Confidently Flying With Food Allergies

Want to feel less alone in this food allergy journey? I share additional stories and experiences in my podcast, called Food Allergy Made Easy.

In this episode, I share our experience with angry flyers who didn’t understand food allergies. You can listen here:

If you’ve heard scary stories about flying with food allergies, this post is for you. We’ve flown worldwide with multiple food allergies many, many times, and I’ll share our tips & experience with you.

First here are a couple of important things to know.

I’m Corinna!

At the time of writing, I’m a 17-year food allergy mom and a 7-year Food Allergy Mentor. I base all of my resources on evidence-based research and then add my 17 years of practical knowledge to create trusted resources that work for food allergy families.

As a family, we have traveled all over the world with severe food allergies even before my kids were 11 and 13 (they are 18 and 16 now). Some of our destinations have been the Bahamas, Mexico, Spain, Ireland, the UK, Italy, France, and all over the USA and Canada.

We’ve been on several Disney vacations (including Disneyland, Disney World, and Disneyland Paris), road trips as well as beach vacations, tours, a river cruise, and a Mediterranean cruise too! We have also been to Portugal most recently. I wrote a blog and did a podcast episode about the best places to travel with food allergies, and you can read or listen here.

Anyway, I tell you this so you know that what you read here comes from experience, and it’s not just from one or two trips, or even from one or two destinations. I think it’s safe to say that we have extensive travel experience.

My daughter has peanut and tree nut allergies and gluten intolerance, but what you learn here will work for ANY food allergy or celiac disease.

Although it took me many years to fumble through and figure it all out while making a lot of mistakes along the way; with guidance, you can have a safer trip that is less stressful right away.

If you’ve already booked a trip, maybe you’re…

• having second thoughts about the trip because of food allergies

• worried about taking unnecessary risks.

• wondering if you forgot anything important.

• hoping all your bases are covered.

If any of these are you, OR if you’ve never booked a trip because one or more of these things are holding you back, you’ll want to check out one of my most popular workshops: The Food Allergy Travel Workshop.

It’s one of the most popular because the Food Allergy Travel Workshop helps make food allergy travel safer and less stressful. I teach you what our family has learned after traveling worldwide with severe food allergies. You don’t have to learn the hard way! Even if you leave next week, you can watch and implement what you learn right now.

Now, let’s get to the tips for confidently flying with food allergies.

If you have a child aged 2-7, grab my FREE resource that will help you get them ready for more independence. Click the photo below to learn more and sign up.

8 Tips For Flying With Food Allergies

Before I start, I have a couple of caveats. These tips don’t take into account airborne anaphylaxis. Airborne anaphylaxis is controversial because there is anecdotal evidence and stories of it happening, YET the evidence-based data shows that there is a VERY LOW chance that airborne anaphylaxis will happen. 

Over the years, I’ve thought about airborne anaphylaxis a lot and done a lot of reading and research and talked to our doctor and we’ve decided that airborne anaphylaxis is not something that we worry about for our family. 

I’m thinking that I may do a podcast episode on this to talk about what I’ve found in my research and why we don’t worry about it on planes. That said, even though we don’t worry about it, there are things you can do to lower the chance of it. So I’m wondering, does this topic interest you? If so, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT ME TO DO AN EPISODE ON AIRBORNE ANAPHYLAXIS on planes. Send me a DM on Instagram. If I get enough interested people, I may create that episode.

Either way, I recommend that you start by talking to your Board-Certified Allergist to ask them if airborne anaphylaxis on a plane is an issue for your child, and then act appropriately, but the tips I talk about today don’t take airborne anaphylaxis into account.

Caveat #2 is that my daughter can now manage traces of her allergens, but I’m going to share these tips in a way that addresses cross-contact because that’s how we have traveled for 14 years.  Many people need to navigate cross-contact and so I think its most helpful give tips that take this into account.

Let’s get to tip #1.

Tip #1: Choose Allergy-Friendly Airlines
I wish that I could tell you that there are airlines that are amazing with food allergies. We’ve been flying for a long time, and we’ve tried several airlines. Unfortunately, the only thing I can say for sure is that airlines are notoriously inconsistent when it comes to food allergies. Even to to the point that one flight crew may allow you to board early and make an announcement asking people not to consume your allergens one way of the trip, and the same airline, but a different flight crew will not allow it, or be difficult about it on the next leg of your trip.

That said, if you find an airline, or hear of one that is good with food allergies, choose that one. Always do your research to see if their allergy protocols work for you. Also, things can change quickly, and I’ve seen allergy-friendly airlines become not as friendly and so it’s important to check and make the best decision for your family. 

2. Notify the Airline About Food Allergies At Time of Booking and Again at the Gate. 

I’m going to be honest, I have become complacent with calling airlines and telling them about my daughter’s allergies at time of booking, because the information never seemed to get to the people at the gate for some reason. It seemed like a waste of time. 

