I’ve been blessed to fly internationally more than a few times. Being being diagnosed with diabetes hasn’t changed that and I have eaten “Diabetic Meals” in the air. This post is about my experience.

First, the benefit of ordering a diabetic meal (or any specialty meal for that matter), is that your food comes out before everybody else’s meals. Depending upon when you have eaten, having your meal prepared early helps. There were a few times that I needed to raise my glucose quickly and I appreciated not having to wait for 199 people to be served before me.

The downside to that is, you’ll probably finish before others and if you’re not flying alone, it can be a little awkward. When I went to China on AirChina, my co-worker was given a diabetic meal as well since the two of us were flying together, so that’s an option.

This meal was served on AirChina. It’s the first time I was given Milano cookies. Who doesn’t like Milano? The salad was nice, the bread was soft, and the meal (freshly grilled veggies and fish) were flavored perfectly. I can’t remember what the “regular” meals looked like, but my co-worker was VERY glad that she was given a Diabetic meal.

Water, nuts, and a wet napkin on AirChina

This is the meal on Corsair. Last summer they discontinued their service to America (they were only flying from Miami to Paris during the summers anyway). What of the most fascinating facts about this airline was that you could pay to fly on the upperdeck of the double-decker plane for an extra $80.00 and I gladly selected that option. I had an entire row of seats to myself.

I just wish the airplane was as interesting as the food.  The picture below is the snack which was a turkey sandwich, raisins, and unsweetened applesauce. I was so disappointed in the diabetic meal (sorry, I don’t have a picture of it) that if I fly with them again, I would take my chances with carb-counting on a regular meal because the meal wasn’t flavorful.