Tips for Flying with Food Allergies

Have Allergies, Will Travel!

Tips for Flying Safely

with

Food Allergies

The Strategy:

Look for a non-stop flight

Try for the first flight of the day

Choose your seating strategically

Call the airline to add the allergy to your booking and ask about any available accommodations

PREPARE!
- Clean your area and protect yourself from allergens
- Bring food and drink to sustain yourself, including possible delays
- Bring wipes to clean your hands before you consume anything

Do not consume food or drink unless you brought it yourself!

The Details:

Most people will food allergies can safely tolerate a flight of any length, even if their allergens are on board the plane and being consumed by other passengers. Make sure you check with your doctor before you fly. A small percentage of allergic travelers truly cannot tolerate airborne particles of their allergen, which cannot be prevented on any commercial flight. Those people should not fly, unless they can charter a private jet.

Non-Stop Flights

Non-Stop flights make traveling much easier with food allergies:

You only have to clean your seat area once on the way there and once on the way home.
You don't have to worry about missing connecting flights and possible losing your carefully chosen seats.
The overall traveling time is shorter, so you have less food and drink to bring.
You also don't have to navigate food choices in another airport.

If you live within 4 hours drive of a major hub, giving you more non-stop choices, it can be worth the drive to make the flying experience less stressful. Living in Connecticut, we are lucky that we can make it to Boston or New York for more non-stop choices.

If you can't find a non-stop flight to your destination and the flights are long or you are nervous, another strategy is to spend a night in between instead of connecting as quickly as possible. For example, when flying to Norway, my family had to connect through London's Heathrow airport. There is a hotel right inside the airport. We still had to go through passport control and immigration, but spending a night in the airport, eating safe food and replenishing our supplies before flying out on a clean plane first thing in the morning was the right choice for us on that trip.

Try for the first flight of the day

Everything on the plane is just cleaner in the morning. Usually airlines have an evening crew that does a more thorough cleaning of the planes after their last flight of the day. You are less likely to find food wrappers and crumbs in the seat back in front of you, and less likely to find food smears or spills on your arm rest and tray table. Do I trust the night cleaning crew to clean everything well for us? Not at all. But it definitely makes it quicker to clean.

Choose your seating strategically

For me, this is crucial. Even when airlines ask the folks around you to please refrain from eating nuts or whatever else your allergen may be, the flight crew cannot guarantee that folks will cooperate.

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Obviously it would be great to sit in Rows 1 or 3, but assuming you don't want to spend thousands of dollars on your flight, the best seats to choose are where you are next to to the least amount of passengers. On this plane, if I could afford premium economy, I would choose Rows 11 or 12. In regular economy, try for the first or last row before a divider: Row 14; Row 30 for the side rows and Row 31 for the middle row; Row 34 for the side rows of two or Row 33 for the middle row; or the very last row of the plane.

For my family of four, I would pick the middle row and put my allergic son in seat D or E. If only three of us were flying, I would put my son at the window (A or J), and put one of us next to him (B or H), with the other family member on the aisle in the same row (C or G). If you are two people, try for a side row and put the allergic traveler at the window (A or J). If you are alone, I think it's best to be on the aisle, in case you need to get away from something that could make you sick. You also have a better position in case you'd like to try a trade.

Looking at this plane's seating chart (most can be found on seatguru.com), the safest seats are in Row 10 and Row 11. Unfortunately, children are not allowed in exit row seating. I would choose Row 1, Row 6 or Row 12, in that order. If traveling with four people, I would choose A for my son, and B, C, D for the rest of us.

(Or choose F for my son, and E, D and C in the same row for the rest of us). Three people traveling together would just take either group of three, putting the allergic traveler next to the window. Two people traveling together have a trickier problem. I do not recommend booking the aisle and window, hoping to get the whole row. Airlines try to fill those middle seats and you don't want someone in the middle that refuses to switch for some irrational reason. I would play it safe and put the allergic traveler either by the window or on the aisle, with the companion in the middle. At the window you will be more protected from other passengers assuming you can get Rows 1, 6 or 12. One person should take the aisle in case you need a quick get away.

Call the Airline

You might like to call the airline to ask about any food allergy accommodations available before you decide to book, and to ask whether or not they serve particular allergens on specific flights, such as peanuts. If there are multiple carriers flying the same route, you could choose the one with the most allergy-friendly policies. Once you've booked your ticket, you should take the step of calling the airline to add the allergy to your booking.

If the allergy is listed on your booking, you have a much better chance of preboarding, which can give you a little extra time to clean your seat area. They don't want you to have a reaction mid-flight, either, so they usually let you board first. If they do not, don't despair. You should still be able to get it done if you are prepared when you board.

Don't be alarmed if you get a call from your airline a couple weeks before your flight, letting you know that they cannot guarantee your safety, and offering you the opportunity to cancel your flight, fee-free. The first time that happened to me, we were planning to fly Jet Blue to Orlando to go to Walt Disney World. I was completely taken off-guard and was very confused by the call. Apparently it is standard procedure, probably a strategy for them to reduce their liability should a reaction occur. Just say no thank you if you still want to take the flight.

PREPARE!

Before you even board the plane, especially if you are traveling with children, you will make your cleaning job faster and smoother if you are prepared. I like to travel with a couple very thin reusable and washable bags. As I'm waiting to board, I put my purse or other "personal item" inside my carry on luggage, and I take out of the luggage a thin bag with what I need to get the seat area ready. Inside the bag I have:

Disposable hand wipes (I use Cleanwell)
a thin, disposable plastic bag (can use a grocery bag or a dog poop bag)
disposable gloves (like from a doctor's office)
crib sheets for each seat
a large rubber band for each seat (I use 17x1/4 inches blue heavy duty by Alliance Rubber)

Crib sheets are the perfect size for reusable, washable seat covers. Large elastic bands help keep the sheets from slipping.

Clean your area and protect yourself from allergens.

Bring food and drink to sustain yourself, including possible delays.

Bring wipes to clean your hands before you consume anything.

Do not consume food or drink unless you brought it yourself!