Master Safely Flying With A Peanut Allergy
Updated June 6, 2023
If you’ve heard scary stories about flying with a peanut allergy, this post is for you. We’ve flown worldwide with peanut allergies many, many times, and I’ll share our tips & experience with you.
First here are a couple of important things to know.
As a food allergy family with severe peanut and nut allergies and gluten intolerance, we haven’t let flying with peanut allergy (or nut allergy) stop us from traveling all over Europe, Mexico, the US, Canada, and the Bahamas. We have 2 girls and we’ve prioritized travel as a family because we love it. Not just to cultural destinations, but beach vacations, cruises, and of course Disney too!
Not only that, but I’ve helped hundreds of food allergy families travel safer and with less stress with my blog and business, Friendly Pantry Consulting.
Are you going on a trip, or thinking of booking one soon?
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. After traveling worldwide with severe food allergies, I teach you what our family has learned. You don’t have to learn the hard way! Even if you leave soon, you’ll learn things that will help you feel more prepared and less stressed right away.
Make sure to check out the Food Allergy Travel Workshop.
I also have a series of other non-travel workshops that will supercharge your allergy lifestyle. Go here to see the full series.
Now let’s talk about flying with a peanut allergy…
In this blog, I talk about my planning process for flying with a peanut allergy where we flew to Ireland and enjoyed an amazing family vacation.
From where we live, going to Ireland isn’t a direct or easy flight. When we first considered a trip to Ireland, we were quite worried about how to deal with these long flights given our daughter’s food allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, and her gluten intolerance. But my hubby and I have traveled a lot in our life so we felt like we could take on the challenge.
So we booked it.
Our family in Ireland.
Here’s how we prepared for flying with a peanut allergy
1. I researched several flight times and options.
After a lot of research & discussion, we decided to fly direct to London first (7-hour flight) and then fly over to Dublin from there (1.5-hour flight).
We spent 2 nights in London to get accustomed to the new time and because it was less expensive to stay near Gatwick Airport than it was to stay in Dublin. We knew the days in London would be low-key so we picked a hotel right in the Gatwick airport. This ended up working great because we ended up taking a day trip out to Brighton by the sea which was a quick 30-minute train ride from the station right at Gatwick airport.
On the way home, we again broke the flight up by heading from Dublin to London for one night, sleeping at the same airport hotel, and then flying to Halifax the next morning on a direct flight. We wanted to visit Halifax and it felt like this would break the flight up a bit too. We then flew home to Calgary 3 days later.
2. I read about airborne food allergy reactions.
Airborne food allergy reactions can cause a lot of stress and worry. Which is why I wanted to do some research. You can read the blog I wrote about anaphylaxis from touching a food allergen here.
I also found two food allergy articles about the chances of airborne anaphylaxis. The first was from a local Allergist, Dr. Alex Lyttle, and the other was from Allergic Living Magazine.
Of course, everyone’s comfort level is different, and maybe you already know that your child has airborne allergies, but I found these articles to be reassuring and helped put my mind at ease when it comes to flying with peanut allergy.
3. I booked our favorite allergy airline.
Whenever possible, we book airlines that are food allergy-friendly, which means they’ll allow us to board early so we can do a good job of wiping down the area before sitting down. This is really important to have a clean, allergen-free space from the start.
Some families feel more comfortable if the airline doesn’t serve peanuts during the flight. This does offer extra comfort, and I try to book with those airlines as much as possible. That said, I feel it could give a false sense of security since there may be people eating peanuts and nuts anyway.
Because of that, I focus on what we can control ourselves like cleaning our space, bringing our own food, and ensuring my daughter keeps her hands really clean and doesn’t put them in her mouth during the flight. I also remember the articles I read about airborne food allergies that I mentioned above.
For a list of airlines that may be more accommodating to food allergies, check out this list which is updated yearly by Allergic Living Magazine.
4. I researched our destination(s) to make sure our safe foods would clear customs.
This can be tricky sometimes, but usually dried & processed non-meat & baked goods are ok. If you google "What kind of food can I bring into __________", and look for a government website, and/or customs you should be able to find what you need. Make sure it's a government website for accuracy.
