Flying with A Peanut Allergy: United Airlines Snack Boxes

Whenever we fly, we fly United (well, 99% of the time).

So when we went to Maui a few weeks ago, we flew United (spring for Economy Plus seats if you can - trust me those extra inches seem like feet when you're in the air).

United's got a pretty great peanut policy (you can read it here at the bottom of the page).  The caveat in there is that their snacks may be made in a facility that processes peanuts and tree nuts and that their snack boxes could contain other tree nuts.

Snack boxes, you say?  What, pray tell, is in the snack boxes??

So in the name of research, while on the flight to and from Maui, I purchased a snack box (I had safe snacks for B - I wasn't going to risk not having safe food for her in the sky).

You can see a list of snack box choices here.

I need to preface this with a HUGE pet peeve.  These items come in a larger box that's only labeled with the name of the snack box (e.g. Tapas Box).  So annoying.  How are you supposed to know the safest option if you can't read any of the labels??

So I've taken the liberty of listing the allergens or allergen warnings listed on each package in parenthesis (if they didn't have a warning but have a top 8 allergen in it, I've listed it as well).  Hopefully one of you guys will find it useful!

On the way there I chose the Tapas Box.

• Oloves Marinated Olives (no warning, contains olives, evoo, salt/pepper/thyme. mustard, vinegar and lactic and citric acids)
• Milas® Bruschetta Spread (no warning, contains roasted red pepper, artichoke hearts, onion, vegetable oil, tomato paste, garlic, salt, vinegar, thyme, black pepper, basil)
• Wild Garden^TM Hummus (no warning, contains chickpeas, sesame paste, water, sea salt, natural spices, citric acid)
• Rondele® Peppercorn Parmesan Cheese Spread (contains milk)
• Fratelli Laurieri Spread Al Rosmarino Crackers (warning:mfd in a plant that also processes nuts, eggs, and sesame, contains wheat flour, veg oil, olive oil, sea salt, brewers yeast, rosemary)
• Jacobs® Cream Crackers (warning: contains gluten.  produced on a line handling sesame seeds, milk and egg)
• Partners® Olive Oil and Sea Salt Crackers (warning: contains milk and wheat)
• Emerald® Natural Almonds (contains: almonds (duh), manufactured on shared equipment and may contain other tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, sesame seeds, milk and soy)
• Fantis® Ouzo Candy Mint

On the way home, I chose the Classic Snack Box

• Keebler Townhouse® Crackers (warning: wheat and soy ingredients)
• Snyder’s® of Hanover Mini Pretzels (warning: produced in a facility that handles peanut butter. contains: wheat)
• Nabisco^TM Oreo Cookie (warning: contains wheat, soy)
• Jelly Belly® Assorted Flavors (no warning.  contains coconut)
• Del Monte® Vanilla Yogurt Raisin Fruit Snack (manufactured in a facility that processes tree nuts, peanuts, dairy and soy)
• Austin® Zoo Animal Crackers (warning: contains wheat and soy)
• Pepperidge Farm® Goldfish (no warning, but contains wheat, milk, soy)
• Dairyfoods Cheddar Spread (no warning. contains:milk)

So there you go.  There's actually some edible food for kids with a peanut allergy (or other food allergy for that matter).  Just remember that labels are always changing - be prepared for the possibility of these items having different warnings at another time.

So the $25,000 question: Would I buy these again? 


Probably not.  


I'd likely just bring some fruit leather, real fruit, bagged goldfish and a sandwich.  


But if I was stuck on a flight with B and she was desperate for a snack, at least I would know what to expect when I opened those mysterious boxes.


What snacks have you seen on other airlines?  Anything tasty?

Stupidity At It's Finest (or proof that sometimes you need good PR people)

So the president of the American College of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology, Sami Bahna,(not to be confused with a much finer scientific society, AAAAI) came out with a statement this week that has upset A LOT of people in the peanut allergy community.  With their annual meeting coming up, he definitely needed some material for a session.

You can read it here.

