Airline food!!

[Jane2510]

Hi all,

Off to Florida this week and it's around a 10 hr flight. Meal choices were gluten free, dairy free, plus a whole load of others. Being gluten and dairy intolerant I emailed the customer service people and asked for a gluten and dairy free meal. I also asked that it excluded the usual garlic spices and other things we know trigger us.

The. Reply was they do not cater for " medical" meals and to bring my own food!!

To say I'm stunned is an understatement - if I rock up to security with ready made gf and df sandwiches I'm worried they will make me throw in the bin!! Especially as USA will not allow cooked meats in the country ( i would have eaten them of course before then)

So I replied please arrange a dairy free meal ( dairy is my very weak spot) and I'll just leave what I can't eat!! I joked with my friend who I'm staying with I guess I'll just eat the little jelly then!!

I really expected much better service than that!!

So has anyone managed to get through security okay with food? I know for sure it's pretty unlikely there is gf and df food in the airport that would be easy to take on the plane!!!

[Lisahelen]

It has been well publisised that a gf meal for a previous airline traveller was a single banana for a flight as long as yours!

So i hope you have a better experience!

Enjoy your holiday

[Raspberry_liquorice]

What company are you travelling with? I've had issues in the past being intolerant to far too many foods to list. Generally however I've found that most airlines allow you to take things such as sandwiches and prepackaged snacks. It's just a case of making sure you've eaten or disposed of them at your destination should they now allow certain foods at that end.

[Jane2510 in reply to Raspberry_liquorice]

I'm travelling with virgin Atlantic - my problem is that I'm stopping over night in hotel near Gatwick - so can't very well take sandwiches from home!! I'm packing some Pom bear crisps - to be fair 10 hrs isn't too long to go without food and I've now got the gluten free meal ordered and my husband has said he will give me anything safe out of his meal!!! I really thought such a big air line like this one would better cater for special circumstances/ needs of customers !! Shame!!

[runswithdogs]

Ah, it's tough but I understand where they are coming from. They are not in the business of food, and just bulk package meals to deal with 95% of people. You should be fine with the food you take on, I've never had a problem internationally and living in Canada we transit through the states a lot. You just have to make sure to consume any fruits/veg/meat on the plane. I typically bring more snack foods in this case as they hold up a little better, though foods in Tupperware do fine as well. Just watch that you don't bring any liquids along. Enjoy your trip.

[Jane2510 in reply to runswithdogs]

Update- they served me a dairy free hot meal - chicken iin miso sauce with sweet potato and some lentils etc - probably a veggie based meal with some chicken added then later on a gluten and dairy free sandwich!! So some one did go to the effort of making the food okay for me to eat after all!

Since here we ate out first night gluten free dairy free burger meal and at BBQ last night with our friends they picked up gf burger bun and hot dog bun from Walmart!! I've also got two dairy free packs of plant based spread!! So not doing too bad really!!