We were able to bring two small tins of canned chicken with us, but this did cause us delays at security because the x-ray scanner flagged it and they needed to see the tins. When we arrived in UK, they said they don’t usually allow any meats (even in a can), but they still allowed it because it was for personal use and only two tins.
Who knows if they will allow it next time? We always claim whatever food we have with customs so we won’t be charged or fined.
5. We brought our own safe food for the plane ride.
Because the flight started at around 6 pm Calgary/local time, we would be flying all night. We had a safe dinner before boarding. We knew that we would be on the plane for breakfast so we planned & packed a safe breakfast meal. For us, this consisted of a safe muffin, a banana, and a yogurt (we always try to be tidy with our food to help our friends with other allergies like milk allergies). Then we added snacks like potato chips, fruit roll-ups, and safe cookies.
We were careful to wipe our hands before eating and after a trip to the washroom to clean away any traces of peanuts or nuts that my daughter might have touched along the way.
6. We made sure we wouldn't be hungry when we landed.
I wrote about a previous trip fail where we arrived at our destination RIGHT when it was time to eat, but struggled to find safe food at the airport. I was not going to do that again! This time I made sure that all of us ate on the plane so when we landed we weren’t hangry.
That said, some families would rather wait until just before landing or even after arrival to eat just in case they have a reaction, they are able to get help quickly. Depending on the length of the flight and your comfort level, you could consider this, but we feel confident eating when we bring our own food and take the precautions I’ve mentioned above.
7. I researched restaurants at the destination airport.
There were no grocery stores near the airport but we wanted to have some safe options during our layover there. We had good intentions, but this ended up being a partial fail. Let's just say I was happy we brought safe food with us! The number one tip here is to bring safe food with you so you never have to compromise safety.
I talk about how to plan what food to bring and how much in my Food Allergy Travel Workshop. I also give you planners to ensure you always have what you need.
8. We traveled with our EpiPens on the plane.
Having a peanut allergy and flying means we keep several EpiPens (usually about 6) in our carry-on. We keep them with us so we can use them in the air if needed, but also so they don't get lost if the luggage gets lost. It isn’t easy to get replacements in a foreign country so it’s always best to have 2 for bringing with you daily and then 1-2 sets of 2 as a backup in the hotel room.
9. We packed other carry-on goodies for the flight.
In addition to food, we always pack a large container of wipes to clean the seats, armrests, table trays, window shades, seatbelts, and call buttons.
My daughter also had her own pillow and blanket to avoid using a contaminated one, and we made sure to have our food allergy action plan.
10. Don’t forget; you have to come home. Having a peanut allergy and flying means extra preparation!
It’s really easy to forget about the trip home when we’re packing, and sometimes you have to fly by the seat of your pants a bit (no pun intended), but I like to pack a safe pre-made meal or 2 for the flight home too. The safe pre-made meals we brought were individual oatmeals and pre-made, gluten-free mac and cheese by Annies.
These meals came in handy throughout our trip and I was SO glad to have them. I know they don’t work for everybody’s allergens, but if you can find even 2 different pre-made meals that work (and bring a few of each), they’ll come in handy!
Peanut Allergy & Flying
Long flights can feel daunting when flying with a peanut allergy, but they aren’t impossible! Yes, you’ll need to spend time researching, planning, and packing so it’s as safe as possible.
This blog only covers one small step of the whole travel process and there’s a whole trip to plan!
So if all of the research, packing, and planning seem daunting, I have an amazing Food Allergy Travel Planning Pack that guides you through the process to make sure you’ve got all your bases covered, without wasting time or forgetting something.
This helpful Food Allergy Travel Planning Pack is included in my Food Allergy Travel Workshop.
Honestly, the Travel Planning Pack is worth the price of the workshop by ITSELF because of how easy it makes the travel planning process; but you also get the workshop where you’ll learn the tips and tricks and travel strategies to give you confidence and teach you everything we’ve learned over 16 years of traveling worldwide with peanut allergy & nut allergy.
You don’t have to learn the hard way like we did!
You won’t be sorry if you enroll in the Food Allergy Travel Workshop. Go here to enroll now:
