Flying (strictly) Gluten Free on KLM Airlines

One of the reasons I decided to start sharing is how few posts I could find about GF airline food. Oh sure, we all rip on airports, and that’s fair, I mean even Portland/PDX is pretty terrible despite the city being a-m-a-z-i-n-g (though they do have a 100% GF Mikiko Mochi donut location now). But I’m talking after the flight takes off, what the airline has to offer, how it tastes, and how safe it feels. So, this post is my kick off to a series on exactly that: flying gluten free.

The basics: This trip was a rather last minute booking from PDX (Portland, OR) to AMS (Amsterdam, Holland) on KLM. I nerd out on airline points almost as much as GF bakeries and love “traveling hacking” myself into a fancy seat but this flight was a steal of a deal. $203 for a fully back of the plane, economy status seat (and then $65 to move up to an exit row). But, you know, when it comes to GF airplane food, that can be real nice because they leave the meals covered unlike in the front.

All said, the scheduled flight time was something like 10 hours and day-time with two meals and a snack.

Ordering the meal:

KLM makes special meal requests easy with the process working entirely through their website/app. Since I booked directly with them, I had no issues making the selection online and it immediately, and consistently showed up anytime I would view my reservation… which I checked about 74,832 times. They do require selecting special meals at least 24 hours ahead and I always try to get my order in as soon as I book, which is a pain if you ever want to shift flights, but just how it goes.

Given their clear messaging and the general European standards around allergens, I did not feel like I needed to bug airport staff to double check. Plus, I had plenty of snacks (delays, missed meals, blah food… always pack snacks).

The plane food:

As is usually the case, meal service started not long into the flight. While some airlines bring speciality meals well before or after everyone else, KLM had mine ready to go right around the same time. After the usual “hi Ted, you have the special meal, right” check, I got my meal and dug in.

The first thing to note is that both KLM meals came covered and marked. Did they uncover to heat them? Maybe but the labeling, both a card on the tray with GFML and my name/seat and then on the entree felt real comforting given that you don’t get ingredients. The sides don’t get the same treatment but as you’ll see, these ones felt about as GF as it gets.

As for the food, my first meal was an almost every allergen free (GFML, LFML, NLML, VLML, HNML, AVML) lunch dish with a spinach and cauliflower with rice main, a side of veggies & hummus and fruit dessert. Hello fiber bomb! While it wasn’t a ton of food, the flavor on the main was really good, a nice dash of spice, and it paired up perfectly with half a New Cascadia GF bagel I brought from home to up the calories. I opened up a NuGo bar a little later to work in some protein and desert vibes.

The second meal was breakfast. This time they gave up on the one size fits all and the main dish was a basic omelet with potatoes, bellpepper, and asparagus, again done quite nicely though the pepper packet was helpful. Sides were fruit and more fruit so I supplemented with more of that bagel and some chocolate (hey, it was only like 9pm at home!) Oh, that meal also came out completely covered up and marked as GFML though not as officially as the first.

Somewhere else along the flight, they brought everyone brownies and lo and behold, they were all GF (thanks EU labeling laws!). Oat free too.

24 hours later, I had no reactions, no issues and no concerns on anything they served me or that I brought aboard.

The airport food:

PDX (my home airport) sits just 15 minutes from at least a dozen incredible, 100% GF spots but the airport? Blah! Just blah! Mikiko Mochi donuts (100% GF) does have a new and temporary location before security but otherwise, options are limited and I rarely eat here. If you do need something, Burgerville, a local area burger chain, is known for doing a decent job on GF (buns stay wrapped, fries are usually done on their own) but the busy, airport location isn’t for everyone. Beyond that, it’s mostly yogurts and packaged snack life.

AMS on the other hand gets interesting. I haven’t explored inside the terminals much to offer up hot food options but once you pass customs, you’re basically in a small mall complete with a full sized grocery store where you can find lots of packaged goodies, fresh produce, some labeled fridge stuff, and yes, more yogurts. I’m sure one of the many restaurants around would have something real meal like too.

The bottom line: For a super cheap longhaul economy flight, KLM absolutely nailed things. Sure, having a choice of normal meals would have been so much fun but looking at my neighbors, I doubt the taste quality varied much, the combo allergen meal is basically to be expected, and the safety protocol felt solid.

All that said, I always carry plenty of snacks too if I can. Things happen and sometimes, you just want a treat.