The gist of it is that he feels that bans in schools and on airlines are unnecessary. 

“Unfortunately, life is not risk-free,” said Dr. Bahna. “A minority of people are severely allergic to peanuts, but it is not reasonable or possible to expect schools or airlines to be peanut-free. Consideration should be also given to the freedom of the vast majority of non-allergic persons. Also, peanut is not the only food that can cause severe allergy.”

Here's my favorite quote from the release:

"Regarding the airlines, Dr. Bahna suggests that people and parents of children with severe peanut allergies check to be sure the airline carries emergency treatment and educates their personnel about food allergies."

I swear, I almost did a spit take.  Who is this bozo kidding?  What airline carries emergency treatment?  Just to be sure, I've emailed/IM'd a few airlines to see what they actually carry on board.

If you'd like a good laugh, read the part about how to keep kids safe at school.  He really is delusional and really knows nothing about how schools work, especially with overcrowding and budget cuts.

On one hand, I really do get what he's saying, but boy he could have spun this differently.  His PR rep should be shot (and you know I mean that figuratively not literally).

I've never really been one for school bans (although if my school turned around and said they would be peanut free I would be stoked), but when it comes to being locked in a plane for hours with no escape I sing a different tune.  If I'm over the Pacific, I'm feeling much better if there aren't any peanuts on board a flight we're on.  And I totally get it about other allergies - what about the other members of the top 8?  Or outside the top 8 like sesame or latex? Should those be banned from the skies too?  Where does it end?

There has to be a happy medium.  But a condescending press release isn't really the way to go about opening up a dialogue about it.

And he certainly didn't win any friends in the peanut allergy community.

Peanut Allergy Friendly Snacks While Flying: US Airways

When we went to San Diego last month we stopped by to visit my brother and sister-in-law. I LOVE them and wished they lived closer (but that's another post on another blog, huh?)!

While we were there visiting, my little niece freaked out a little. Eyes wide, she asked her mom something I couldn't hear, sounding a little scared....

Why the nerves, you might wonder?

She had eaten some trail mix and got worried because of B's allergy to peanuts.

"Don't worry," her mom said to her, "this doesn't have peanuts or nuts in it. B will be just fine".

Of course I had to take a look. It sure looked like it had nuts in it.

But she was right. It was Sunbutter trail mix! I'd never seen it in the flesh - this was exciting! But why did they have it??

Apparently my brother flew US Airways and in one of their snack boxes (their chicken salad one on this page) for sale they include Sunbutter Snackwave Golden Deluxe Trail Mix. I mean, their peanut policy sucks big time, but isn't this possibly a step in the right direction for US Airways??

Well, needless to say I told Bella it was safe for her and she dug in - and she loved it!

A little background: B has been given some of the 'leading' peanut free brand's trail mix and gave it the supreme two thumbs down. So did I - talk about dirt sandwich - blech. I was expecting the same from this. But again - she loved it! I think the fact that her cousin was snarfing it down helped a bit.

And then I ate some. Tasty! I've ordered a dozen from Peanut Free Planet for something like $6. Totally worth it. These will be great for road trips, lunches, snacks, and field trips. (If you are interested, I also bought some quaker oat granola bars from Canada that are peanut free and some enjoy life chocolate chips - yummy!).

My brother flies alot on US Airways and had another bag that he kindly gave to B. Is he a great Uncle or what?

I can't vouch that the rest of the snack boxes on US Airways are good, or peanut free for that matter, heck the snack box in question's other elements may have nuts, but if you are traveling with a non airborne reactive PA person, this might just be a snack option you can actually eat in flight.

Good job US Airways - it's a great start!

If It's Monday...

...then we're heading out to Phoenix for the Thanksgiving holiday today.

And since we have a peanut allergy in the family, we're:

- Flying an airline we trust (United in this case)
- Getting on board a few minutes early to wipe down the seat and surrounding areas
- Bringing our own snacks
- Packing multiple Epi-pens and Benadryl in our carryons
- Bracing for a stay at a home that eats peanuts
- Hoping that our 4 year old will behave on the 2 hour flight

We'll be fine, I know, but I'm always anxious when traveling with B. I'm her mom - I can't help but want to keep her safe.

