Jun 07
My baby was recently officially diagnosed with food allergies to dairy, eggs, peanuts & tree-nuts! Nothing is the same for us anymore. In a world & time when it’s easier to exclude people/ families with food allergies for convenience, so glad BRITISH AIRWAYS gets it, that inclusivity matters! No nuts for a few hours will not starve it’s passengers if it means it can make the flight safer for just one little customer!!

British Airways “Gets” food allergies!

We recently (May 2018) flew internationally with British Airways(BA) on a 20 hour flight time with transit at London Heathrow with our 18 month old who has anaphylactic food allergies to dairy, peanuts, tree-nuts and eggs!

Here are some things we did proactively:

-Called TSA cares 4-5 days before & in detail explained our allergies. They screened us separately through employee line away from crowds, wiped down, changed gloves. They let us take tons of food and water, everything was tested without touching our food.

-Requested Pharmacy technician in Walmart for a 3 oz bottle & poured Benadryl in it.

-Requested pediatrician for steroids & carried it with us.

-Took a note for the doctor for all our medication.

-Called British Airways call center a few weeks ahead & informed them of our allergies. When we got to the counter they already had our information entered into the system.

-We made an allergy warning sign and put it in a sheet protector and hung it with safety pins on our head rest part of the seat after we pre boarded and wiped down everything with wipes.

-The sign was was so helpful because passengers coming into the aircraft viewed it and some thought BA made the sign. I felt it sent out a serious message!

-We put fitted crib sheets on the back rest and laid flat sheet on the bottom part of the seats.

– We put a disposable white table cloth on the floor on the plane after I picked up few peanuts from the floor 🙁

-BA made multiple announcements alerting people about our allergies and that they wouldn’t serve nuts and asked people to refrain from eating.

-Our baby was dressed in full sleeved shirt and long pants with socks. Of course I was checking him like a mad woman from time to time. Was carrying him the entire time. Put him on easy ups or pant style diapers so we could change him easily.

-BA even offered for us to take turns and eat the service station. And asked us if it was okay for people around us to eat food cooked with nuts or dairy!

-Also carried a small nebulizer with a couple of albuterol vials.

-And a fly tot- for leg rest!

It’s definitely stressful traveling with kids and food allergies just makes it that much more difficult.  They were kind and respectful and that made all the difference to our family!