why it is worth taking your own safe snacks when travelling

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Tue May 02, 2017 7:21 pm

why it is worth taking your own safe snacks when travelling
for most here this would be ok - for me I am allergic to banana's!!
(and for anyone travelling and carrying food items, might be worth printing this news article as support as to why you are carrying your own food items!)

http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-up ... cc31db8de9

Londoner Martin Pavelka was flying on an All Nippon Airways flight from Tokyo to Sydney late last month when he got a single banana marked “GF” after asking for a gluten-free meal, the Standard of the UK reported.
He even received a packet containing cutlery, a napkin and salt to go along with his meal on the second leg of a nine-hour, £1200 (AU$1700) trip.
Mr Pavelka, 32, has to avoid gluten because he suffers from coeliac disease.
“As a coeliac, I always order gluten-free meals on my flights. Sometimes they are bland, sometimes they are actually much better than the ordinary meal service,” he told the paper.
“On this flight, I was left literally speechless. One single banana arrived.

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Tue May 02, 2017 7:39 pm

Wow, just wow, speechless--on a 9 hour flight too.

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Tue May 02, 2017 7:47 pm

yes, it was definately worthy of sharing here!

When I flew Air France From Australia to France (work trip) back in 2010, in Business class the gluten free meal options were awful. The air hostess felt so bad for me that she didnt have suitable items. the only fruit they had were banana's - which I was allergic to!
that was a 14 hour flight.

I had my own snack and apple juice etc. and if I had to travel now, I have protein shakes and there are way way more travel friendly food items available now compared to then.
before my MC Dx when i was gluten free and lactose free and travelled, majority of airlines would provide 2x rice cakes as the gluten free meal.

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Tue May 02, 2017 8:01 pm

The conversion rate to US dollars is $1300. and gee for that Air Nippon could find a piece of chicken or burger.

I think we have two folks getting ready to fly....one international and one domestic US. Hopefully they will see your post.

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Tue May 02, 2017 8:07 pm

yes the members mentioning they were planning travel was a key motivator to sharing the story.
after a week or so I will move the thread to the travel section..

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Tue May 02, 2017 8:19 pm

Gabes, I sent GlutenDude an email with the original news article link and a link to your thread on here. He is kind of vocal about this kind of stuff happening.

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Wed May 03, 2017 8:24 am

Hi Gabes,

I got a nice email response from Gluten Dude. They've already been talking about this on his facebook page.
I think I'll invite him to look around our forum.

Martha · Post by **Martha** » Wed May 03, 2017 10:43 am

I'm definitely in favor of taking your own snacks on flights, but let me speak out about some good experiences.

I have flown China Airlines, American Airlines, and Malaysian Airlines on trips between Dallas and Bangkok. I requested gluten-free meals, and got very nice ones, both the meals and the snacks between meals. I applaud those airlines for doing an excellent job.

My case, of course, as is true of all of us with MC, is that I react to more than just gluten. I didn't think I could reasonably expect meals that were free of gluten, dairy, soy, and all legumes, so I asked only for gluten-free. My meals did have beans; I tried to eat around them, and that was a mistake, as I had definite symptoms of soy (legume) reaction: fatigue and severe body aches that lasted for several days.

But on the single-allergy avoidance meals, I give them a thumbs-up. All the allergy meals were served first; my seatmate on one flight had a seafood allergy, and she and I were served before the regular meals came out.

But on my next trip, I'm still carrying my own food!

Erica P-G · Post by **Erica P-G** » Wed May 03, 2017 4:05 pm

Incredible stories of airline meals....

I definitely will continue to bring something safe no matter where I go for the rest of my life.

Marcia K · Post by **Marcia K** » Wed May 03, 2017 5:25 pm

I will always take my own food because I just don't trust anyone to keep me safe. I am well stocked for Friday's trip to my son's college graduation. I do wish we wouldn't have to worry so much about having our food confiscated when we fly. I can't even begin to imagine one banana on a nine hour flight! I was disappointed with my order from Vitacost today. I ordered some snacks and the organic banana chips are processed on the same equipment as wheat. Good grief. I'm so glad that I read the bag before I ate any.