For the most part, "pure veg" is the choice for the dairy-allergic. The
caveat is that it is not always adhered to. Pure veg is supposed to be
completely free of all animal products (meat, milk products, eggs). The
pure veg meals can be (and often are) quite tasty, and nutritionally
well-balanced. There are no real guarantees, though, that they are
completely dairy-free. I've have supposed pure veg meals with cheese on
them, I've had  margarines, snacks, and salad dressings that contain milk
products, and I've had meal that was fine, but with a roll containing milk
thrown on the tray by the (careless) flight attendant.

On some particularly bad flights they've forgotten the special meal or
served it up to someone else that wanted one, with the standard meals all
containing milk. I've also had occasions where the meat meal would have
been fine (but without guarantees), and have gotten stuck with a pure veg
meal that was somehow inedible.

Pay special attention to the "partnership" flights. I went on a United
flight that was flown by Lufthansa. Their computer systems don't talk to
each other, and they have incompatible meal codes. In spite of a 45 minute
conversation between the reservation clerk and the special "partnership"
joint computer room that has multilingual people to resolve just such
problems, they still got it wrong(!). An international flight without food
can be a real drag.

Bottom line is this:

- make the request when you make the reservation
- call 48 hours in advance to verify, preferably to the primary carrier
- take your own food as a backup
- take along whatever rescue meds you need
- if you are at great risk, don't take any chances - it's a long way to the
nearest emergency landing and from there to the nearest hospital


Mark

>hi guys,
>i was just wondering how others deal with airline flights.
Mark Feblowitz                  GTE Laboratories Incorporated
[log in to unmask]              40 Sylvan Road, Waltham, MA 02154-1120