Taking food on a plane (NY bound)

[fretting123]

Hi, all being well travelling to New York on the 8th with kids 8 & 10. Daughter (8) quite fussy with food. We have a meal included in our flight, but we were planning on taking a packed lunch for her. Anyone know if this is allowed? Flying with BA if that makes any difference.

Yes, you can pick up food airside at the airport. There’s quite a lot of choice, so you could get something from Pret’s, or Plane Food do food to go. Why don’t you eat at the airport before you leave and pick up sandwiches and snacks for the flight?

Yes it’s allowed, just dump any leftovers on the plane thought, don’t try to import them as that’s when you can become unstuck. (My mum, apple, sniffer dogs, us immigration)

Great, thanks for replies. We've got breakfast booked at hotel (which she'll eat and enjoy) so will make sure she fills up on that.

Just dont watch for things that might class as a liquid, and make sure they are separated, and in small (under 100ml) containers.
So, buy drinks outside if that will be required too.

I take a full packed lunch for my child on transatlantic flights. As long as there are no liquids over 100ml you can take it through security. Anything that isn't eaten should be disposed of before you go through customs. Talk to the aircrew to ask about how to dispose of anything that isn't allowed.
I've taken cooked chicken thighs, sandwiches, fruit, crisps, breadsticks etc.
The allergy meals on board were not great and their terminology(lacto free not dairy free for example) don't inspire confidence.

Take what they like to eat and enough of it for the flight. Do leave any and all leftovers behind on the aircraft.

You can bring certain leftover food into the US, you just have to declare it. Fruit, vegetables, dairy, meat and fish are not permitted but snack food will be fine, if that’s leftover (such as crackers, crisps, etc) and you declare it on arrival. By the end of a long plane journey it might not be worth salvaging though.

Get a meal deal from boots once you pass through security. Then they won't challenge anything you take in board

DD(19) now has a cheese sandwich rule for air travel - if she gets hungry and/or stressed she can't handle unknown food but if she's got something she can be sure to be able to eat, she can start with that and then see what she can manage of a provided meal. I think it may have been a trip to NY when she was about 14 that led to us realising she needed it! (cheapskate trip via Scandinavia IIRC and I hadn't thought about lack of food on the first leg...) She's now done ultra-long-haul a couple of times and two rounds of cheese sandwiches have happily done the job and either been eaten or discarded at the other end.

So I'd say not only, yes you'll be fine to take a packed lunch (liquid advice above is good - including yoghurt potentially); but you may find that having the packed lunch and the airline meal allows your daughter to have a look at anything else she might feel ok about eating, with on pressure.

Remember you can also take empty drinks bottles through security and find a water fountain once airside to fill up.

I bought quite a few snacky bits at the airport...... large bag of dried fruit and nuts, some protein bars and large extra drinks. We went out with American Airlines and back with BA........ there were huge gaps between drinks trolleys going around, especially coming home. I was parched both ways and so glad I'd taken a huge bottle of water bought after security.