to expect my child to be able to have an in flight meal

[Staceroo]

So we're flying to Turkey in a couple of weeks. I have paid for in flight meals for me, my husband and our 3 year old daughter. Thomas Cook will not allow me to purchase an in flight meal for our 11 month old.

It's a real case of 'computer says no!'

Save all the jokes about airplane food because Thomas cook have a range of James Martin meals which are pretty tasty and nutritious.

11 month old is baby led, and never eaten out of a jar in her life.

Solutions proposed by TC are...

1. "You are permitted to take baby food on to Thomas Cook Airlines aircraft if you are travelling with an infant or small child ,Most UK Airports have a Boots where you can purchase baby food and formula after the security screening point. These can be purchased and brought on board providing you do exceed you hand luggage restrictions. I Hope this Helps - Stef"

2. "book a separate seat for her she will be able to get an inflight meal, however then she will be booked as a child and will lose her infant luggage allowance and will need to pay the full flight price" (That's a very expensive in flight meal!!!!)

3. There are a range of snack and other meals available on the flight but they can't tell me what those will be, but they're not the James Martin meals.

You wont have a 4th tray table to put a meal for her, and she might well be hungry at other times. Take some food non liquid foods, and do some judicious hopping at the airport. Your older child might appreciate fruits and such too. Even james martins name doesnt guarantee the food will be worthwhile. No chef-name attached airline meal has ever struck me as being noticeably better than those without.

I used to be a rep and you sound like the sort of pax that I dreaded. The sort that would be thunderous with rage at the welcome meeting and looking for a real person to take it out on

You do realise that you have now been 'marked' as a serial nagger/complainer? There will be pages of notes on your booking re your badgering over a meal you are not entitled to.

NotMyChashkaChai which airline was this. We flew air New Zealand when DD1 was 18mo. We didn't buy a seat and she was allowed a child's meal. It's pretty mean on a long haul flight not to give food. Infant prices are for up to 2yo. I very much doubt any 1.5yo let alone 2yo eats mush.

Turkey isn't long haul.

Those who insists on needing a tray table for a child's meal obviously never had child's meal on a flight!

All the special meals come out first. They would have finished eating by the time the normal meals come around. Plenty of time to have two meals on the same seat!

Save your powder, OP. If the Russians are holidaying at your resort you'll have loads of legitimate complaints soon enough.

That's not quite right terrors

They can't clear the tray as they don't have the right trolley. And on a four hour flight they have no time to waste.

I've taken my DS on long and short haul flights since he was 10 months old and he is now nearly 10 and I still do a packed lunch/tea for him.

Never had an issue taking food on a flight, including sandwiches, fruit, crisp, rice cakes, bread sticks, salad, mini cheese, sweets and cake. We just buy a few bottles of water after security.

Most meals on planes are crap anyway.

It wouldn't make life easier at all. You've got a large baby on your lap and your own dinner on the tray in front of you....where do you put the second tray for the baby? How does he eat it? How do you eat yours? No, that doesn't make anything easier at all.

buildyourown I have done both 12 and 24 hour flights with my DDs as infants. I took the trays to the kitchens myself before the trolleys appear on the aisles. I have also handed the tray back to the flight attendant and she took it back to the kitchen for me.

But no they aren't 4 hour short haul. The flights are to Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. Proper long hauls with 2 meals and snacks.

The TC flights are smaller too with less room to move around. I don't think you are allowed in the kitchen? I have never tried in the short hauls I have been in.

I have just done a 24 he journey with 3 yr old and 15 month old. 2 7 he flights plus transfer. Baby didnt have a seat and so at no point was offered a meal. We have all survived. Here's how. I took a few snacks with us. 3 yr old meal was big enough to share. 2 meals both children were alseep for so I kept the bread roll, crackers and cheese and gave it to them when they woke. Baby sat on my knee and shared mine/husbands. We still had sufficient food to maintain ourselves over the journey. Toast given when we returned home. My baby also likes to feed herself, however in tricky circumstances you sometimes have to adapt to the situation so I 'helped' her a bit more than usual. OP your baby will be fine. Take a few snacks with you and give her your meal. I bet she'll be asleep anyway when it get served.

