Questions for Travel Providers

[JenniferDuggan]

I am trying to make allergy profiles for various travel providers (airlines, hotel chains, cruise lines, etc.).  I have things such as emergency response time, nearest hospital, food allergy policies, etc.  I would like each profile to be as thorough as possible.  I have the Allergic Living airline comparison chart as well as online allergy policies (when they exist.)

What questions do you generally ask airlines/hotels/cruises when you travel? 

I am hoping this thread will help others when travelling too, as a source of where they can look for those thoughtful questions to ask.  Go!

[spacecanada]

For reference, the Allergic Living airline comparison chart is here:
http://allergicliving.com/2010/08/30/comparing-airlines/

[Macabre]

For airlines, I only ask about serving peanuts. And I typically don't ask--I look here or on their website. I've never cared about making announcements. And when ds flies alone, it's not something I've worried about--announcements.

For hotels, I ask if they allow animals. If they do, I ask if they are limited to certain floors. I have had to move rooms twice in the last two trips because someone took an animal to the room. The hotel knew  about one of them and not about the other. But it was really clear to my lungs--which were not clear. We had to wipe down all our luggage with Clorox wipes. My policy now is to absolutely not go to a hotel that allows animals.

I don't really have food allergy concerns for hotels.


Allergy concern aside, I have a phobia about bed bugs, so I cross check each hotel possibility against two bed bug sites. It makes stopping during a driving trip a little trickier, the animal and bed big thing. If we are trying to get as far as we can before stopping for the night, it sometimes means we have to push farther to get the kind of accommodations we need--but thank goodness for smart phones!

[krasota]

I crosscheck on bedbug sites, too.

I ask for early boarding on airlines since I need to wipe down the seats.  I generally get priority/disability boarding for that, but some airlines are better than others.  And some airlines are great, but the gate agents might be on a power trip.  (My experience is generally good, but there's a gate agent in Detroit who got some not-so-lovely feedback to corporate.)


For hotels, I ask for synthetic pillows and a room in which no air fresheners or fabric refresher sprays have been used.  If they regularly use those sprays, I ask if they have a room which has been vacant for awhile and for fresh bedding, including the comforter. I avoid small independent places because they're more likely to use Tide, fragranced detergents, fabric softener, tea tree oil, or lavender. 

[Beach Girl]

If going outside of the U.S. I would find out what phone number to use if you need to call an ambulance.  It may not be 911.  When I did my study abroad in Italy it was 118.  Here is a useful link
https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/students-abroad/pdfs/911_ABROAD.pdf