Rengineer,

Last time I flew transatlantic with American, they came round with the trolley and there was this tray of warm nuts from which they filled a small dish for you. That was in First: they certainly used to do the same in Business.

depends on the day and who is working. Once the captain had his coffee confiscated but i had a 1.5 liter bottle of water in my bag. It is a joke, can't take vegemite through security in AUS but asked if I could if i ate it and then can i keep the empty jar, yeap you can do that. Had nail clippers taken off me once, 5 minutes later I was in the cockpit with a crowbar??? Best advice is prepare for the idiots to accept nothing without using common sense. Yeah take the fish out of the tin, drain the water and put in a plastic container or bag. Spoon should be OK even a metal one. eggs not sure as could be considered a paste by some of these morons. Best advice is get there early, if you have the lot taken off you go to one of the bars or cafes once through security and explain the situation and ask for specific things and am sure they will help you out such as some hard boiled eggs. There eggs are from chickens that have gone through security profiling to make sure they are not affiliated with any know terrorists :confused:

radeng,

that sounds very yummy. But the pun is still too good to miss. :)


bardos, have you had a chance to put your plan into action?

As the old joke punchline goes, "the bull he does not always lose the fight,senor."

I leave from Madrid on the 19th.

Rengineer,

there's nuts loose on many flights, not just American! I think there's normally more on the 'chav' flights in the summer, though.

How far are you flying with your sardines and personal cutlery?

Madrid --> NYC technical stopover NYC-->SFO

two weeks later SFO--> LAX LAX--> Maui

then all in reverse.

Surely with such a trip booked so well in advance you could have requested & confirmed your requirements with the airline though? As your dietary requirements are so critical.

Load Toad

As you well know, meal requests are not guaranteed.

And if you read post #4, you will see that Bardos quite clearly states the reasons for not doing this.

Yes I'm aware of that and I've read that post; thank you for pointing it out to me again. However with such a critical diet it seems safe to assume if something goes wrong the cabin crew may be dealing with a very sick passenger - I trust bardos has informed the airline accordingly.

Little Toad, there is no medical emergency. It will definitely help if you increase your knowledge about my condition and Type II diabetics in general.

Type II diabetics, unlike folks who have type I diabetes, do produce insulin; however, the insulin secreted by the pancreas is either not enough or the body is unable to recognize the insulin and use it properly.

This results in higher blood glucose levels than normal, which over many years will cause damage to internal organs.

So the job of a Type II is to keep one's blood glucose levels at "normal levels" through a combination of exercise, pills (meds) and diet. Each person is different.

I am controlling my blood glucose levels through diet and exercise alone, based on the theory that all meds will eventually produce unknown secondary effects and generally work by stopping certain bodily processes in order to cure a specific symptom.

In order to control my BG (blood glucose) levels, to have them be at a "normal" level, I have to control my diet pretty severely. Everyone knows to cut out sugar, but for me this also means as little carbohydrates as possible. Carbohydrates turn into sugar once digested.

Airline meals, even "diabetic" ones have been shown to be very high in carbohydrates. So on board meals are out for me.

This is the reason for which I started this thread. I know my dietary needs. I only wish to know if the flying authorities (TSA in the USA) will permit me to keep to my dietary needs or will confiscate my food as terrorist weapons.

In-flight dietary requirements
 

Ultra-orthodox Jewish passengers, who do not trust the rabbinical supervision of airline meals, often bring copious quantities of home made food on board their flights.

I was made only too aware of this a couple of weeks ago when I sat next to two Jewish gentlemen, who were eating their own malodorous garlic sausage sandwiches throughout a flight from LAX to JFK.

(If only they had been eating LOX from LAX . . .)

Metal cutlery
 

My success rate on taking a titanium spork (as sold in camping shops) through airport security is that I lose one about 0.5% of the time - I lose one every 12-18 months and I make 100-200 trips through airport securities in various places in that time. Occasionally some busybody bothers to dig it out of the bottom of the bag and glares at me.

The main point of contention seems to be how sharp the tines are, I have had more success (as in, examined a couple of times and not seized) with one that has somewhat rounded points and not really sharp ones.

So I carry one in my hand bag for the inevitable times when my airport or airline meal is missing cutlery through my own or others' fault, and one in my hold bag as a spare so that if it gets taken off me, I just switch to the spare. Running costs of this arrangement are GBP5/year ish :)

(I have a titanium one because it seemed cool, but I mention it because it's non-ferrous and that might make a security difference).

Sorry about the dread thrift, but all this security stuff...

Then you get on board and have a meal with a full complement of METAL cutlery - often including two knives.

This is on SIA, and not to all places, but it does seem strange.

Checking in at MRS for a BA flight yesterday I was asked the usual questions about hand luggage, no sharps, aerosols etc. She added to that list, "No cheese". It appears that the scanners at MRS cannot see through "Le Fromage". I have never come across this before, anyone else?

Perhaps you were feeling a tad overly dramatic when you posted this?

Seriously, you have Type II Diabetes, hardly a rare condition. My husband has the same as do many other travelers.

If you are going the low carb route the answer is to simply use common sense. Would sardines in a tin be appropriate...probably not. Easily solved placing them in a small plastic container...or even more easily solved by NOT CHOOSING SARDINES FOR YOUR FLIGHT. There are many other choices in your diet.

As for utensils there are many avenues available to obtain plastic "sporks".

Its Type II Diabetes for heaven's sake, hardly "Boy in the Plastic Bubble" restrictions.