Food Allergy air travel questions

[rdevine10]

Hi everyone

Ive been doing a fair amount of reading on prevoius posts regaurding traveling with children with food allergies. I have indicated on all of our ADRs my DDs allergies. We are however hoping to travel with some "safe" foods for our DD.

I have searched the TSA website. Does anyone know if you can travel with ice packs in a carryon??? We would like for her to have some safe foods for when we are traveling (and also for pre-prepared) for when we are at Disney (Ive been stressing they will somehow include an item she will react to and our vacation will get very miserable very quickly).

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I have checked out the websites to order groceries (sicne we werent planning on renting a car), and they do not have a large selection of what she normally eats. Not so much concerend about dry goods, but more about things that need to be chilled.

Thanks!

 

[SueM in MN]

I could not find the answer on the tsa site regarding ice packs for food either. It looks like they would be allowed from the tsa information about travel for people with disabilties, but you never know. I'd suggest printing out this page and bringing it with you.
In addition, I know some people have done this:
1) Pack the food in a small collapsable cooler with ice in a ziplock bag.
2) Just before going thru security, throw away the ice (you might want to have a new ziplock bag ready).
3) After getting thru security ask for ice at a fast food restaurant. You can carry ice onto the plane and get more ice from the flight attendant on the plane.

 

[Selket]

What are the allergies? You don't have to list them for me but I was thinking whether you could purchase some food on the other side of the security barrier for a snack for the plane (or a meal, etc). My son is allergic to peanuts/tree nuts and I can always find chips, crackers, yogurt, etc. that is safe for him. We have a short plane trip to Orlando (2 hours) but I make sure (because he is diabetic) to bring enough carbs to keep him running if we got stuck on the plane.

I know for sure you can use ice packs for meds that need to be kept cool (my son is also diabetic so we travel with insulin) but I'm not sure what they'd say to food. You could also do as Sue suggested and just toss the ice in ziplocs and get more on the other side.

 

[rdevine10]

Thanks for the suggestion..... I was very excited about it, until I remembered we are flying out of White Plains and they do not have a food service area beyond the security check point (or options to purchase foods either).

I cannot travel without her foods as she cannot have wheat/gluten, dairy, and egg (in addition to nuts and shellfish). She doesnt have a true anaphalatic reaction, but, she has severe food intolerances, and eating those foods can bring days of pain to her GI system (I cant even begin to tell you how collicky she was). She is a preemie and has had several health issues. So, Im sure you can understand why I wouldnt want to chance her eating anything that could upset her GI system, since an exposure to one of those foods typically means 3 to 4 days of high irritataion and screaming from her- not what I want at home, and CERTAINLY not what I want when on vacation!

I figured I can cook and deep freeze some of her safe foods (cooked ground turkey, plain, unspiced chicken breasts), and I think they will be cold enough to sort of act as an ice pack to some of the otehr things... and will try the ice cubes, and if we have to chuck them, I guess so be it!

Thanks for the replies. I apprecaite it!

 

[kaytieeldr]

If there are frozen vegetables to which she's not allergic (I realize the bags are completely sealed, but still...), you can use a couple of those in the cooler as ice packs.

If you've checked Garden Grocer and WeGoShop, and can't find what you need on those sites, contact the respective owners by e-mail - they're very accommodating, as much as possible.

 

[dawnball]

The TSA is not gracious about making allowances for medical needs. They'll do it - but screening will be much, much more stressful. I would freeze everything you can as hard as you can and put it in an insulated container in your checked luggage with extra ice packs. That's what I'll be doing for our next WDW trip. For carry-on, I'd use bags of frozen vegetables and an insulated bag. Really - there isn't anything that an ice pack can do that frozen spinach can't.

I have been at Disney with very, very, very low cross-contamination thresholds for gluten and dairy (all dairy, not just lactose) and other than buffets - I haven't had an unsafe Table Service meal. I had some iffy Counter Service meals, but Table Service I was *very* comfortable with. Counter Service at the resorts was generally very good - and they're happy to make a plain chicken breast cooked in a clean pan and some plain cooked or raw veggies. I found that they were very cautious and careful about things like clean gloves, surfaces, pans, etc. It does take a little longer because the allergen chicken breasts are kept frozen and separate from the other foods.

My complaints about Disney food is much more about the quality and taste of the simple special diet foods and not the safety of them. There are a few processed foods they use which I wouldn't use, but those all contain dairy and they'll happily tell you the brand of any product they're using if you are brand-sensitive (I won't eat Amy's for example due to cross contamination risks).

 

[disneyfool_1202]

Have you tried actually calling the airports you'll be traveling out of? I have a son with a peanut/tree nut allergy and I called the airline- not so much about bringing safe foods on board (we did snacks that didn't have to be chilled) but I actually had them ban all nuts from the flight - and they did it (to the best of their ability).
They literally removed and locked all snacks the airline served that contained nuts and made an announcement before we got on the plan and prior to take off that they were requesting no one eat nuts during the flight. They even let us on the plane early to ensure his seating area was clean enough (they vacuumed twice around our row!).
I was totally amazed.

 

[Selket]

Thanks for the suggestion..... I was very excited about it, until I remembered we are flying out of White Plains and they do not have a food service area beyond the security check point (or options to purchase foods either). I cannot travel without her foods as she cannot have wheat/gluten, dairy, and egg (in addition to nuts and shellfish).

That is completely understandable - I was afraid that the allergies were such that it is hard to purchase things "on the other side." Of course there isn't even another side! That is just amazing - they need to put in something for people to get food since it is so hard to bring it through security.

I think everyone's suggestions for freezing some of the food to act as ice packs is a good idea. I guess that and a back up plan for the unlikely chance they make you throw it all away.

I just suggest that you make sure anything that might seem out of the ordinary for your child is all packed together. I put all of William's supplies in a small rolling carry-on suitcase and I told them when I got up to the screening area (where you put the luggage on the belt to go through the scanner). At one airport they hand searched it after they scanned it and the other airport they just scanned it. I went through 2 huge airports too (one was involved in the 9/11 planes incident). I would suggest that you also give yourself extra time in case they want to talk to you about your frozen chicken.