Aibu to expect an airline to offer allergy friendly food for my almost 2 year old son?

[danishkids]

We will be traveling with Qatar airlines in July. We will be traveling with your 22 month old son who has allergies. To milk egg and almonds. He carries an epi-pen for the milk allergy.

We have been informed that they can only offer baby glass jar food for our son and some apples and bananas. The glass jars he can have (due to his allergies) are age 6-9 months.

He eats the same food as us. We have ask for a child’s meal instead, I have even offered to pay for it. The reply I get is that I should take my own food. However with no microwave or fridge. With 3 flights over 26 hours.

Baby fruit will not sustain him for that long.
I feel Like they are being unreasonable.

FYI you can order allergy meals for adults.

Hi OP i was in a similar situation on a long haul flight with a 22 month old and they seem to treat all under 2s as babies, no food provided at all except for formula and baby food.

On our return flight i called in advance and confirmed at check in (as advised by flight attendant on outward flight) that a child meal would be provided. Got nothing on board and they didn't care. They actually suggested I buy an adult seat for my child in order to get a plane meal.. that's at least £1000.. errr...

So its up to you to bring food for your dc. I took sandwiches and snacks, starting on perishables first and made sure to bring those squeezy fruit/veg pouches for the last few hours. I also shared what i could of my own food. Our final meal was breakfast and the flight attendant actually THREW an extra tray at me to feed my dc. It was awful. British Airways, I'll never fly with you again!

Ok, clearly this looks different in the UK. Peanuts/peanut butter is very standard fare in the USA. Most US airlines serve peanuts on board. So bringing or not bringing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich would be an irrelevant choice here. The medical guidelines have changed quite significantly in the last few years regarding exposure to peanuts with regard to allergies.

I have to agree that taking your own food is the best option available to you. You can take fruit with you so long as you've eaten it by the time you get to your destination - I do this all the time flying between UK and Australia. We also take crisps, crackers, cooked beef sausages (only out of Australia, it's almost impossible to find decent ones in the UK) and Babybel cheeses, although these of course would be no use to your son.
I've even started taking bread and butter with us! My boys tend to not eat much on the flights anyway - they get tired but not very hungry. Sometimes we're panic eating fruit on the way in to our final destination because it's not been eaten en route, and I have had to discard fruit at the airport a couple of times.

I don't know anything about Qatar airlines but I fly BA and I can order a gluten free meal for myself without requiring any doctor's note, that seems a bit OTT by Qatar!

Sorry you're having this experience - hope you can sort it out and the flights go ok.

Andre reason they don't cater for "severe" allergies with fancy meals is because if the person really has an allergy, they willingly make that flight free of allergens by treating the inside of the plane and banning passengers from bringing allergens. Also they ensure they have crew capable of dealing with it. 99% of the time when they ask for medical confirmation, people suddenly settle for the peanuts after all.

You should have researched it better OP. And yes bring your own food.

Maybe buy a thermos or thermal bowl like this one for his food.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B018V4D3T6/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_a_it?ref=plSrch&keywords=thermal+travel+bowl&dpPl=1&dpID=31VcRnhALoL&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1527566232&sr=8-1

I am an expat and travel long haul home with little ones regularly- I take food for all of them for 24 hours, they hate plane food and get grumpy if hungry

1. Buy a thermos - make the first meal a hot one! I usually take fish fingers, pasta, broccoli. No chance of food poisoning and it's 'dry' so security no problem. Don't open it and make sure it's super hot when it goes in - you have about 6-8 hours when it will be warm and yummy enough

1. Buy a v small cold pack - lunch box size. Decant yoghurt or your equivalent allergy friendly sweet snack or smoothies into Tupperware pots then if security ask you to taste it, it's not lost or wasted

1. Make a cake or other treat that little one likes, take lots of this! Little and often snacking on board works well

1. Buy another small cold lunch box thing and put chopped fruit in lots of little pots - if it starts off cold it will last 24 hours. Ditto sandwiches. The cold packs are more effective the less you open them so buy a few small ones better than one big, plus security don't seem to mind the v small cold gel things. If you lose one to over zealous security guy take zip lock bags empty and ask for ice at each airport

1. Lastly you have dry snacks like pitta bread / breadsticks / crackers. There will be places like Pret / Eat at the UK airport where you can possibly buy dips if they work for you

1. I my experience my kids don't eat their usual meals on the plane, they are tired, grumpy and discombobulated and just want to munch their favourite snacks. If they start out full all will be well. Don't panic - forget the airline options which they won't like anyway in all likelihood and be prepared!

The thing is, they ARE catering for your son - it's just not suitable for his age. I totally get it, my DD is 18 months and a jar of baby food wouldn't sustain her either, hence when we fly long haul (as we have done a few times, up to last month) we take stacks and stacks of food with us.

This is not a Qatar Airways issue - I've flown with them and two other carriers now and have had the same issue with all three. It's not ideal for a parent, especially a parent of a child with severe food allergies, but you'll just have to make do. 26 hours of snack food is not the end of the world.