That said, I advise you to tell them because we did have some trouble with this when leaving Portugal a couple of summers ago. They said that we didn’t let them know about the allergy so they couldn’t let us board early to wipe down. I had to explain that we didn’t want their allergy meal, just that we wanted enough time to wipe down the seat and surrounding area.  After a bit of stress and negotiating, it was all ok in the end, and they did let us preboard, but it did cause us stress, so I now know it’s important to contact the airline in advance. 

3. Bring a Safe Food Supply

Airline food is not safe to eat with food allergies, EVEN if you request an allergy-free meal. There are no regulations, and there are so many incidences where airline food has not been safe. This is not a time to rely on airline food, it just isn’t consistent enough.

Pack enough allergen-free snacks and meals for your travel day, factoring in delays. Bring it in your carry-on. Remember, because you have it in your carry-on,  you will have to avoid foods with too much liquid. You’ll also want to avoid fresh fruits or veggies because they are often not be acceptable to customs wherever your destination is. Don’t forget to bring enough food for the way home as well! 

There are times when we aren’t able to get direct flights and need to connect in other cities. If this is the case, we try to avoid airport food, if possible. We want to be extra safe and avoid cross-contact in as many ways as possible because safety is the MOST important to us while traveling. So we usually stick to safe, packed food, with the exception of buying an unpeeled banana or orange. I find that we have been able to find these in several places, and they complement our other snacks since we usually avoid bringing fresh fruits and vegetables because these are usually not permitted to bring internationally.

To help you figure out how much to bring so you don’t run out or have to pay for extra luggage, check out my Food Allergy Travel Workshop where I have packing and planning cheat sheets to help you figure out what food to bring and how much.

4. Carry Medications & Anaphylaxis Emergency Plan.

I like to bring 2 sets of epinephrine devices, for a total of four devices total, for a 2 week trip.  That way if you lose a set while you’re traveling you have a spare back in your hotel room. 

Always carry epinephrine in your carry-on because the checked luggage goes through a large temperature change which may not work for epinephrine. You also want to have all of the epinephrine on hand and easily accessible while flying.

Carry antihistamines and any other prescribed medications.

Keep medications in their original packaging with prescriptions to avoid issues at security.

Don’t forget Your Anaphylaxis Emergency Plan.
Carry a printed copy of your emergency action plan with your epinephrine, and keep it all easily accessible while flying. We always put ours with our epinephrine injectors in a plastic bag so that it can be easily grabbed and seen by security. 

5. Have a Medical Alert ID

Have your child wear a bracelet or necklace indicating their allergy to alert others in an emergency. This way, if your child gets separated from you, adults will be aware of their allergy.

6. Inform Security (TSA)

Notify TSA agents about your medications.  Many times, I just put the epinephrine in its own clear plastic bag and take them out so TSA agents can see them easily. 

You’re allowed to carry epinephrine auto-injectors and liquids like safe food or medications exceeding th liquid amount if medically necessary. Even so, sometimes, I find it a hassle to exceed the limits because they will do extra checks if you have liquid food. If I can avoid it, I will try to stay within the allowed liquid amounts, but I realize this isn’t always possible. So if you do this, make sure to bring a letter from your Allergist explaining allergies and why you need to bring safe food. I actually like to have this letter anyway just to be safe.

Also, if you have anything canned, your carry on will likely get searched.  I’m not sure how they show up on their screens, but we had a tuna meal that came in a can on one of our trips to Europe. As you can imagine, we had lots of flights and transfers, and they searched us EVERY SINGLE TIME we went through security and were told it was because of the can. It’s not that it wasn’t allowed, because they didn’t confiscate it, but it shows up on their screen and flags it for search.

That’s just for security. As another note,  canned meat or fish may not be ok to bring into another country, depending on where you’re going. So it’s important to research each country and their customs allowances. 

Always declare any food when asked at borders, because if they find it, and you didn’t declare it, you can be charged hefty fines! If you declare it, they may still take it away from you, but we haven’t had this happen yet.  I think your letter from your Allergist that I talked about earlier would help with this as well.  

7. Clean Your Area
When you board the plane, Wipe down your seat, tray table, armrests, and anything else you might touch with disinfectant wipes. Don’t forget the seatbelt buckle, and the buttons above your head. Keep lots of wipes on hand so you can wipe before eating and after moving around the cabin.

8. Remember that flying with food allergies is doable.

I know the stories I’ve told you in this episode may make it seem like flying with food allergies is scary or overwhelming. But here’s the truth: it’s doable – with the right preparation and mindset. I share the tough parts of our past journeys not to scare you but to prepare you. I’ve been there, learned the hard way so you don’t have to. 

That’s why I created my food allergy travel workshop: to give you the tools, strategies, and confidence to make travel not just manageable, but enjoyable for your family.

If you liked what you learned today, I have so much more in my Food Allergy Travel Workshop. Let me help you skip the learning curve so you can confidently travel with food allergies. 

Go to www.friendlypantry.com/travel to learn more.

Conclusion

What do you think? What has been your experience flying with food allergies? Did you feel confident or worried?  Let me know in the comments, I love hearing from you!

Want to know 3 myths about traveling with food allergies that could be causing you unneeded stress or worry about travel? Read the blog or listen to the episode.