Long airline flight question

[2girlsmom]

Fresh fruit is never allowed to cross international borders (and as someone pointed out, you can't bring it into Hawaii either) but regular food is fine. I always bring tons of food.

I'm very confused about the gum! Gum is not forbidden, it's not a liquid or gel, plus I thought it was recommended to chew gum during take-off. I'm not a gum-chewer at all, but I always chew gum for take-off. My kids do too, and my younger one would be in a lot of pain without doing so. They won't get my gum without a fight!!

I was confused too, the airport security said it was due to no food products through the security checkpoint, it was an almost full pack of Stride mojito gum, too.

 

[escape]

Chicago to Zurich on Swiss Air... I didn't think it was possible to eat that much on a plane. I felt like they fed us every 30 minutes.

LOVE Swiss Air! It's been a while since I've flown with them. Sounds like they're still serving lots of food...and good food, too, IIRC.

Suzanne - hope you have a great trip! In addition to pre-packaged snacks, I like to carry water on the flight with me. Of course, everyone knows you have to buy the water after you cross the security point. No problem.

While I was getting ready to board a flight in Italy to come back to the states a couple of years ago, I purchased a bottled water from a vendor less than 50 feet from my boarding gate. I had it in my hand as I handed my ticket over to the boarding agent. She told me I couldn't carry water on board. I pointed out the store where I bought the water - you could see it from where we were standing. Nope - not allowed, she said. Huh? After a few seconds of arguing with her, I could tell I wasn't going to get past her without surrendering my $5 bottled water! My friend that was with me put her water in her purse. Several people in line behind us put their bottled waters away at that point. (This was with American Airlines, by the way) I asked the flight attendant once we got on board if there was a policy against bringing water on board that had been purchased after the security point and she said no. Of course, I knew that already.

THe point to the story is this - if you buy bottled water to carry on board, after you cross security, put it out of sight when you go through the boarding process, just in case.

 

[Uuaww]

This happens to me on any flight over 8 hours... But does anyone else lose all concept of time? Like, I am barely functional during the flights and it seems to fly by. If I didn't know better, I thought they had drugged us.

 

[suzannews]

Thanks everyone!! I checked our flights and going it says "lunch" and coming home it says "dinner". I am taking a back pack as a carry on so I will have some stuff in it. Our layover is in Atlanta for about an hour each way. Last time we had a layover in the Atlanta airport we also had about an hour and I remember running with a 1 year old with a stroller and diaper bag trying to make it to the next gate on time. I didn't realize how big that airport is and you have to take the shuttle to other terminals and try to avoid it when we fly.

 

[acejka]

To those who said about bringing granola bars/fruit etc, how are you doing that? US federal aviation law prohibits you from bringing any food items in your carryon bags that isn't purchased after the checkpoint.

MyDH just brought me 5 mickey head on a stick rice krispey treats home from Orlando last week... he only had a carry on...

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

My longest plane trip was about 26 hours, from Perth, Australia to Ottawa, Canada, with stops in Singapore, Seoul and Vancouver. We did this many times when we lived in Australia, but the longest flight in mommy hours was the first time I travelled it alone with my two DDs (at the time one was 2.5 years old, the other 6 months). It was a VERY long flight, but the girls were amazing. Thankfully we were on Cathay Pacific, so I had lots of help from the flight attendants.

We regularly travel now from Chile to Canada...in fact, the girls (now 9 and 11) and I are travelling to Vancouver next month...10.5 hours to Toronto, followed by 4.5 hours to Vancouver, with a two hour stopover in the middle. It is SO much easier travelling now that they're older!

Foodwise...I used to travel with snacks for my girls when they were really little since they were picky eaters (peanut butter and crackers, animal cookies, fruit leather, dry cereal). We rarely ate any of it, though, so I don't bother anymore. Between all the snacks and meals on international flights (combined with inactivity), we never seemed to get very hungry.

As for the PP poster who mentioned about time behaving strangely when your travelling...yep, I agree with you. After about 5 hours, I think you just sort of sink into a kind of stupor (oxygen deprivation?!) and time seems to disappear. Either that, or we kind of blot it out of our memories like childbirth .

 

[laurie31]

I was confused too, the airport security said it was due to no food products through the security checkpoint, it was an almost full pack of Stride mojito gum, too.

This is a classic example of TSA agents not knowing their own rules.

I would have asked - nicely - to speak with a supervisor.

 

[DebbieB]

I flew Pittsburgh to Washington Dulles (1 hour) to Frankfurt (8 hours) to Pune India (8 hours) last year. Fortunately, my company paid for business class. The flight to Frankfurt left around 7:00pm, we had dinner first then a breakfast about an hour before landing. That flight was United and everything was very good. To India, we left around 2:00pm, we had dinner and then I think breakfast before landing even though we landed around 2:30am. That flight was Lufthansa operated by PrivateAir, an all business jet. I didn't think the food was that great but we got personal service since only about 8 of the 50 seats were taken! Going back, we left India around 4:00am, we had a breakfast after takeoff, then lunch before landing. Then we left Frankfurt around lunchtime, I can't remember what we had, I think lunch and then a snack later. Each direction was about 24 hours total travel time with layovers.

 

[klacey1]

I've flown to Ireland many times-- about 6 hours on the way over, 7.5 on the way back because of winds. We always get a snack with a drink early in the flight and then a full meal later on.

 

[tiggerlover]

8 hours to Italy. We were served dinner and breakfast.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

To those who said about bringing granola bars/fruit etc, how are you doing that? US federal aviation law prohibits you from bringing any food items in your carryon bags that isn't purchased after the checkpoint.

Since when? I fly 6 r/t + a year and always bring on snacks from home. Security in every airport I've been in was/is always fine with it.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

I have found that long-haul flights are quite good in terms of keeping you fed and hydrated - it is the 4-5 hour domestic flights which are far worse.

Yup. Either way, though, we always bring packaged snacks just in case, and large water bottles (that we fill after security). I drink a lot of water and prefer not to have to keep asking the FA for more, as well as being able to close the bottle and put in it my seatback pocket or carryon.

This happens to me on any flight over 8 hours... But does anyone else lose all concept of time? Like, I am barely functional during the flights and it seems to fly by. If I didn't know better, I thought they had drugged us.

I wish!

I sort of lose concept of time, but for me, it goes the opposite way. I think hours must have gone by, then I look at my watch and it's been 30 minutes. It doesn't help that I could not sleep on a plane if my life depended on it.

My longest leg was L.A. to Auckland, about 14 hours. It was an overnight flight, and I believe we were served dinner and breakfast.