Flying Gluten Free on Air Baltic with Celiac (Business Class, Short Haul)
After two weeks across Europe with many amazing sights and many amazing gluten free meals in Copenhagen, Oslo, Budapest, and Naples, it was time to head home to the US. For my return and this post, I had cashed in a pile of points and about $50 with United Airlines to score a fancy business class ticket that totally justified two stops and three flights, at least by my standards.
The first leg of that trip was out of Naples and over to Zurich on a short hop flight that Swiss sold and catered but that showed up as an Air Baltic plane with an Air Baltic crew (a swap Swiss does regularly on short European routes), expected to take about an hour and a half. Given the very quick duration, my expectations for a meal were low, even in business class, but Swiss and Air Baltic more than exceeded them, at least on the food front, with a small but impressive meal anyway.
Swiss (Operated by Air Baltic) short-haul gluten free overview: 9/10
Ordering a gluten free meal through Swiss
Since the ticket and meal are with Swiss, you order through Swiss’s website, even though Air Baltic runs the plane. Confusing enough?
This flight was part of a trip I booked through United Airlines (yay airline points!) with Swiss managing this flight on Air Baltic’s plane. While some airlines struggle with letting you customize meals for partner bookings through their website or app, Swiss managed this flight’s meal and my next one (Swiss on a Swiss plane) without a hiccup, handling everything in a single online request. The delay of this flight obviously did not change the meal as that was already on board.
If you are flying Air Baltic directly, they also have an online option to pre-order a special meal.
What Swiss served on the (Air Baltic) plane
Since this was a very short flight, even a packaged snack would have felt totally appropriate and I suspect that’s what I would have gotten, at best, in economy. But in business class, there was a proper, even if quick, meal service complete with real plates and all. There were no options, of course, but that’s par for the course for gluten free meals on any flight and in any seat that I’ve been on.
As has often been the case on many of my flights, a crew member came up to me early on and noted they had a gluten free meal reserved for me, confirming this is what I wanted. It’s a wonderful feeling to know the meal has been catered and also a moment I always use to explain this isn’t a preference, it’s a need, hopefully ensuring they give things just a bit more attention and caution.
When it came out, the gluten free meal had three parts: a small cheese plate as a starter which was of course delicious, a salad with a range of toppings and pickled veggies that was small but well flavored, and a cream dessert with cookies that looked almost like croutons. The last part obviously raised my suspicions but the crew was clear that the meal was gluten free and it was certainly different from what others were getting, so I ate it all, and had no issues of any sort.
Not a ton of food as you can see but really fresh, varied and quite nice. It wasn’t expected or a particularly needed meal but it turned out to be great given that this flight was delayed enough to cause me to miss my connection home, something that took a few hours to sort out in the Zurich airport. My rule for travel days is absolute: if you get safe food, eat the food, the next meal is not guaranteed!
Though I couldn’t see what, if any, food was handed out in economy for free or for payment, I did have the Swiss inflight magazine and menu which has a nice range of options for normal eaters, all marked with their respective allergen. I didn’t see much in the way of hot meals for buy on board but there were a few snacks and the Swiss website suggests you can pre-order special meals too. What I really would have liked to buy off the menu was a chocolate Swiss airplane which, that’s right, is labeled GF!
Looking at the Air Baltic site as well, I can see they have options available by pre-order and special order, presumably for longer flights.
Airport food options
Naples (NAP) airport GF food
While Naples had been a near perfect experience for GF eats (seriously, my only “complaint” was how pizza centric AIC and known gluten free options were, and that’s obviously not really a complaint), the airport was like most airports, unimpressive.
The most obvious option and what I had planned on was McDonald’s, which offers a packaged burger on a Schar bun in Italy, but they were sold out of the GF burger. I suspect the fries would have still been okay but the cashier I had tried to order with didn’t suggest them, and I’m extra leery of busy airport spots. Beyond that, several stores sell disappointing looking “senza glutine” sandwiches for like 12 euros and there were even more places selling safe cookies of various types. I did grab one of those cookies for the trip and it turned out to be rather nice so that was a win!
Thankfully however, my business class ticket and one of my credit cards got me into the Pearl Lounge. Again, in most places, lounge food isn’t exciting unless you’re willing to brave the GF-ish items in a buffet (sometimes they’ll bring out untouched items from the back if you ask!) but this was Italy after all. When I mentioned Celiac to a staff member, they immediately offered to bring me some cookies, presumably like the ones I had seen in the terminal, or make a Schar lasagna. I’ve had that lasagna before, in a lounge in Rome, and while it’s obviously a reheated, frozen meal, it’s actually not bad and very safe so I went with that.
Zurich (ZRH) airport GF food
The few options of Naples beat the near zero options of Zurich airport by miles (or kilometers). But again, there is some hope, if you have time. Having been to Zurich on past trips, I knew the airport was limited, but given the delay, I was able to leave the secure area and enter the wider airport building where there’s a large grocery store, Migros, which offers veggies, fruit, yogurts, and a couple of labeled GF snacks. Since I would be spending the night in Zurich, I also walked to Rice Up, a dedicated GF restaurant in The Circle complex right by the terminal, and got a chicken and rice bowl for dinner.
Flying out the next day, I explored just about every shop in my terminal in Zurich but aside from a few bags of nuts and candy bars, there’s very little in the airport, so definitely take advantage of the grocery store before you go through security or customs!
My take on flying Swiss (on an Air Baltic plane) while gluten free
I know business class gets a ritzy treatment on almost any flight, but I was not expecting much of a meal for one this short and so to have something safe and tasty with three parts was just downright impressive. Would I buy a business class ticket for a bunch more money just to get it? Not on a trip this quick, but if this is any indication of how well Swiss handles short flight catering, even on flights where another airline brings the plane, it would be tempting for sure.
Similarly, Air Baltic’s own site lists a gluten intolerant special meal for business class, to be requested at least 48 hours before departure, which is encouraging. I couldn’t find a gluten free option on its economy pre-order or buy on board menus though. Sure wish a special meal was an option for a six hour flight in the US, much less a short one!