Airline Policies for Peanut Allergy Sufferers

With the holidays coming up, you might be in the market for some airplane tickets.

I thought I'd take the time to pull together links to the allergen (aka 'peanut') policies for some of the major airlines (you may have to scroll down the page in the link to get to the peanut policy):

United

JetBlue

Southwest

American

Virgin

British Airways

Delta

Continental
(their policy sucks the most of all airlines I think)

Alaska
(their policy comes in second in suckage factor)

Northwest

US Airways
(theirs comes in third I think)

Air France: Couldn't find a policy online

Lufthansa: Couldn't find a policy online

Japan Airlines

EasyJet
You really have to scroll down the page to learn that they sell peanuts on their flights. But if you give them advance notice, they say they will try to prevent the sale on your flight.

KLM

And just for good measure, I found a small tidbit on Amtrak (scroll down to the bottom or do a page find for 'allergies'). Basically, if your child has a life threatening food allergy, they can't travel alone on Amtrak (I can't imagine EVER sending B on a trip by herself with PA, but that's another post).
------------

Most have the "we can't control what other people bring on the flight" disclaimer, but isn't it great to see so many that say that they don't serve peanuts or products containing peanuts? I love it!! You should have a pretty good choice of safe(r) airlines if you have a peanut allergy and are choosing air travel this holiday season or otherwise.

Did I miss anyone? Leave me a comment and I'll add it to the list!

Gab

We're Back- Pt. 1!

We made it back from a whirlwind and fun trip to the gorgeous island of Maui! We had so much fun - Bella was just go-go-go and we ended up falling into bed each night exhausted. We can't wait to go back again.

And as promised, here is a mini-guide to traveling to Maui with a peanut allergic child. Some of these are just general tips for Maui too. It's long, but hopefully some information will be useful to you guys. Today I'll talk about getting there (and where to stay). Tomorrow I'll post on eating, playing, etc.

Airport Maneuvers
Definitely bring your own food for your child (and yourself), but be prepared to give it up at security. All airports are different. San Francisco (SFO) didn't blink an eye at us bringing juice and milk through security for Bella, yet you would have thought it was arsenic in Maui (OGG). Go figure - the laid back, hang-loose-bra folks at OGG were all uptight about a sippy cup. It was nice that there were still lots of choices beyond security. A good tip that I got from another traveler was to bring an empty water bottle (like a nalgene one) and fill it on the other side (for free). For snacks, I took on cheerios, goldfish, fruitabus, and a cool little strawberry yogurt/cheese/grahams lunchables snack that seemed like the lesser of evils of the lunchables empire. Bella loved it and it was easy to pack.

Mark and I collectively took two bottles of benadryl, 5 pre-dosed benadryl spoons, and 7 epipens in our carry on. Again, SFO didn't even ask us to take the medication out of our bags after I told them, but OGG went on red alert. I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. Neither group questioned the amount of medication we were carrying (which in hindsight after writing it down, seems a bit excessive, no?).

Bella is a lightweight - barely 30 pounds - and slippery quick. We decided that she should sit in her car seat on the plane instead of being free in her seat. I thought I would show you the ingenious device I bought a few years ago. It's a backpack style car seat carrier. I look like a total dork carrying it through the airport, but boy is it handy.

Flying
We flew both there and back on United and things couldn't have been better. The first flight Bella and I sat together in a side with only two seats. After wiping down the window and all surrounding areas, we settled in to our seats. I had already checked to make sure that peanuts weren't on our flight (they weren't), but I wanted to chat with the stewardess (is that what they are called?) about any other hidden landmines. I told her about Bella's allergy, that no she wasn't air sensitive, but could she let me know what kind of snack they were serving and if the lunch boxes contained anything nutty? She was really helpful. On the way to Maui we had a little biscuity type thing - it looked like shortbread. It didn't have a warning on it (even for the wheat and egg) but it didn't contain nuts in the ingredient list. I still didn't give it to Bella though. She was busy with her lunchables thingie.

