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Continental Coach gluten-free Meal

babysteps

By babysteps
in Traveling with Celiac Disease

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babysteps Contributor
babysteps
Posted

Last Thursday flew coach on Continental from Newark to San Diego.

A gluten-free meal *was* an option, hooray!

Meal was brought almost as soon as we took off, before the regular meal service (yeah, no neighbor crumbs to worry about). Meal was plain lettuce, lemon wedges (instead of dressing), fruit cup (fresh whole grapes and strawberries), a Jennie's gluten-free macaroon - so far, so good, right?

And a vegan 'cheeseburger' type sandwich. Regular bread. The vegan patty even had "wheat gluten" and some rye as ingredients. At least this sandwich was completely sealed inside a cellophane type wrapper, so no cc. I was traveling with leftover steak and a boiled egg (plus some almonds, a couple lara bars...) so I simply had a steak salad!

Still, better than nothing and I love Jennie's macaroons.

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kenlove Rising Star
kenlove
Posted

Last time I was on them the flight attendant felt sorry for me and dumped a bagel on top of the salad.

She really felt bad after that since all I could eat was the Jennie's.

Last Thursday flew coach on Continental from Newark to San Diego.

A gluten-free meal *was* an option, hooray!

Meal was brought almost as soon as we took off, before the regular meal service (yeah, no neighbor crumbs to worry about). Meal was plain lettuce, lemon wedges (instead of dressing), fruit cup (fresh whole grapes and strawberries), a Jennie's gluten-free macaroon - so far, so good, right?

And a vegan 'cheeseburger' type sandwich. Regular bread. The vegan patty even had "wheat gluten" and some rye as ingredients. At least this sandwich was completely sealed inside a cellophane type wrapper, so no cc. I was traveling with leftover steak and a boiled egg (plus some almonds, a couple lara bars...) so I simply had a steak salad!

Still, better than nothing and I love Jennie's macaroons.

MaryJones2 Enthusiast
MaryJones2
Posted

I'm not convinced the airlines understand what gluten-free is and I don't really trust the meals or the flight attendants to provide the level of purity that I would (besides it's not really their job) so on the rare occasion that I get a gluten-free meal I usually don't eat much of it. I feel more comfortable when there are ingredients listed but often they aren't. I just bring my own food now. My husband has asked that I also pack his lunch now because my meals are always better than the airline meals.

Phyllis28 Apprentice
Phyllis28
Posted

I always bring enough food for the whole trip plus some. I never count on the gluten free meal being on the flight or being correct. If a gluten free meal is available to order I will request it. I make the decision when I receive the meal which parts of it I will eat knowing I have my own food. American has done a good job with the gluten free meals. I had one flight where the gluten free meal was not on the flight.

Most domestic flights do not have meal service anymore, so I am one of the few people on the plane, in coach, to eat because I have food with me.

babysteps Contributor
babysteps
Posted
  • Author

I'm not sure the airlines really get it 100% either, but at least in this case everything was either 1) raw, whole food or 2) fully sealed with an ingredients list. Even the raw food was in individual, closed (if not sealed) containers. So it was easy to pick & choose. Of course the main item wasn't gluten-free...sadly the meal overall may still count as progress vs. no gluten-free option at all.

On flights where I am theoretically getting a gluten-free meal, I do self-identify to the flight staff *before* the meal service and explain that I can't have any bread, go ahead and leave my meal sealed (they often are delivered to the plane in clear wrap) and just hand it to me. So far that's worked. Bummer about the bagel!!

Definitely, I too never leave home for a flight without a meal's worth of food :)

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