nancypants

yes but that’s exactly the point isn’t it? What if someone will a severe allergy to [cauliflower in this case but could be any agent or even multiple agents] wants the airline to make an announcement saying “please can no one eat [insert list of things that would make said person sick]”. Should the airline do that? I mean after all they can do it for nuts, and if the justification is that a) lives may be at risk and b) an emergency diversion may become necessary, shouldn’t we be prepared to do that for any/all severe allergies?

the “should airlines make announcements about nuts” angle is not really what this thread was started for, although inevitably that is the direction it heads in. The question is where should the airline draw the line?

JCC87

Nah this really makes my foot itch, stuff like this. You telling me I can't eat my peanut m&m's because someone 5 rows down is going to snuff it? I doubt it very much. They'd already be dead.

BlueThroughCrimp

Indeed. It's why if I had one, I'd be taking all precautions including PPE, and not relying on a single language announcement on international flights where people with hearing difficulties may not hear, or non-English speakers understand.

Quite. How selfish it is to inflict children with allergies to such high risks of flying with strangers.

CEB

Not so, peanut allergies REQUIRE ingestion and are NOT airborne under normal eating conditions. The proteins that stimulate the allergic reaction can be passed by contact, but STILL REQUIRE ingestion. So someone eating peanuts even in the seat next to someone with allergies cannot cause a reaction simply by eating peanuts.

Also, the primary cause for the increase in peanut allergies has been demonstrated through multiple studies to be directly related to paranoid parents not allowing their children to eat nuts when tehy are young and still developing their immune systems.

Worcester

While I am delighted you are a healthy person, I wonder though if your opinion would be shifted if you or a loved one had a serious allergy?

I do wonder about the state of people when what seems to me to be a minor request not to eat nuts, to avoid possibly making some one else feel ill or at worse, cause a sever reaction and theoretically death, is so controversial. The lack of empathy astounds me.

Tesla1856

Whats the secondary cause ?

...because not many people heard of peanut allergies - or all the other allergies I have back when I was born.

vanillabean

You have probably been told so. But

"Nobody is born with allergies. Instead, the 50 million people in the United States who suffer from allergies developed these only once their immune systems came into contact with the culprit."

“(The) relatively high prevalence (of getting allergies) seems to be unique to the U.S. … In fact, it was clear that the U.S. environment played some role in the trend, since foreign-born children who had lived in America for more than 10 years were three times as likely to develop allergic diseases as those who spent less than two years Stateside. And foreign-born children whose parents were also born outside of the U.S. seemed to benefit from additional protection from these conditions: 18% of these children developed allergic disease compared with 33% of foreign-born children whose parents were born in the U.S."

LCY8737

Am I the only one to find this whole thread very disturbing?

Back in the days where I grew up, when someone said "Can you please not eat nuts because I might have a severe allergic reaction", it would have been obvious that eating nuts was a no no, and that would have been the end of it.

nancypants

Agreed for nuts, but as I’ve posted a couple of times upthread, that’s not what this thread was about. Although it has suffered inevitable drift as do all allergy threads 😉

LCY8737

Even if it is a spinach allergy based on childhood trauma, surely, one should just do the polite thing?

Redhead

I ate peanuts all the time when I was pregnant (on advice of a doctor to help prevent food allergies) and introduced them early to my daughter. Her ears and face swelled tremendously at age 6 months at her 1st exposure. It was terrifying. I think delayed expsoure is but one of many causes. I believe that anti-bacterial soaps, etc. are a more likely culprit.

Exactly. My daughter eats nuts every other day (post OIT) but we don't eat them in public.

sethb

Did your friend eat the snack? If so, it wasn't airborne. [Insert joke about the FA throwing the snack.]

rocketship87

My thoughts exactly. That some people think it's acceptable to suggest that people with allergies should not fly is disappointing. Imagine saying that about any other disability.

elwe

I had the nut allergy message on a flight on Monday, then I was served this. Note the cashews with the melon. Far from the first time, with nuts being an important source of protein in a vegan diet.

I ordered the vegan because I am allergic to milk. I get a reaction just from skin contact. Don't worry though, I have never asked for a flight to go dairy free. I would be more tempted on the train, having had coffee/tea with milk spilt over me more than once.

Geordie405

I had four flights over the Christmas break of which two came with announcements regarding passengers with nut allergies. One was BA1336 from LHR - NCL on 21st December where passenger boards, explains to Purser that she has a nut allergy, and is asked by the Purser whether she has an EpiPen. The answer was no, but that she had other medication in tablet form (I was in 1C so could clearly hear the conversation in the galley). Given that one of the symptoms of anaphylaxis is a swollen throat I'd assume that any attempt to swallow tablets would be impeded by the swollen throat? Anyway, passenger is allowed to board and there's the usual announcement.

Second flight was yesterday's BA275 to Las Vegas. I was upstairs so no idea of the background, except that the announcement was made.