25, the airline responded, “We do not have any further comments beyond the statement we shared.”

The episode has ignited debate over airline handling of dietary needs. DansDeals questioned whether the response would differ if a nut allergy were involved, suggesting a double standard. Experts note that while kosher violations don’t pose immediate health risks like allergies, they breach trust for observant passengers, especially on long-haul flights where alternatives are limited.

This isn’t Air France’s first kosher controversy—supply issues disrupted meal service from JFK in 2022—nor the industry’s. In 2018, Wow Air faced criticism for misrepresenting meals as kosher without certification. For now, Air France has offered no plans for staff retraining or policy changes, leaving passengers like Marinelli dissatisfied with the €30 vouchers.

As the airline stands by its account, the unresolved clash of stories keeps the scandal aloft, with calls for transparency growing louder.

Dan's Deals, Chabad and contributed to this article.