Packing an Airline Survival Food Kit

These days, with airlines charging for aisle seats, luggage, and now food, you have to really think ahead when you travel or you’ll starve before you ever reach your destination. On my recent trip to Quebec, I was dismayed to find that Air Canada doesn’t accept credit cards for food purchases. It was especially disappointing as it looked like they actually had decent food. Most other major airlines, including Jet Blue, won’t accept cash anymore which , at least, makes sense… their flight attendants don’t have to run up and down the aisle shouting “Does anyone have change for a $20?”

So, if I hadn’t had my emergency food rations in my backpack, I would have been out of luck on Air Canada. Thankfully, I had cheese, crackers, nuts, and a chocolate croissant stashed away, in addition to a bottle of water. You also have to be careful about where and when you buy your beverages, as I discovered in Europe on my last trip. Many of the airports there have not one security checkpoint, but two, so I wasted about $6 on a bottle of water after I cleared security only to find that I had to go through an additional security screening at my gate.

In many of the airports in Europe, like Vienna, once you go through screening to your gate, you’re a prisoner in the gate waiting area with no access to any kind of stores or restaurants so it’s impossible to get any liquids. In those cases, as soon as I board the plane, I ask the flight attendant for a bottle of water. If you ask early, before supplies start running low, you have a better chance of scoring.