SeattleDavid

I'm travelling C from SEA - LON later in the year with a friend who has coeliac disease and must not eat gluten.

My requests to UA for a gluten-free diet have been met with "we don't do that".

Given that this is a medical condition (believed to affect as many as 1% of the population) isn't it more important to provide for these passengers than other 'lifestyle' diets?

Does anyone know if I should write to customer services and make a special request - will it have any effect?

Or should I prepare our own food (not easy for such a long flight) and start a campaign for coeliac disease awareness?

Thanks

David

UNITED959

I don't know anything about this disease nor its dietary requirements, but I guess the "easy going" consumer in me says this: UA is an airline, not a food service. Their main job is to get people from place to place. Sure, there are details of that service which often times include food, but there have to be billions of diets out there--it's impossible for a metal tube with a kitchen no larger than the average household bathroom to accommodate them all.

Some suggestions would be to consider a vegetarian diet, or any of the other offerings that may have gluten-free foods.

As you mentioned, bringing your own food is an option (one that I'd definitely follow). If you need something heated, I'm sure the FAs will be happy to help out with the limited "kitchen appliances" available to them.

You could write to UA about this and let them know your situation. I wouldn't make it a "b*tch letter"--but perhaps this disease is more pervasive than the average catering manager realizes, and it could be a step toward someday seeing "gluten-free" on the special menu list.

Gman3

We used to have a gluten free offering, but I just double checked, we do not anymore. what can't this person eat? Perhaps something can be substituted.

SeattleDavid

A gluten free diet is exactly that - no gluten (i.e. no wheat, oats barley or their derivatives) - this includes most thickened sauce and all bread, cakes and cookies.

So, the meat and vegetables are all fine, but mustn't be contaminated.

I know that providing gluten-free is not easy (I do it all day everyday), but my question is really about the imbalance between airlines providing lifestyle or religious diets for numerous people, but not meeting major medical conditions of similar numbers of people.

And also about what one is paying a C class fare for if not some kind of special service.

I am also a bit suspicious that airlines (and restaurants) would rather provide lifestyle diets because there is much less legal liability than for a medical condition.

FireWire

Without bringing your own food, I would suggest a Vegetarean or Vegan meal. but even then, it's not guaranteed to be free of gluten. Aside, you might want to consider 'brown bagging' it, to use a term

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ETSA (SU) Aaron T. Slater, USN
NAVSUBSCOL, Groton, CT.
(Formerly UA Res DTWRR)

venk

This is not a health diet like Atkins but a restriction due to a condition as serious if not more serious than allergies to peanuts or shell fish.

Only a small fraction is diagnosed with the disease since most people suffer chronic indigestion-like symptoms without suspecting this while long-term effects accumulate. It is not a well-known condition because there is no big commercial interest as the only cure appears to be to avoid Gluten rather than pop frequent pills that make money for the drug industry. The symptoms which mirror indigestion are not as dramatic as some other diseases and so not taken as seriously.

Because it was/is more prevalent in Northern European genes, Europeans have a lot of Gluten-free menus and gluten-free labeled packages. In the US, the reaction is pretty much like United959's above.

Gluten is found in wheat (but not rice) and some other cereals. Gluten, is a type of protein and is what makes wheat flour based bread and cakes chewy and stretchy. Coeliacs are allergic to this form of protein.

The problem is that wheat flour is so pervasive in food preparation that it is very difficult to create gluten-free food unless strict procedures are followed. Most sauces and dressings for example are thickened with some form of wheat based flour even when not so labeled. Cross-contamination from bread usage and handling is also a problem.

Unfortunately, until gluten-free preparation becomes part of the process in the catering industry, it would make it very expensive for an airline to feature this as it requires careful selection of food as well as careful preparation methods. An airline is also likely to open itself to lawsuits if there isn't strict quality controls.

I would not recommend Coeliacs to trust gluten-free labeled foods in the US at all but carry their own trusted food. Depending on an airline to provide that is, unfortunately, not very realistic unless it becomes better known in the country. Even European airlines do not seem to provide this despite having many restaurants with gluten-free menus.

Gman3

David,
The offerings we have are put together after we cook them. Perhaps you can ask for the filet, chicken, fish, or what have you and ask the FA if you can keep it seperate from the sauce and I assume the rice. I would be more than happy to honor that request. It should not be a big deal.

venk

Rice is actually fine. If the meat/fish is pre-treated in any way before it is supplied to the aircraft (marinated, coated, pre-cooked or whatever), there is a very good chance that it is contaminated with gluten somewhere along the way. The darn thing is very difficult to avoid.