CX Allergen Menu?
 

Hi All,

I'm a regular flyer with BA, QR, but doing my first LHR > HKG (1-way) hop with CX in January. I was wondering if folks have experience on this flight with allergen menus? Do they crew carry a load sheet, iPad? Example of what I'm interested in below from QR recently out of DOH.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0535ce5fc8.jpg
Allergen menu aboard a QR flight (DOH > EDI)

Cathay offer a large range of 'special' meals that can be preordered. The below Cathay website has a lot of detail re this

https://flights.cathaypacific.com/en...allergies.html

Thanks, I’d reviewed this; my experience has always been very different from what airlines say online - eg Qatar customer service tell me they don’t carry allergen menus, they always do.

I'm looking for some specific experience if anyone has it of these types of load sheets I’ve shown above, specifically on the LHR > HKG route if possible!

best info I can find (albeit 4 years out of date) is Do&Co catering out of LHR which I’d imagine will provide the same allergen information they give to BA, but looking for specific experience

I suggest two options.

1 pack a sandwich or two
2 Stay at home

That's a stupid comment. If I'm paying at a restaurant to eat, I expect them to accommodate my dietary restriction - why would that expectation be different with flying? The meal is a compulsory part of the flight and the ticket cost. Why am I paying to fly (especially in a premium cabin) and having to bring my own food? That's ridiculous.

If the food on offer doesn't suit your needs, $15 should be sufficient to address the issue. CX is not a restaurant!

Unfortunately no CX don't carry such a thing (typical of Asia, very hard to get by with certain food allergies). CX do special meals however, but as an earlier poster suggested you might seriously consider bringing your own food.

Had a work colleague recently almost offloaded form a long haul flight because he had a peanut allergy and brought it up at checkin, he was only able to get on the flight after saying he wouldn't consume any food for the duration of the trip.

i quote Cx guidance below on dietary restrictions:

"If you have severe food allergies, consider taking the following precautions:

• Bringing your own food items
• Wearing a medical alert bracelet
• Carry a labelled and prescribed anaphylaxis treatment, such as an EpiPen, and ensure it is ready for administration by you or your companion

If you have severe allergies, we recommend consulting your doctor to confirm whether you are fit to fly. For any special acommodations, contact Customer Care at least 72 hours before departure."

They don't care much about this.
I have got served cheese & ham plus garlic bread on VOML diet.

If this is a serious allergy issue, skip the CX provided meal and bring your own food on board.

So if you want an extensive menu to cater for your eating needs you would be best suited to start your own allergen airline, free from dust, peanuts and anyting else that makes you ill. Frankly people who travel that can die from being within 10 metres of a peanut are selfish when they expect everyone else to suffer for them.

Exactly what I suggested but no !!! the OP wants an airline to provide a extensive menu to cater for him. As he quoted this is a stupid answer apparently.

Something appears to have got lost here; I'm not demanding that an airline does this, I'm asking for data points of experience, to allow me to plan my trip accordingly (e.g. if allergen menus aren't common practice out of LHR, I'll eat in the lounge - problem solved!).

I'm asking this question as I've found airlines may give you one answer through customer service, and entirely another onboard.

I appreciate the comments that answer this question, super helpful thank you.

Curious to hear what happened on this flight.

Legally, when leaving the UK or EU, the aircraft must carry an allergen list but not when leaving HK.

I haven’t flown Cathay in about 5 years but will be soon. BA manage to get allergen lists from their caterer in Hong Kong since 2024, so it could be possible they do both ways now on CX.

Apologies for the delay in coming back to you. I flew only one way - LHR > HKG. I had contacted the airline on 4 occasions to try and get some information, nobody was able to provide me with assurances on a load sheet, despite this being a legal requirement. Upon arrival at the aircraft I let the team know immediately; they seemed very confused and initially said I wouldn't be able to eat on board as they couldn't provide the information needed. Unfortunately this meant they didn't serve me dinner - I'd eaten in the lounge so no issue there. Most of the flight, and a shift change later, the allergen sheet miraculously appeared. Breakfast was served.

My onward flight to KUL the next day from HKG also didn't have allergen information, I asked 3x different crew here.

My takeaway is that CX does have allergen information as required out of the UK, but crew training clearly lags behind on this. I'm unclear on the etiquette or allergen sheets out of HKG.

Hope this helps!

Always think it’s good to fill out data points for other travellers.

I was super polite, scared they wouldn’t served me if I was too serious, but the first cabin crew could barely speak English and really struggled to get my emphasis on what an allergy sheet was, and despite asking her colleagues, I ordered safe western options.

After takeoff, the IFL greeted me as Emerald, and I asked her about the list and she was not happy, responding with: “that’s good feedback”. I wasn’t giving feedback, obviously, so I pressed a bit harder.

She let slip that she has the sheet but food still might have nuts. I insisted that that’s why I wanted to see the sheet. She accused me of not ordering online, said it would be “easier for everyone” if I had and walked 2 rows ahead, pulled out a folder and tada, it’s an allergy sheet! I nearly snapped, but figured no point arguing, found the dishes in one of the 20 or so pages, with no help from her at all, and could eat pretty much everything.

Whole flight the crew was lazy and barely present so I think it was more a bad crew and lead in this case, but the moral is, flying out of the UK there is an allergy sheet, whatever they say, and you’ll eat great food.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...da35061b5.jpeg

You Were in first and they treated you like this? How hard is it to pull out an allergen sheet! Are these sheets only available on LHR?