Have you ever been on a flight and the airline ran out of the meal you really wanted? It’s very disappointing. In fact, it was so disappointing to one man that he filed a lawsuit. Needless to say, it didn’t get very far.
A California judge recently tossed out a lawsuit by a man named Sergey Firsov who sued because Scandinavian Airlines ran out of chicken entrees on his flight. He claimed that the airline’s serving him a vegetarian meal instead of chicken and limiting him to a single complimentary drink caused him emotional distress. He also sued the airline because “he is a man and required to eat meat every day.”
The lawsuit claims that when dinner service reached roughly the 40th row, the chicken had run out despite flight attendants announcing that customers could select between chicken and vegetarian pasta.
He added that after crew members claimed that the airline had not loaded enough chicken meals on the flight, he and other passengers situated farther back had to take the vegetarian option.
However, he claims that he later went to the back galley and observed flight attendants consuming chicken meals. Crew members allegedly refused to give him one, claiming that the meals were just for “internal use.”
In addition, he stated in the lawsuit that a malfunctioning air conditioner on a different trip with the airline made the cabin so dry that he had to drink water every 15 minutes, and that he and his dogs suffered injuries.
The lawsuit was one in a lengthy list of litigation the man has pursued
This same individual had filed thirty lawsuits in the Northern California district court between March 2025 and June 2026, and an airline was a defendant in all but three of those cases.
While this case was eventually thrown out by a federal judge, Scandinavian Airlines wanted him to be deemed a “vexatious litigant.” The judge agreed.
“In the instant case, the Court finds that there is a sufficient basis and need to declare Mr. Firsov a vexatious litigant, particularly because his conduct has been harassing,” the judge stated. “That is, his means of litigating has been abusive. There is no indication that Mr. Firsov is making decisions based on the particulars of any case but rather is taking a scorched earth approach.”
The judge also cited some of the man’s previous lawsuits. They included claims that Austrian Airlines had violated his rights by forbidding him from bringing his dog into an airplane lavatory, requesting approximately $1,100 for emergency clothing after his baggage was delayed, and asserting that he had spent $10,000 on a private jet to attend a meeting after a delayed commercial flight.