Kids Food Allergies Blog

For those of you still planning to fly with food allergic children this summer — I urge you to check out an interview on traveling with children with severe food allergies on the DeliciousBaby.com blog.

Some of the tips are straightforward common sense to those of us who have been doing this for some time.  But other recommendations made me think.  Of particular interest to me was the documentation recommended we have on hand about our children at all times.  It’s precisely the information schools are asking for that I cannot provide.  (What will happen to the child if allergen X is inhaled, touched, or ingested.)  The more vigilant we are as parents in removing these allergens from our children’s lives to create safe environments for them — the more difficult it is to predict how that child will react under conditions to which they have not been exposed.

He also offers some smart suggestions on things I never thought about: choose flights in the morning to avoid allergen exposure, and research contact information of a pediatric allergy specialist in your destination city before you leave.

Things to think about.  Happy travels.

Apparently, we’re not the only food allergic family who has had difficulty with the airlines.

This trouble even extends to esteemed members of the Senate.

At the 5/14 hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Children and Families, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) recounts:

(W)e fly a lot, obviously, going back and forth to Connecticut a lot, and without naming any particular airlines, the difficulty sometimes of getting them to understand that peanuts — calling ahead of time, stopping at the gate before you get in, getting on the plane, invariably the flight attendants have not been told by anybody, so they then look at you with annoyance.
We actually had a flight one time where the flight attendant told us we had to get off the plane, because they hadn’t — every other flight they serve peanuts on. We were in Phoenix, Arizona on our way back home to Connecticut — a long day with a 2-year-old — well that’s not a 2-year-old — a 1-year-old and said we had to get off the plane, because that was the choice. Needless to say, we stayed on the plane and there were no peanuts served, but nonetheless it took me battling to do it. I shouldn’t have to battle this to let it happen.

My family’s not planning to fly again any time soon.  But for those of you who are, FAAN posts useful information on flying with food allergies:

Based on correspondence with airline representatives, FAAN has concluded that the following airlines do not serve individual packages or bags of peanuts:

Domestic: Air Tran, American, Jet Blue, Northwest, United, US Airways, USA 3000
International: Aer Lingus, Air France, British Airways, El Al, JAL, KLM, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore Airlines

I wish someone would talk to Continental.

We used frequent flier miles for our trip — and ended up flying to California on Delta and returning home on Continental. When my husband and I were reserving our flights — we told both the Delta and Continental customer service agents about our daughter’s life threatening peanut allergy. Both airlines told us that there was nothing they could do about food brought aboard the airplane (which we kind of assumed). Neither airline offered further guidance/assistance.

But Delta really came through for us. After the stewardess announced the snack (peanuts, pretzels, or cookie) — I told her about my daughter’s allergies. She responded quickly and kindly, and worked with the other flight attendants to create a 3 row up, 3 row back peanut-free zone. She also advised us to alert the staff on our connecting flight ahead of time, and that they would do the same thing. And they did. And, we were very appreciative.

Continental was an entirely different story. When my husband called to reconfirm our flights, he told customer service about my daughter’s allergies. Their curt response, “There’s nothing we can do. Bring your medicine and good luck.” I thought we might have better luck at the airport. So, when I made inquiries at check-in, I was told “we do not make any food restrictions on flights.” To which I replied, I know you can’t limit customers from brining nuts onboard — but you can control what you serve as snacks. Again, I was answered with “we do not make any food restrictions on flights.” Luckily — on the first leg of our Continental trip, they were serving “lunch,” and did not offer peanut snacks. But we had to transfer in Cleveland and were taking a regional propeller jet back to Dulles. Because it was one of those tiny planes (small space/recycled air)– I asked my husband to please approach the gate and ask them to reconsider serving peanuts. He did. And he was asked why we booked these flights for a food allergic child. Then, they had a change of heart (I guess), and conceded to not serve peanuts on board the flight. But not before presenting us with the following disclaimer. I don’t think I’ll fly Continental again for a really long time. At least, not with my daughter.

Lets face it. It’s really difficult to travel with food allergic children. Especially if you want them to eat more than crackers for the duration of your trip.

We knew this trip would be easier than many others. We were going to San Francisco: a land filled with Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and plenty of fresh produce. We would also have access to cooking facilities –we were visiting my sister and staying in a hotel with a refrigerator and microwave. Still, I was nervous — this would be our first flight with our daughter since her severe peanut allergy had been diagnosed. (More on how this turned out in my next post.)

The first challenge: the flights. So many challenges, not sure where to begin. Perhaps with the person sitting directly in front of us shelling pistachios. Or the person to my left on my outbound flight who complained that the stewardess couldn’t serve his wife peanuts while I served my daughter a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (which I explained, as kindly as I could, was in fact soynutbutter and jelly.) But equally vexing was finding 12 hours worth of food that we could travel with that would not require refrigeration. But we did OK.

The second challenge: the restaurants. Finding safe food in restaurants is always a challenge. Finding safe food that my daughter will eat is nearly impossible. One exception. Cucumber sushi. Boy, she ate lots of cucumber sushi. Also — hats off to the Whole Foods in Los Altos, CA for introducing me to a great new product for food allergic families on-the-go. O’Hana House fully cooked Organic Japanese Udon Noodles. Vegan. Microwaves perfectly in 2 minutes. Perfect for situations where you only have a microwave and a fridge.

The third challenge: lodging. Our hotel was great. One slight glitch. I found a pistachio shell on the floor. It started my mind whirling. What if there were other lingering allergens from former guests: between the seat cushions, on the tablecloth where other guests have eaten breakfast. It’s enough to make you crazy. We looked as best we could, removed visible offenders, and tried not to think about it. And it all turned out fine.

As summer travel season approaches — I wish you and your families safe and fun-filled travel adventures. If you have any food allergy vacation stories/tips to share, I’d love to hear about them.