VickyBee

We are leaving MSP at 10pm on an overnight flight to London. Delta's website states the meal served is dinner. That sounds pretty late to me. I'm asking because my partner is diabetic and need to know if we should eat at the airport before boarding

Gamecock

Without knowing what meds your patner is on it is hard to say.

No one knows more about your partners diabetes than him/her. Based on the type of medication they take they should make descision on what to do. I suspect they aren't used to eating at 10 at night, so they should follow their normal eating pattern.

The more complicated question is planning meals and meds for a time zone 6 hours away.

sactoflyer

It will be dinner. The late hours doesn't matter.

Ocn Vw 1K

VickyBee, welcome to FlyerTalk. Dinner is usually served on U.S. flights to Europe from late afternoon on. In this case, in your partner's decision, I'd assume that the dinner will not actually be served until at least apx. 11 p.m. Central time.

CitizenWorld

I know a lot of diabetics carry jellybeans or candy on board when they travel.

Bttc

That's a good idea, but for a long period of time, it's not the same as a real meal. Candy is more for the purpose of immediately increasing blood sugar if it gets low--not for keeping it stable on an 8 hour flight.

CitizenWorld

Agreed but the airline is serving a late dinner so I should think jellybeans or asking the FA for a glass of orange juice should be sufficient in this case.

Seat 2A

This is great advice.

One of the best benefits of departing the U.S. so late at night is that hopefully you should already be tired enough that you'll be able to knock off five or six hours of sleep enroute to London. This is huge when it comes to combatting the effects of jet lag given your late morning arrival and London's 6 hour difference in time from Minneapolis (or more depending on your city of origin).

Food right before trying to sleep is generally not a good idea. It makes it harder to sleep as your body energizes to initiate the digestion process. At least for me it does. If it were me, I'd eat a normal or even a light dinner somewhere between 6-8pm and take along a melatonin or some type of sleep aid since sleeping upright in a cramped airline seat is never easy.

Have a great trip!

Steve M

I assume that you're aware that you can order a Diabetic meal in advance and they will have it for you on the flight. There's no charge, but you have to call in advance so that they can cater it.

Gamecock

It very well may. Holding off to eat dinner may cause the traveller to have a hypoglycemic episode.

MisterTanaka

This is a bit beyond the scope of what you've asked, VickyBee, but the larger concern for me is how much of that 11 pm meal your partner can eat, anyway. Airline meals are full of carbs -- rice, noodles or potatoes, with a protein and some veg which is usually covered in a sticky sauce; maybe a salad (but maybe a pasta salad); a roll; and dessert. There's little there that I eat as a low-carbing diabetic.

Depending on how your partner manages his or her diabetes, this may be a problem for him or her, as well.

When I fly overseas, I take cheese, nuts, celery and similar things to eat on the plane, knowing that the majority of my meal tray will remain.

I've heard that the diabetic meal tend to be similarly high carb, so I have not ordered one.

rsqrott

This is excellent advice. Making sure that there is a supply of "safe" snacks on hand. I'm not diabetic but I travel the same way as MisterTanaka, making sure that I have high protein, low carb snacks on hand for my flight so I won't fall into the airline meal out of hunger (my concern is more for the sodium of the airline food...plus I know what's in the snacks that I have packed ).

Often1

Anybody who needs to eat at a specific time, should never count on a carrier being able to serve at that time. Delays, turbulence and spoilage may all contribute to delays and if those are problematic, people who need a schedule ought to have a Plan B.

OP's partner ought to consult a physician as to when and what to eat and how to adjust to the time change.

wrp96

Definitely eat a meal at your normal time before you board the plane. The bigger issue may be, depending on the time he normally gets up at home, how soon you have access to breakfast in the morning. There will be breakfast provided of some sort, it is very likely to be very carb laden. You may want to bring some items that he can eat to get him by until you get through immigration and onto somewhere where he can eat a decent meal - it may be awhile after landing before that is possible.

BearX220

Also be aware that you shouldn't count on this meal showing up -- special orders get lost or screwed up all the time -- and the best policy is to provide for yourself.

This is the biggest issue -- most airline food is disastrous from a low-carb diabetic's point of view: bread, pasta, potatoes, cream sauces, cookies and sweets, etc. Even a "diabetic meal" might just be chicken and pasta with no slice of pie -- rather than a kale salad or something. Even in first/business class I find there's often not much I can eat with impunity... the smartest thing you can do is not count on the airline for anything and bring your own stash of celery/broccoli, almonds, etc. to tide you over.