I still say that it is a risky thing for BA, or any airline for that matter, to serve nuts at all on flights. Why not just serve an alternative and everyone is happy... even people that like nuts can then take their own and eat them unless the announcement is made and no one will then be discriminated against.

There... nuff said by me I think :)

As a person who is allergic to seemingly more and more things as she gets older I have a theory (it is purely from my own head so be kind).
I suffered from ‘hay fever’ as a child when no one apart from me had allergies. During my lifetime the air is cleaner - Good - but so is everything else - not so good. The chemicals that are used to clean and deodorise our homes are probably not good for us. Neither is being ‘protected’ against everything. As a result more and more people are having excessive auto immune responses to things that should be harmless.
I believe that my family is pre-disposed to excessive auto immune responses as my daughter is coeliac.

A couple of years ago I had a severe allergic response to a drink served by a member of cabin crew Despite my enquiries I was assured that the offending ingredient was not present.
I experienced a rather nasty reaction - so bad that I was asked if I had my epipen (being me I didn’t make a fuss but it must have been apparent that my reaction wasn’t good). Mid Atlantic I had no options and it was very scary. This was the first and hopefully last time that I will go through that, it has given me a new understanding of severe nut allergies. I don’t need nuts that badly.
Sorry for being a bit ranty.

Genuinely curious: where is the legal source of "strict liability". Under a normal carrier situation there would be negligence originated liability (which has a reasonableness test), and an implied term in the contract if the passenger was the contracting party (which also has a reasonableness test, albeit it slightly different). Is there some statute law here which applies specifically to airlines?

Note I wasn't actually arguing about the nuts case. I said that was a clear example where the right thing to do would be "go nut free". But in the alcohol case (in my opinion) one should not need to go "alcohol free". So somewhere in the middle is a line to draw.

From a site discussing strict liability as it applies to airlines (https://www.leighday.co.uk/News/News...ed-in-flight):

My wife is allergic to peanuts. When she was a child, she was so allergic to peanuts that when she sat in a school bus with other kids who took out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, she would have go to the emergency room (anaphylactic shock). Apparently it happened repeatedly and no one figured it out. The peanut allergy declined in intensity after she had kids. Now she has a lot more time before anaphylactic shock would set in -- if at all. But, she always carries an epipen with her. We did hear a block on nuts on one plane. She is not allergic to any other kind of nuts.

She is also allergic to dogs and cats (and other things). We do inform airlines of this and then tend to move her or the pet owners. Although I am sure that there are people who legitimately need a service animal, we know many people who get their pets classified as service dogs so that a) they don't have to pay to ship their pets or b) send them in the hold. It's hard to be sympathetic to their needs relative to a meaningful allergy.

I'm like that. I was at a restaurant and the tables were reasonably close together. The person at the next table over had a brandy and the fumes coming from the glass were carried by the air current in the room toward me, and it was enough that my reaction was very swift. Within about 30 seconds of him being served the glass, the room was spinning for me so severely I lost my balance and fell off my chair onto the floor. Very embarrassing and not pleasant. It took about 2 days to recover and for the headache to go away. Needless to say, I cannot go into a bar as the atmosphere is literally toxic to me.

I'm fine with lavender but some fragrances are rather problematic to the extent that I import my laundry detergents and put everything through extra rinse cycles. If I am within a smelling range of 'wrong' fragrances, I rapidly get a really bad headache that I can't shake, followed potentially by nausea. That makes things difficult, combined with hearing sensitivity issues and mould allergies (which causes breathing difficulties - thankfully, mould problems don't really happen in flight, but if I have a neighbour wearing mouldy clothing, then it can be problematic).

I probably should be the last person to be flying frequently. I often have a very miserable flight. I shut up and put up though, because there isn't much I can do about it :eek:

Thanks. That's interesting. I note it does say “if a passenger has been injured during air travel by anything that is out of the norm, then the airline is strictly liable" (my emphasis). I'd suggest that if that's right, liability isn't going to be a slam dunk in the nuts case, as people sharing the same space eating nuts is hardly out of the norm. Not that I am for one minute saying people should not refrain from eating nuts if someone with a serious nut allergy is present. And of course the airline will apply the precautionary principle.

I am however interested to contrast this attitude with the attitude BA showed in another thread when a passenger slipped on the steps and injured themselves.

Every time this subject comes up on BA Flyertalk, there are a lot of half-truths, misconceptions, or just plain wrong statements.

I’ll say it one more time “The bottom line is that flying with a peanut allergy and being exposed to potential sources of peanut in the cabin is NOT likely to represent an increased risk to the peanut allergic flier.”

The UK Anaphylaxis Campaign provides very good advice on flight travel (mods, there’s too much info to cut and paste, so link only), plus the other associated pages linked at the bottom:

https://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/livin...-on-aircrafts/
As we are coming up to Christmas, all donations will be gratefully received by the charity :)

Finally, the Civil Aviation Authority should be providing new regulations/requirements soon:
https://assets.publishing.service.go...n-2050-web.pdf
5.32 The CAA has undertaken an evidence review of passenger exposure to peanuts and tree nut allergens on airlines to establish the scientific evidence for the perceived risk and to identify what mitigation measures, if any, would be appropriate on the basis of the evidence. The report is due to be published before the end of the year.

I appreciate that too, but if you're that allergic, how are you coping with life in general, and why aren't you wearing personal protection that would avoid allergen on skin contact?

This has happened to me on a few BA flights recently, not sure why.

As someone that actually likes to have almonds or a nut mix as a snack on a long haul flight, what would be helpful to know if the crew could announce perhaps the row or at least cabin the person is sitting in. For obvious reasons, they shouldn't have to identify the individual specifically but if I'm in the depths of the upper deck on an A380 and the person with the allergy is downstairs in F, there's not going to be an issue if I crack the nuts open mid flight. The issue for me is they are never even remotely specific about where the issue is

She carries multiple epi-pens with her at all times. She washes her hands frequently. Luckily, she is not inhale-reactive. But yes, it is a tough situation. Her bigger concern is if someone prepping her food touches nuts. So on planes she brings her own food. It is not a fun life to worry about it all the time.

For my daughter, who was ingestive-reactive, it was really hard when she was a toddler and put everything in her mouth. I lived in fear that she would grab something and put it in her mouth before I could stop her. She's had classmates wave peanut butter sandwiches in her face teasing her. She's had other parents play-down the allergy and say, "oh let her eat it" The lack of knowledge is terrifying as a parent. I am thankful everyday for OIT #ScienceForTheWin

A head to toe chem suit should do the trick.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0c382fd801.jpg

Wouldn't wearing a surgical face mask reduce exposure to airborne smells or "particles"?
A cheap way of reducing risk without inconveniencing those passengers who wish to eat nuts or drink alcohol.

It seems most folks who are aware of their risk for anaphylaxis carry their own Epi-Pens...but don't airlines also have medical kits onboard that would have Epi-Pens? If not, I would imagine stocking up on a few (I think they range from ~$50 in the UK to $300 in the US) would be a better option than offloading passengers.