Qantas gluten free meals – domestic flights

Travelling with coeliac disease can present extra challenges. On your Qantas booking, you can make a special meal request under ‘manage your booking’ – please see the notes at the bottom of the post for more information on this.  It is a good idea to take emergency snacks with you as there is always a risk that the meal doesn’t get loaded or that you have to switch flights for some reason and your meal can’t follow you (this has happened to me twice).  Click here for some ideas of snacks to take with you.

**Please note, this post was written pre-Covid, so is no longer representative as Rowie’s Cakes ceased as a supplier and flights under 3 1/2 hours no longer get a GF meal**

Below documents some of the meals I have had on various routes within Australia in economy (Melbourne to Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns*).

I have enjoyed the meals prepared by Rowie’s Cakes, which is a 100% gluten free kitchen and also caters for multiple food intolerances. Rowie’s offerings have been supplied for lunch and I really enjoyed the chicken toastie.  The burger overall is pretty good but be careful as mine was served extremely hot.  Sadly Rowie’s Cakes closed due to the covid-19 pandemic, so you will no longer see these meals on Qantas flights.

For evening meals, there is often a curry, which suits me fine!  Much better for me than fish, which seems to be the standard gluten free option on international flights.

With a main meal you often receive a ‘meal bag’ with a water, cutlery, soy milk for coffee and a cake.

I hadn’t heard of Treats by Madhouse before so contacted them to find out how they prepare their gluten free items and found that they follow strict wash down and testing procedures, including testing final products for traces of gluten.

A sample of a cooked breakfast is below.  I’m not a huge fan of a cooked breakfast, but it was OK if you are hungry.

In the past, some flights were also oddly excluded from a GF Meal, but I’m not sure how you find out beforehand. My Melbourne to Sydney booking in May 2019  for QF482 (used to be 1.15pm departure) said a GF meal was not available on this flight. Everybody else got lunch, so that was disappointing.

If you have requested a special meal before, you know you will be served well ahead of everyone else.  This means you don’t get to eat with your travel companions and have usually finished your meal before the drinks trolley comes around (although you usually get a small water wash your meal down with).

Notes for ordering special diet meals via ‘manage your booking’ online:

• *gluten free meals are now only provided on flights over 3 1/2 hours, so Melbourne to Cairns no longer provides a meal
• special meal requests cannot be guaranteed and for gluten free, the option is gluten intolerant (i.e. they do not guarantee 100% gluten free, like any commercial kitchen)
• you cannot request a combination of dietary requirements, e.g. gluten free & vegetarian
• special meals must be requested at least 24 hours before departure and are only available for Qantas operated flights
• on some domestic economy routes where only snacks are served, there is no guarantee there will be a gluten free option
• meals are inclusive of your fare.

If you are flying from Melbourne or Sydney, see the links to airport information below!

For more gluten free travel ideas, please check the following links:

• 100% gluten free Melbourne
• Melbourne Airport (Tullamarine)
• Sydney (domestic) airport
• Paris gluten free
• Rome gluten free
• 100% gluten free London
• London Heathrow & Gatwick airport gluten free options

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Tags: airplane food, domestic, flying, Gluten free, plane food, Qantas, special meals, travel