Qantas is expanding the range of special menus served on its domestic and international flights, but passengers with nut allergies will face new challenges.

Changing dietary needs and lifestyle choices mean airlines must constantly adapt.

Still, on many short flights – such as Sydney-Melbourne, Sydney-Brisbane and Adelaide-Melbourne, all of which take less than 90 minutes – there is virtually no need to eat, especially if passengers have access to a lounge or can make use of the high-quality restaurants that are now appearing at many airports.

New Qantas Special Meals

Qantas offers a range of special meals on almost all international flights, as well as on all domestic flights over 3½ hours (or operated by regional QantasLink Dash 8 aircraft).

Here’s the full list as of early September:

• Gluten intolerance
• Lactose intolerance
• Indian vegetarian
• A non-vegetarian Hindu
• Kosher
• Muslim
• Vegan
• Jain vegetarian
• Vegetarian lacto-ovo
• Fruit platter

How is it fruit platter qualifies as a “special meal”? Qantas notes that it is “suitable for passengers requiring meals without any lactose-containing ingredients.”

Similarly, a new lacto-ovo vegetarian meal is being issued to “passengers requiring a meal that does not contain animal products or animal by-products, but may contain eggs and dairy products.”

Each of these special meals must be ordered at least 24 hours before your flight (or at least 36 hours for a kosher meal) via the ‘Manage My Booking’ feature on the Qantas website.

If you are a Qantas Frequent Flyer, consider setting your travel preferences to suit your dietary needs. This will allow the airline to automatically accommodate any special meal requests on future Qantas flights.

Qantas restricts ‘nut-free’ meals

From October 1, 2024, there will no longer be a guarantee that half a dozen special meals do not contain traces of nuts.

The airline claims that this decision is due to the need to comply with the international “Guidelines of the Alliance for Quality and Safety of In-Flight Services”.

Here are some special foods that stray from the nut-free safe zone:

• Diabetic
• Gluten intolerance
• Jain vegetarian
• Kosher
• Muslim
• Indian

Qantas says its gluten-free meals, fruit plates and children’s meals will remain nut-free.

But there are limits to what an airline can control, at least from a peanut’s perspective.

Qantas says it no longer offers peanuts as bar snacks “on all Qantas flights and in Qantas-owned and operated lounges”, while also minimising the use of peanuts or peanut-based products in on-board meals.

Despite this, “Qantas cannot guarantee that our aircraft or our lounges will provide an allergy-free environment.”

“There is always the possibility that other passengers may bring peanuts or other nuts on board or into the lounges. Passengers may also be served a range of other nuts, including almonds, cashews and macadamia nuts, as bar or after-dinner snacks.”

“For this reason, we recommend that passengers carry any medication they may need on board the aircraft and be ready to administer it if necessary.”