What is the temperature of the cabins & baggage area on the Singapore Airline Fleet?

[Saraleena]

I would really like to take some Cheese overseas?
However is that even allowed?
Which area of the plane is the coldest?
Should I carry it or check it?
Also, does anyone have any advice to travel with cheese?
My journey will take more than 16 hours.
I want to take a block of Edam but, shout I freeze it whole? or freeze it grated? or just leave it at room temperature?
Does temperatures vary per fleet?
If it helps I will be travelling on the BOEING 777-300ER JET and have a connection on the AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A333 JET.

[mr_botak]

Check it is legal to import to your destination. I'd wrap it in cling film, and place in a ziplock, and then another, and check it in. Your problem is likely to be low humidity than temperature I expect.

[flying.monkeyz]

Maybe a chiller bag might help.

[fone]

How big is the block? I've brought cheesecakes on board planes and asked for them to be stored in the galley's chiller. On UA though, the 747 crew allowed me to place the cake in their empty chiller (upper deck business), but the 777 crew mentioned that their chiller is full.

[RHG]

cheese if it comes wrapped in its original "shrink wrapped form" should be ok in checked baggage. SQ chillers tend to be full as they use it for either ice cream or second service meal trays.

[Saraleena]

By the way, It's a 1kg block and wrapped in an airtight plastic.

[Saraleena]

How big is the block? I've brought cheesecakes on board planes and asked for them to be stored in the galley's chiller. On UA though, the 747 crew allowed me to place the cake in their empty chiller (upper deck business), but the 777 crew mentioned that their chiller is full.

Do you think that Singapore Airlines will allow it? Maybe if I ask in advance, but who am I supposed to contact?

[Singapore Sling]

Wnen I take any food with me I always check it in. Making sure it is well pack, I have always found it`s been ok when unpacked the other end, I have never done it with cheese thou.

Do make sure it is legal to take this food group into any country you are traveling to or through and made sure you have or complete the correct paperwork. (Places lke Australia you will need to declare it on the form they make you fill in)

[lingua101]

Do you think that Singapore Airlines will allow it? Maybe if I ask in advance, but who am I supposed to contact?

As far as I can remember SQ will let you put the food in their chiller. I remember i did it on one of my trip few months back.

To my surprise, CX rejected my request last month. The crews said they can no longer store passenger food in the chiller and offer me a dry ice instead. A chat with my CX friend, he said coz they afraid the food may spoil the whole chiller system as they do not know how it was packed. I guess must be bad experience before.

[Saraleena]

The crews said they can no longer store passenger food in the chiller and offer me a dry ice instead..

Did the Dry Ice help at all? I want to try, but I don't think where I live it is commercially available for the public.

[CarbonMan]

I would not use dry ice because it condenses water vapour and you get the "smoke" effect. If security sees that they may suspect something fishy and impound the bag.

As many suggested, I would just check the bag in. The baggage hold is quite cold during the flight as they don't heat it as much as the cabin. Maybe someone here knows the precise temperature, but I would imagine around 10-15degC. I've had bottles of wine nicely chilled in my bags.

[Nick C]

Wrap the cheese up securely with cling film or put it in an air sealed container. Buy NICE cupcakes or cakes for the crew. Hand carry everything onboard. Pass cupcakes or cakes + cheese to the crew when you board. Retrieve upon arrival. Repeat process for the next sector.

[fone]

Other question here would be at what temperatures can your cheese take without spoiling it? Will dry ice be too cold?

IIRC, I've heard of larger pets travelling in cargo hold, so the temperature should be similar to ambient cabin temperature, therefore I'd conclude there's no significant difference placing it in the cargo from placing it in the overhead bin. Even if the cabin crew refused to allow the usage of the chiller on board, overhead bin should suffice. As for the dry ice portion, if the crew gives you dry ice, you can also simply place the dry ice in a separate compartment from the cheese, removing them (maybe just leave 1 or 2 small pieces inside) just before disembarking or before security.

[flying.monkeyz]

Other question here would be at what temperatures can your cheese take without spoiling it? Will dry ice be too cold?

IIRC, I've heard of larger pets travelling in cargo hold, so the temperature should be similar to ambient cabin temperature, therefore I'd conclude there's no significant difference placing it in the cargo from placing it in the overhead bin. Even if the cabin crew refused to allow the usage of the chiller on board, overhead bin should suffice. As for the dry ice portion, if the crew gives you dry ice, you can also simply place the dry ice in a separate compartment from the cheese, removing them (maybe just leave 1 or 2 small pieces inside) just before disembarking or before security.

Flight crew will only crank up the temperature in the cargo hold if there are pets travelling. If not, there's no need to turn the cargo hold heater on. Also the heated compartment is only in Hold 5 (rearmost of aircraft used to load loose items). Normal baggage will most probably go into baggage containers in the forward or aft cargo compartment which are not heated.

[lingua101]

Did the Dry Ice help at all? I want to try, but I don't think where I live it is commercially available for the public.

Saraleena, in my case, it is ok. My flight was only about 2+ hours (HKG-BKK). There was still remaining dry ice for me to play in my hotel bath room

BTW that day I do not need to queue to get a cab in BKK (which was quite amazing).

Like someone suggest, you probably want to get chiller bag to be on safe side. I think SQ will help you to store it in the chiller box in flight. Like I said I have done so many time in my younger time when I used to fly back to US after my winter break with all those cake I brought from home.

Recently I remember I did it once with SQ. Thats why I was quite shock when CX crew rejected my request