Op, the meals are slotted into shelves on a heated trolley to maintain their temp. There is space there for a meal for each seat, but no more. If some people don't order a meal, they may fill those shelves and sell them during the flight. However they can not do this in advance as then another customer may go without. It is really quite simple to be fair, and I have honestly never heard of a baby who would need a full ready meal to themselves. I did BLW with all of mine, and no way would I have given them a ready meal - jars would be preferable by far imo. I would have bought a sandwich/wrap and bag of fruit, and bring bananas, rice cakes etc. Maybe a packet of pancakes. She really will be fine! Mine shared meals with us when out and about until they were at least 18 months as far as I remember.

As an aside, why on earth is the op getting flamed for doing blw? It was necessary info for the thread as it is the reason she cannot use jars

I fly often with a child who has autism and complicated dietary issues.
I assume that feeding him is my responsibility given that the cabin staff are, under time constraints, providing foods out of a space that would fit inside a lot of bathrooms.

If you really want a meal pay for a seat. If you are prepared to pay for a tray of rubber food rather than packing food or picking something up at the airport, then money probably isn't an issue.

I think it's almost guaranteed that between the 3 meals you've booked there will be enough for the 4 of you to share.

Only read p 1 and 2 but wanted to warn you if you are flying back from Bodrum airport it is mega expensive for food and drink. Like £11 for one slice of pizza and chips, £2.50 for a tiny bottle of water (well those were the prices in 2011). You will have to buy the water obviously, but don't leave buying food to there, it's insanely expensive!

Can someone please explain to me what the problem would be if a child ate a small amount of puréed food once when they're BLW

There isn't one. The point (I thought anyway) is they eat all foods, you just let the baby feed itself so soup, hummus etc are all fine to be eaten.
I don't however see the need for an 11 month old (SN aside) to eat a puréed meal. I only followed the BLW 'rules' strictly with my third child. The first was weaned at 4 months as was the advice then, DC2 and DC4 were weaned at 7ish months onto finger food and spoon fed chopped up food (never smooth purees) though they always had their own spoons to help.
Interestingly enough they three who were given spoons could all feed themselves with a spoon well before one. The BLWer still needs to be reminded not to use his hands at 4 and is my fussiest eater of the 4.

Im surprised at an 11m old that can eat a whole kids pub meal. Dd is nearly 3 and usually shares ours. At 1 restaurant they gave her a whole pizza as a kids meal!
After all i assume they go up to like 10yo appetite. And the 3yo eating adult size flight meals. Plus worrying about a 4hr flight (wondering if op is possibly overfeeding)

Agreed Naty, my 6 and 10 year old rarely finish kids meals to be honest. My 3 year old would only eat half of a standard kids meal.

my 8yo has grown out of kids meals (not quite big enough or sophisticated enough) but my 4yo struggles to finish one.

Some places do bigger portions than others though so I guess it depends where the OP frequents

I did now out but felt it warranted an update to let you all know I've just had a call from Thomas Cook and they've now realised I can book a meal for my daughter after all! All booked and sorted!

Thanks to those who have genuinely tried to be helpful, not so much to the person who told me to eat the baby (though that did make me laugh!)

Night all!

I think the OP has had quite a bashing, and some of this has got very personal. Overfeeding? I thought the whole idea of blw was that the child decides when they've had enough?

I don't fly very much and tbh I would have assumed that if a family of four were given the option to buy an in flight meal then that option would apply to all four of them. The fact that it has now been explained on this thread that it is to do with seat allocation and limited space makes sense, but it doesn't sound (unless I've missed it) like Thomas Cook actually explained that. I thought that the OP was saying that if they had explained the reasoning she would have accepted it, but it was just the 'no, that's not possible' attitude that she found frustrating?

I took my then-11mo BLW DD on a Thomas Cook flight to Turkey. We bought sandwiches from Boots and all were happy.

That wasn't addressed to you RedToothBrush, I'd already read you hadn't done it out of choice.

And Notso there is a problem for a lot of people. People who follow the BLW rules strictly will absolutely not ever give their child pureed food under any circumstances.

Most 11 month olds don't need pureed food. But if the vacuum packing and the fact it wouldn't go off and could be easily transported meant for convenience on a flight they had two meals which were a packet of pureed food why would this be such a big issue?

I don't understand why some BLW react as though even the most healthy organic (and even home made) purees are somehow on a par with radioactive devil's ectoplasm.

Cross posted with OP!

Enjoy your holiday