I am sure DL doesn't serve nuts on flights where they have been alerted by someone with an allergy in order to limit their possible liability. But, as poorly cleaned as many DL planes are between legs there are often peanuts in the nooks and crannies of the seats and certainly on the floor. Considering how many people claim that the merest hint of peanut will send them into an allergic reaction (and yes, I do believe that is certainly true for a small percentage of sufferers) am I the only one who finds it miraculous that there aren't frequent 'incidents' on DL (or any airline that serves peanuts)?

Happened last week JFK-LHR. At least there was a meal, though.

Exactly. Diabetes has killed millions more than the peanut allergy but apparently their lives are considered to be without value because many diabetics are fat. A shame.

I would think we'd hear about at least one emergency landing a year due to it...at least on FT.

And a request for guidance on how much compensation should be requested :rolleyes:.

I am allergic to people.... will I have the entire cabin to myself?

Will terrorist now sneak peanuts onboard flights?

This is out of control! Next they will make you check your phones at the door.

The point isn't whether or not these allergies are as severe in all cases to warrant action by the airline, nor is it whether the entire flight needs to be 100% peanut-free. Delta has already decided on their policy for handling nut allergies.

My concern is that the only non-nut food items available in Y on a 2.5 hour domestic flight are mini-bags of pretzels, biscoff, and Pringles. It would not at all be difficult to offer a snack box or 1-2 heavier food items that don't contain nuts.

If Delta can't (or won't) make other food options available in lieu of their current nut-laden selections, there should be an alert that goes out at least 2 hours before the flight (like IROP alerts) so the other 100+ passengers who may be counting on the typical standard service for a meal can make alternate arrangements. I understand that Delta doesn't want someone with a nut allergy dying on the plane, but they really could take some minor actions to minimize the inconvenience inflicted on the rest of us.

The reality is that there are plenty of medical conditions that prevent people from flying safely. The ability to fly is not a right, and I don't understand how nut allergies were elevated to such a level that airlines feel like they must take such drastic action to accomodate them. If you are excessively overweight, have recently had surgery, or a myriad of other things could cause the airline to deny you boarding. I don't see why peanut allergies are so treated so differently.

For the record, I now keep a fruit and nut snack mix in my bag in case this happens to me again. I feel no more guilty about consuming that on board than I would consuming it in any public place where there could potentially be someone with nut allergies. It's your medical condition, and you are responsible for taking necessary precautions if you choose to fly or do anything else outside your sterile bubble.

What happens if someone brings their own peanuts or peanuts from a previous flight... will they be arrested?

Tough luck?? So if the FA makes such an announcement, that someone might be in danger, you would ignore it? Not debating whether passengers with potentially fatal allergies should fly, we know they do. And if one such passenger is on your flight, your response would be tough luck? Incredible.

Just serve me more Biscoff without any time restrictions, and we're halfway there. (To having to buy two seats, that is...they are yummy.)

My wife is a teacher at a school, and if even one kid has peanut allergies, they restrict what the other kids can eat. I've heard of these peanut allergies running the gamut from "thirsty" to "really thirsty" to "unstoppably itchy" to "nearly-ebola*", so I suppose the last thing I want is an unexpected stop.




* This may not actually be true. Use as directed.

I am fine with this as long as they bring extra non peanut options onboard for us normal people always. Peanuts have saved me tons of times when i ran to the flight and had not ate for along time. I would be p*ssed if they had denied me peanuts a few times

I am very allergic to some types of seafood actually i think might be a more common allergy.........i want delta to not serve seafood onboard......kidding of course

Hopefully the doesn't happen to me. If I don't get upgraded and it's a long flight I like to use my HOOU and have the snack box as a meal or use it on a snackbox to take to my hotel later.

I don't know why they can't continue to serve the snackboxes and just tell the passengers not to eat the trail mix on board. This has to be costing Delta a lot in revenue on these flights that they can't sell the snack items on.

My son has a severe nut allergy and we don't fly him on DL any more because of it.

We tried working with DL but all too often it was ignored or never communicated to the cabin crew. At first it was tagged as a medical condition which prevented the use of OLCI and automatically triggered wheelchair service but other that, no other changes occurred. I am still not sure what DL thought this accomplished.

In some cases it meant having the gate move him from row 11 or 12 on an MD88 since they couldn't (wouldn't) extend the buffer into the F cabin. This resulted in a last minute request to other pax to relocate so we could sit together and be sure that a seat mate wouldn't have nuts during the flight.

I would make several calls to DL to ensure that it was noted in his PNR and always mentioned it to the FAs while boarding. I once had an FA chastise me for not informing DL of it even though I had - it just never made it onto the manifest. The last straw occurred last year when I confirmed with the Skyclub agent that it was noted on the manifest and spoke with the lead FA to confirm they knew about it, only to have an FA offer him nuts and when my son mentioned his allergy the FA just shrugged his shoulders.

An airplane is not like other public places. Epi-pens are great, but for a severe reaction they allow you to breathe and buy time to reach a hospital. A single epi-pen may or may not be enough to avoid death. It can take a long time to reach a hospital from 35,000'. We have made the emergency trip to the hospital from a restaurant from a reaction. A lot depends on the extent of the exposure. If he actually swallowed half a peanut at cruise altitude there would not be enough epi-pens on board to avoid death.

There are different epi-pens for children.. 'epi-pen juniors' that contain smaller doses based on the smaller body size. Too much epinephrine isn't a good thing. The scary part is not knowing how bad the next exposure and reaction is going to be. It's not an exact science and doctor's don't know a whole lot about the allergy or why for example it is more common in northern states.

I don't think that people who are vocal on their disgust of a nut ban would think the same way if a loved one of theirs had this allergy.

Having said all this, somehow other airlines manage to operate without peanuts. Does anyone actually choose to fly a carrier because they offer nuts? The number of folks like me who avoid DL (at least when traveling with my son) is no doubt a small community, but when plenty of other options exist, does having nuts make any difference to the bottom line?

Finally, while this may or may not have been an allergy reaction, there is this death last year on DL 1178:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...6-24-11-a.html

We first discovered our son's allergy to peanuts in a similar manner but we weren't in a plane when it happened.

If someone has a severe peanut allergy how can they be in the skyclub since they snack mix has peanuts? Or is the skyclub spread out enough that the dust from peanuts won't iritate an allergy?

Is this something he'll grow out of? BTW, I'm snacking on peanuts as I type this.

I just read the thread in the link you provided and it seems that was about a 10 month old who CHOKED on peanuts. It wasn't due to an allergy.

As I pointed out upthread, the issue is not that anyone needs nuts, it's that Delta is apparently incapable of procuring snack items (other than Pringles) that don't contain nuts. Being told that you can't get your preferred snack item is a nuisance, but being told that your only meal options are mini-pretzels or Pringles is a much bigger issue.

Also, Delta can't control what passengers bring onboard and consume in-flight. If I was counting on a snack box that is unavailable due to a nut allergy onboard, I am quite likely to consume whatever I have in my bag, which likely contains nuts. Offering a nut-free snack box would avoid this whole situation.

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