Another reason to offer all of those requests even when they'll all be fulfilled with a vegan meal is to track them.

If an airline only offers vegan and non-vegan then they have very little basis for actually offering anything in between in the future as they'll be virtually no record that anyone wanted them.

If lacto-ovo vegetarianism became the next big fad among people who previously had no medical or religious dietary restriction, an airline could see a large uptick in those requests and order an actual meal that meets it, then subsequently promote that to capitalize on a growing group of people who are underserved by other airlines.

That's probably never happened (it's just one example of how that data may be used), but it's the best way to track the data for such a use (or for many other uses I haven't thought of).

Another reason to offer all of those requests even when they'll all be fulfilled with a vegan meal is to track them.

If an airline only offers vegan and non-vegan then they have very little basis for actually offering anything in between in the future as there will be virtually no record that anyone wanted them.

If lacto-ovo vegetarianism became the next big fad among people who previously had no medical or religious dietary restriction, an airline could see a large uptick in those requests and order an actual meal that meets it, then subsequently promote that to capitalize on a growing group of people who are underserved by other airlines.

That's probably never happened (it's just one example of how that data may be used), but it's the best way to track the data for such a use (or for many other uses I haven't thought of).

Another reason to offer all of those requests even when they'll all be fulfilled with a vegan meal is to track them.

If an airline only offers vegan and non-vegan then they have very little basis for actually offering anything in between in the future as they'll be virtually no record that anyone wanted them.

If lacto-ovo vegetarianism became the next big fad for people without real dietary restrictions, an airline could see a large uptick in those requests and order an actual meal that meets it, then subsequently promote that to capitalize on a growing group of people who are underserved by other airlines.

That's probably never happened, but it's the best way to track the data for such a use (or for many other uses I haven't thought of).

Another reason to offer all of those requests even when they'll all be fulfilled with a vegan meal is to track them.

If an airline only offers vegan and non-vegan then they have very little basis for actually offering anything in between in the future as they'll be virtually no record that anyone wanted them.

If lacto-ovo vegetarianism became the next big fad among people who previously had no medical or religious dietary restriction, an airline could see a large uptick in those requests and order an actual meal that meets it, then subsequently promote that to capitalize on a growing group of people who are underserved by other airlines.

That's probably never happened (it's just one example of how that data may be used), but it's the best way to track the data for such a use (or for many other uses I haven't thought of).