Flying Lufthansa to Italy with Food Allergies

Although I thought I was all packed and ready to go, I spent the last few minutes before we left for the airport throwing things in my bag. It is very difficult trying to figure out what to pack when moving to another country for the year. The one thing that I made sure that I had packed ahead of time was all of my medication, doctor’s notes and records, Italian chef cards, and my Italian Medic Alert bracelet. Those were most important.

I was flying Lufthansa to Italy and called about my allergies ahead of time. They will not fly nut free, which I actually remembered when I called from past flight experience. I asked when I got to the terminal to be the first to board, so that I could wipe down my seat. I had to be a bit insistent, but I was in the first group of people boarding. Instead of flying nut free, they were actually handing out bags of nuts, which of course was helpful (I don’t remember that ever happening… maybe I was asleep when it did)!? It gave me mild anxiety to know nuts were around. I was bumped up to business class somehow though, so I had more room then I knew what to do with! I always wipe down the seat when I first board the plane, so I did that and then settled in. I also brought my own travel pillow and blanket.

The plane flight was va bene (okay). In business class, they serve all sorts of fancy foods and drinks. I didn’t have anything, of course. I barely like eating the food that I pack on the plane. I would never even consider eating anything provided by the airline. The flight went by pretty quickly. It was a short flight to me (compared to all my travels back and forth to Australia).

I had a layover in Munich, so I sat at a table in the airport and ate some of the food that I had packed. I felt more comfortable eating it on solid ground than on an airplane flying over the ocean.

My last flight was on this teeny, tiny, itsy, bitsy, thirty-seater! I am not a huge fan of small planes, so I didn’t really enjoy it, but it was short, which made it manageable. I asked before the flight if they were serving a snack, and they said that they weren’t. I ended up falling asleep, but I did realize that they were passing out a snack, which luckily was not nuts! Phew…

All in all, my travel experience went well. I am used to airlines not being kind or flexible about my allergies, so it is something I am always prepared for. I will have to write about the numerous times I have had them say, “Maybe you shouldn’t be flying if your allergies are that severe. You should find another way to get there.” Clearly that is an easy solution to locations where flying is the only option! I will explain more about this in another blog…