I do think airlines in general need to look at how they feed 1-2 yos, but it's not a problem that's specific to you iyswim.

Do take extra food for your son in case of delay. We've flown Qatar twice and both times they tried to bump us from an overbooked flight at Doha. Apparently this is common. We were flying back one time under a doctors note with a sick child and that made zero difference (although once they realised our one world frequent flyer status that did...).

Their customer service is not good, tbh I wouldn't waste your time complaining it won't make a jot of difference.

Just make sure you take all you need for your son and then some more. My eldest has allergies and I wouldn't give her airline food under any circumstances no matter what it is labelled to be.

Jesus Christ what a load of fuss. Its one day - he wont come to any harm by not having a full cooked meal. Pack plenty of filling snacks and stop being so precious.

Speaking as a mother of a child with multiple allergies, I have to say I genuinely think that a lot of people are a bit pushy about what they expect to be catered for. There is 'food' (albeit not what the OP wants) on the plane that the child can eat. Is the expectation that they become a restaurant rather than an airline? I totally get the frustration, really I do; I've got the T-shirt already. But you know in advance, so just prepare. Pack your luggage full of acceptable food so you've got a safe few meals when you arrive. Make sure you take food into the plane. It's shit, but so is having allergies; where do you draw the line? If they're safe on the plane (no aerosolised allergies), wipe down the seats, trays, etc; don't let them play on the floor (you never know what's been dropped), and accept your new norm (until they hopefully grow out of it).

Oh, and on a side note, make sure your DC is on probiotics so that they grow out of it quicker!

I used this to order my thinking nursenaomi.com/2013/11/07/travelling-with-food-intolerances-international-flights/ and provided food we eat. Get a wide mouthed plastic jar or two and fill them with ice blocks for your chiller bag. You will be told when to empty them. Once airside (which wasn't long), I went straight to the nearest bar and asked as nicely as I could if they could fill it with ice again. That lasted until Dubai when I did the same thing. Never a problem and the food stayed safe. DD was happy with the arrangements and she was never hungry. We had cake leftover for the next day! All went well and it will for you, too.

I think it's because he doesn't have his own seat.

We're flying with my almost 2yo next week and I can't order him any food at all. He will just share ours and we'll bring snacks

Why would you think they have bananas on a plane?

In my experience they always have bananas on long haul flights-usually part of a club type kitchen set up. Often no bananas in 1st and you have to drop into club to get 1.

You are not paying for a seat for your son. You will have to sort food out yourself

Sofia, it's selfish to bring any peanut products on a plane.

And possibly an inconvenience to you. My son had airborne reactions to peanut. Every flights we go on consequently asks people to refrain from eating peanut products on board.

So your child might be hungry without your sandwiches - but my child could die if you get them out.

There's lots of great products that approximate peanut butter without having nuts in the product.

Just please, please, don't bring nuts on a plane.

They provide infant food for infants. You havent paid for a seat so you don’t get a meal. Take your own! It’s A few hours between stops, buy it at the airport in between or take non perishables. They can’t just have unlimited food for every tiny request and eventuality!

My DS has allergies, although fortunately not anaphylactic, although we have epipens. In my experience he wouldn’t eat the plane food even if it was safe for him, so no point ordering him a special meal that might not turn up anyway.

I just brought my own food for him (won’t harm him to eat “snacks” for a day) and supplemented with bits from my tray (bread roll, yoghurt etc)

And if you are traveling on an “infant” (ie under 2) ticket then they won’t provide a child’s meal.

sunshinejourney you clearly haven't travelled in the USA where peanuts are served by the airline on most flights that I've been on recently. There is no need to call me names because I am prioritizing my ds' medical needs (to have protein every few hours) over your ds' medical needs (which wouldn't have been met in the USA where I normally travel even if I hadn't brought a pnj sandwich on a plane). Of course, if I were to board a flight that requested that I not serve my ds his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I would abide by that request (but would need enough notice to be able to provide him an alternative in order to keep him alive). I assume that you are aware of the new treatments for severe peanut allergies now having very successful clinical trials.

Gosh Sofia - I wasn't aware that peanuts are the only source of protein
As someone with a dangerously ill child, it would seem you'd have more understanding of the fact that anaphylaxis cannot always be controlled even by the medication available (letalone, still in a clinical trial stage).
And you're right - the USA and several Asian countries are EXTREMELY backwards in still serving peanuts and peanut products.

I find Americans are far more likely to be of the consensus that as long as they’re alright, tough luck to anyone else. It’s a very selfish and dangerous attitude to take but I’m thankful here in the Uk we are a bit more socially aware of others needs including allergies.

Singapore Airlines serves peanuts, so does Qantas, Air New Zealand and lots of other airlines too.

Americans aren't any more selfish than anyone from those other countries.

In case OP is still following, the restaurants in HIA all seem to have allergen labelling up so I think they would be aware of the issues. Probably no more of a risk than in any international airport but I'd probably still bring food!