3/03/2023
On my first trip to India with Air India in 2023, my son had a long and complex list of food allergies: cashew, wheat, all legumes, cow milk products, oats, potatoes, eggs, pineapple and even rice. That made the in-flight menu nearly impossible to navigate. The only potentially safe option was the fruit platter, which Air India does offer.
However, I soon learned that the “fruit platter” isn’t always just fruit. Sometimes it includes bread, butter, salad, and yogurt—essentially just a meal minus the main entrée. On some flights, the platter was all fruit, and sometimes it included pineapple, which I expected might happen. Thankfully, my son isn’t anaphylactic to pineapple, though it does cause severe rashes.
On that round-trip journey (departing May 3, 2023, and returning April 18, 2023), Air India got 5 out of 8 meals wrong. At the time, they still offered a gluten-free (celiac) meal option, which I ordered for myself. I ordered the fruit platter for my son. In total, only 3 of the 8 meals were correct. Some were “less wrong”—for example, I received gluten-free vegetarian meals instead of the gluten-free non-vegetarian meals I had specifically requested—but still, the experience was appalling.
Since then, we’ve continued to travel, but Air India has eliminated the gluten-free/celiac meal option altogether. Now, there’s often nothing safe for us to eat. I travel with tins of tuna, gluten-free muffins and rice cakes (my son has thankfully outgrown several allergies but is still anaphylactic to wheat and cashew), along with hummus, pepperoni or salami packets—foods that are relatively shelf-stable and can give us quick energy. Sometimes I pack frozen sushi that thaws in-flight, or canned dolmades.
Despite my best planning, Air India continues to get our meals wrong regularly. I no longer count on receiving a safe or suitable option. I still order the fruit platter for my son, and more recently I’ve requested the non-vegetarian Hindu meal for myself—sometimes it’s just curried chicken and rice or an omelet, which is usually gluten-free. But recently, I was served breaded chicken and had to discard the entire meal.
NOTE: With regard to meals, No Nut Traveler recommends bringing your own food- https://www.allergicliving.com/2023/12/21/the-trouble-with-airline-meals-and-food-allergies/
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