On United now they sell snack boxes. If you are flying United, the MiniMeal was a nut free option that was pretty good. For only $5. Bella ate almost everything. And then I hoovered up the rest. Gotta be frugal, right :o) ?

On the way back, we had a red eye (we landed at 6:30 am the next day - ugh). It was an easy ride back. Bella slept the whole way (and was asleep before we even took off). The flight was delayed a bit, but overall, we'll continue to fly United - the fact that we didn't have to worry about Bella's safety (as much) by using this airline was great. The only bad thing about the flight back was the mind-numbing, horrific movie that sucked us in like a car wreck and left us feeling humiliated, violated, and ashamed for giving it our attention. But heck, at least it was free.

Staying
While we were in Maui we spent the first 6 days at the Sheraton Maui. This was our third visit to this hotel. If your budget allows for it (I'm still not sure ours did), I would highly recommend it. We ended up splurging on an Ohana (Family) Suite since we used miles for our plane tickets. The suite was awesome - it had a separate bedroom, a huge bathroom, and a little kitchen area which meant we could bring in our own milk, breakfast stuff, etc. The hotel gift shop had all sorts of food, but there is a Safeway in Lahaina (a little bit down the road) so we stocked up there.

This property was so peaceful, the grounds were beautiful, the rooms were, well, roomy, they had an excellent pool for toddlers and the staff was amazing. It's at the end of the beach in a pretty touristy area - being at the end meant that there isn't alot of walk through traffic. The snorkeling is fabulous too - right off the beach you can see all sorts of sea life - even turtles on a good day! They have daily activities by the pool (lei making, hula lessons, etc.) and the cocktails are killer (albeit cough -$10 - cough - each).

Each night at sunset, they have a torch lighting/cliff dive ceremony. Click the link to see what it's all about. It is just one more thing about the property that makes it special.

For the food, check out my post on eating tomorrow.

For an example of how wonderful the staff there was: We went to Sansei Sushi (again check tomorrow for a review) one night and something did not agree with Bella (think south not north if you catch my drift). Anyhoo, the next morning I set off to the gift shop with her to see if they had anything that would settle her stomach a bit so we could get back to our vacation! A woman from guest services happened to be in the store at the same time and asked if we were ok. I mentioned Bella's gastrointestinal distress and she became very concerned, offering to send the doctor on property over to our room. I told her it wasn't necessary, but thanks. She insisted that I tell her our room number (not in a freaky stalker way) so she could send something up from room service. So I said ok, told her the room number, and figured I was in for a big room service bill. About 30 minutes later there is a knock at the door. It's room service with a platter containing two bowls of the most delicious, steaming chicken noodle soup ever, a plate of plain crackers, and large carafe of OJ. On the house. Was that nice or what???? This wonderful, kind act alone was enough for us to come back here again and again.

We spent our last day at the Westin Maui. If you have really small kids I wouldn't recommend it. Why? It's super LOUD (there are tons of waterfalls), the rooms are teeeeeeenie tiny, and there isn't a kiddie pool. That being said, a child who loves to swim and is a bit bigger would LOVE this place. The pool is like a Las Vegas for kids (and adults) - it has a nice big curlie cue water slide, basketball hoops, volleyball nets, and it goes on forever. It's just as expensive as the Sheraton though, the hotel itself is old (even though it has updated amenities), and it's right at Whaler's Village. All of this adds up to you not feeling very relaxed. Was it awful? No. But I wont be staying there again. We realized as we left for the airport that we couldn't even hear the ocean while we were there. And isn't that what being in Maui is all about?

So that's it for getting there and staying there. Now that I look at it, there isn't much peanutty advice in there is there? Not to worry, tomorrow I am covering eating there, so come on back then for some restaurant reviews and tips.

Aloha!