[tigerlily]

Ok, I've ordered my kids their children's meals for the flight. But I'm wondering a bit if I should take on some extra snacks for them? I've heard horror stories of people held up by the MAF coming in because the scent of a banana lingered in their bag even after the banana was gone. I seem to recall from years past that if you are hungry you can ask the flight attendant for a snack at any time. It's just that like any mom I'm so used to bringing heaps of snacks for my kids anywhere I go!

[holland]

Hi,

At the Airport NZ side they were fine, you just fill a card thing in to say if you have food...they are friendly and as long as you declare it your fine...I presume...we just bought flumps through!!! But the guy we were sat next to on the flight had loads with him, and he just declared them...they picture scan the bags anyway to check...I think you would be fine with the smell of a banana!!!

We flew Singapore Airlines and you could ask for snacks whenever you wanted...I took some anyway, as I was awake when everyone else seemed to be asleep and I didn't want to bother them with snacks...

Hope this helps

J x

[jubjub]

Take snacks, just make sure you ditch any leftovers before you go through customs, there are loads of rubbish bins clearly marked specially for this.

Kids are fussy little monkeys and at least you know your kids won't go hungry.

[jubjub]

Should have said, any commercially packaged unopened stuff should not cuase a prob as long as its not meat/fish/seeds etc.

[Tia Maria]

tigerlily wrote:

I've heard horror stories of people held up by the MAF coming in because the scent of a banana lingered in their bag even after the banana was gone.

This happens to us everytime! :laugh I even saw the dog find a single raisen in the bottom of someone's bag - pretty impressive really. They are quite friendly about it all but it does mean you have to empty out all your stuff, which is a pain after a long flight.

The easy solution, which we always say we're going to do but never do, is keep all food in a plastic bag and then bin the bag plus any extra stuff when you get off the plane. You have plenty of chances to get rid of all 'illegal' foods. I tend to be madly going through all the bags, chucking stuff in the bins, while the OH browses the duty free!

Definitely take some extra stuff for the children, even the kids meals can be pretty bizarre sometimes. We had one which consisted of a lasagne, the smell of which made my eldest feel sick, and the rest was all chocolate - chocolate cake, chocolate dippers, chocolate milkshake and a box of .... yes you guessed it ..... chocolate!

Also children are often asleep when the meals come, particularly with the breakfasts, obviously some of it you can pinch to keep for later but not the main bit, so its good to have a back up.

The snacks they have range from sandwiches to crisps, nuts and fruit (apple in economy and bananas in business usually). But they do run out so once again don't rely on it.

Its also a good plan to have sandwiches for when you first board. We flew recently and 3 of the 4 flights were delayed and we sat on the plane quite a while before we even took off. I get the boys to suck lollipops on take of and landing as it helps with ear pain but the minute they've finished those they start to demand food and the packet of peanuts they bring round at the start is just not enough!

So, yes bring lots, keep them in a plastic bag and chuck it all when you get to NZ.

By the way, all my experiences are based on Singapore Airlines, other airlines may be different.

Cheers

Tia

(The Mum who spends her entire life feeding constantly hungry boys!)

[Tia Maria]

holland wrote:

I think you would be fine with the smell of a banana!!!

We never actually have any fruit etc, the sniffer dogs do actually detect the lingering smell of where the fruit use to be. Clever things!

Cheers

Tia

[IanW99]

Some of the postings are implying that when you arrive, then bin all your snacks, I would agree about discarding anything open or not allowed as per jubjub's quote

Should have said, any commercially packaged unopened stuff should not cuase a prob as long as its not meat/fish/seeds etc.

But otherwise, apart from having to declare the items there is no reason you can't keep them. You never quite know what's going to happen when you arrive and you may be thankful that you still have these snacks available until you get sorted.

Ian

[Tia Maria]

Yep you're right IanW99 just bin your 'illegal' snacks and declare the rest, in our case 2 big tubes of smarties that the boys chose at Duty Free as a reward for not driving us completely insane on the plane. :)

Cheers

Tia

[migratory birds]

Yes, bring snacks...and more! Bring sandwiches, sushi (with tofu or veggies that aren't as critical to be refrigerated), fresh fruit, miso soup packets. Bring meals! Great for filling their bellies while waiting on layovers.

I declared that we had food (at that point we had only wrapped snack bars i.e. Luna/Cliff bars, fruit leathers, etc) and sure enough the first to stop us was the beagle-like dog with her handler. I pulled out the wrapped protein bars and fruit leathers...the dog kept telling her she needed to check that bag further...she asked if I had seeds, plant materials or fresh fruit in the shoulder bag...I didn't but said I sometimes used it to carry groceries...she was fine with that and we did not need to empty our bags at all. She wanted to see the declaration card which she initialed and we were on our way. No need to throw anything away.

But BE SURE TO DECLARE IT if you have any food in your bags - apparently a stiff fine if they find it and it wasn't declared!

[wanderingoregonian]

I always bring heaps of snacks.. I just declare it. dried fruit, nuts, lollies, trail mix. I rarely actually eat that much of it, but it is a security thing for me. The air NZ meals have been pretty darn good the last 3 flights I had over the pacific.

Once you arrive, any fresh fruit/veg you must bin, and really after 24 hours on a plane most fresh things you would want to anyway with all that banging around and getting smushed in bags.

The dogs may notice lingering fruits smells, so if you have multiple carry ons, the one easiest to open for inspection is where I'd carry all the food.

The MAF people at the airport have always been super professional and nice, so long as you show them respect. Sometimes the line for people who declare things is actually faster. The only time I saw a problem is when my mom forgot that she had an orange (another good reason to have one and only one 'food' bag so you don't forget).

enjoy your flight - I know for a fact that the surf cafe is waiting at the end with great food!!!

[Tia Maria]

wanderingoregonian wrote:

Once you arrive, any fresh fruit/veg you must bin, and really after 24 hours on a plane most fresh things you would want to anyway with all that banging around and getting smushed in bags.

We did one night's stopover in Singapore and all the fruit we had, had rotted by the morning, because it was so hot and humid. We had no problem buying more snacks at Changi airport!

Cheers

Tia

[Tanya]

The wee individual packs of cornflakes are a good standby - by the time breakfast comes my kids cant cope with the egg and sausage we always seem to get so they munch on the cornflakes like crisps (only not salty!!)

I also take a couple of plastic containers of treats to keep them going(plastic container stops things getting squashed and its easy it find in the bag!!

Tanya

[Mels]

...the dog kept telling her she needed to check that bag further

One of those amazing little dogs went up to my then 8 yr old son in Auckland a couple of years ago, sat down and wagged his tail. My son was instantly in love as he adores dogs, however that was not what I was feeling just at that moment :uhoh

The customs lady was very nice and just asked our son if that was his rucksack he carried his lunch box in to school. Spot on. There was no food in it and he always used a lunch box too but that cute little dog could still sniff it out !! amazing, all our son could say was coooollll

We took snacks on the plane and the air crew binned what was left over actually on the plane for us - less hassle than in airport with bags, kids going wild etc.