Transatlantic flights can often be stressful, even more so when travelling with allergies considering meals will be provided in a restrictive environment. However many airline providers cater well for those travelling with allergies ranging from pre-allocated food options, to allergy menus available during the flight.

On this trip to California, British Airways was the flight operator from London Heathrow to Los Angeles International. During the flight, a light snack of packaged “Penn State” pretzels was provided shortly into the flight which contained milk and wheat in the listed ingredients as allergens.

Later into the flight, two meals were provided. The first of which consisted of the following:

• Chicken Chasseur and Mash Potato; of which milk and traces of nuts were listed as allergens
• Mango and Passion Fruit Posset; of which milk and traces of nuts were listed as allergens
• Graze Smokey Barbecue Crunch; of which soybean was listed as an allergen and the following were listed to contain possible traces: gluten, eggs, peanuts, milk, nuts, celery, mustard and sesame
• Carrs Table Water Biscuits: of which wheat was listed as an allergen
• Butler’s Secret Cheese; of which milk was listed as an allergen
• A bread roll; of which wheat gluten was listed as an allergen
• A bulgur green salad which did not have a list of allergens or ingredients attached

And this meal was followed by a Classic Magnum Ice Cream Mini.

The second meal, served with a hot drink and water consisted of the following:

• Source Pizza Twist; of which wheat, gluten, soya and milk were listed as allergens
• Beckleberrys Oat and Raisin Flapjack; of which milk and oats were listed as allergens

Overall I feel that travelling to LAX from LHR with British Airways was a pleasant experience while travelling with allergies. The fact that almost all of the food items had a list of ingredients and allergen information allows informed choices for those travelling with allergies. A couple of improvements to be suggested to improve the experience of those travelling with allergies are; to ensure every item of food is labelled (including the wheat salad), and for there to be an option to select relevant allergies when booking the flight or checking in. That being said, I feel this British Airways flight handled the sharing of allergy information well.