The meals served on planes are not the best. Some are so bad that you might be forced to turn them away during your flight. This is your right. However, refusing meals on board can also spook the flight attendants and have you flagged as a possible drug mule.
This is what happened to one Kenyan traveler during her flight to the United States. The traveler, Savane, shared her story:
“If you refuse meals (as is your right) during a long-haul flight, it’s a red flag that Flight Attendants (FAs) are trained to look out for.
Translation: they watch passenger behaviour and are the first line of defense for identifying drug mules! They keep asking you if you want something to eat to confirm their suspicion as consuming any food or drink could create movement in your digestive system that you may dispose off in the plane’s toilet.
This happened to me once on a long-haul using Air France. Generally, I’m not a fan of airline food, so I rarely eat. The reason I had no appetite on this trip was because I was travelling back after a close friend’s funeral. Grief had killed my appetite.
I drank a bit of water and slept most of the way, despite constant check-ins from the flight attendants to see if I’d like to eat; my answer was always no. At JFK Airport’s security check, the immigration officer’s line and depth of questions became quite disturbing.
That level of detail had never happened to me before. Where was I coming from? Had I carried things that were illegal? Had I ever interacted with drugs?
I was then met at the entrance to the customs section by three officers. My bags were searched thoroughly and put through the x-ray scanner. I was then taken into a side room and interrogated further. They patted me down and said they wanted to do an internal body check.
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That’s when I asked why and I was informed that my behaviour during the flight had fit the profile of a drug mule! I’m not sure whether it was my teary outburst and explanation on why I had travelled for a short period (a week to attend the funeral) or the sheer shock on my face that made them believe me!
The internal body search was not conducted. They apologized and escorted me to my connecting internal flight.”