Food Allergy Group Calls on DOT to Change American Nut Policy
Joe Cortez January 12, 2017
Formal complaint focuses on American’s policy towards flyers with food and nut allergies.
A food allergy advocacy group is asking the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to force American Airlines to reconsider their policies towards flyers with food and nut allergies, claiming the current policy violates the Air Carrier Access Act. In a press release, Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) announced the complaint against American, alleging that the current policy misleads “passengers about their legal rights.”
Under their current food allergy policy, American acknowledges that while they do not serve peanuts aboard flights, they cannot control trace elements of nut products in meals or other food products. Additionally, the airline does not allow for nut-free “buffer zones,” nor are passengers with nut allergies allowed to pre-board to clean seats or tray tables.
FARE is accusing the airline of violating the Air Carrier Access Act on the grounds of discrimination “on the basis of mental or physical disability.” Because the airline does not allow passengers to pre-board to absolve potential food allergen exposure and does not provide other protections, the group claims the airline is “misleading passengers about their legal rights.”
“Through our filing of this complaint, we are calling on the DOT to take enforcement action and calling for a full retraction of this discriminatory policy,” James R. Baker, MD, CEO and chief medical officer of FARE, said in the press release. “We also request mandatory training for airline staff to help ensure they do not continue to discriminate against members of the food allergy community.”
American is the only airline that specifically does not allow flyers with nut allergies to pre-board flights along with passengers requiring assistance. Delta Air Lines, JetBlue and Southwest Airlines all allow passengers to pre-board to wipe down surfaces, while United Airlines does not have a set policy in writing.
American has not issued a public response to the complaint.
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Real peanut allergies are exceptionally rare and can be lethal. Claims of peanut allergies are climbing as is every other claim that gives the unethical or hypochondriac passenger an edge. If someone asked me not to eat my peanuts on a plane, I'd ask to see their EppiPen as some confirmation of their bona fides. Unfortunately our laws make air carriers have to accept allegations and subject them to only minimal questions. My proposal is this. The Center for Disease Control licenses "civil surgeons" in the US and "panel physicians" abroad to conduct physical and mental examinations of individuals seeking immigration benefits and other considerations from the US federal government. They have a set inspection regime that they must follow. The doctors are inspected and practices are in place to stop "opinions for hire." I would extend them to certifying handicaps. Rather than a letter from the person's own physician make them have an approved request from a civil surgeon. If they have that request, then we can give them an accommodation. We can give reciprocity to foreign inspection regimes with similar processes.
I'm alergic to phony Support Animals; can I get some accomodation as well?
Seriously? This makes me a bit angry, so rant mode on: I am of the first generation to have an extreme peanut allergy (anaphylaxis resulting from even the simple skin prick of an allergy test) AND I have over 40 years and 5 million miles of flying under my belt. In all of that time I've had a real problem on an aircraft exactly once. I try to stay on top of developments in this field of immunology, and I haven't seen anything about the allergy getting any worse, simply more common. So, where people of my generation learned to live with it and get on with our lives, now we have a bunch of nervous nitwits (either patients or their parents) who have decided that responsibility of their own or their children's personal welfare resides with third parties.
Nuts are good for the rest of us. I think preboarding is a fine example of reasonable compromise, but I wouldn't go as far as banning nuts because someone has an allergy (which happened to us on a flight).
If the nut allergy people can argue for this, the pet allergy people should be given the same treatment against so called "emotional support" animals.