In all of my years of flying, this is certainly a new one.

I am flying ORD to SEA on 9/9/06... and because one passenger has an allergy to peanuts, the crew decides not to serve any snack boxes that has any nuts or anything that has been packaged near a nut facility. In case any smell or any particles get into the air, it won't cause any problems.

So that discounts 2 of the 4 snack boxes and the small snack bags. I understand the need for the health and safety for everyone, but please.

This airborne excuse was just lame, as when I ate my almonds during the course of the movie, it didn't do anything to this passenger.

anyone else seen this extreme service change just for one passenger.

It may seem like an annoyance, and possibly an overreaction, but peanut allergies can kill. It's not like a rash or sneezing - we're talking anaphylactic shock. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphylaxis for a fuller description.

Yeah -- Fish allergy on an international flight. One allergic kid = Catering mayhem because the parents waited until they were on the aircraft before they bothered to mention this life-threatening issue to the crew.

The caterer had to offload everything with fish in it, including the smoked-salmon appetizers in F/C, in case a whiff of fish made it back to Coach where the family was sitting.

Well, in worst case the pax might get very sick and the plane got diverted and you would end up staying the night at OMA.

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Almonds are nuts. Peanuts are legumes (beans).
Anaphalactic shock at 36,000 feet guarantees you an unscheduled stop at the nearest airport large enough to land the plane. The better policy is for the caterers to stop using peanuts.

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That's a great point. It should be a condition of carriage that you notify the carrier of the allergy a certain amount of time before the flight or you don't go. double ,

I love smoked salmon. What do you do if someone has ordered the fish meal (like on LH) and can't eat beef or fowl? There are a lot of people on the planet who don't give a squat about anyone else, or not enough to be proactive.

A lot of people pack trail mix containing nuts (not me).

Did they also notify everyone to throw out such carryons? Otherwise, major .

As for the fish incident, I don't eat meat away from home. I would have demanded an IDB in that case! Sounds like these passengers need their own bubble during the flight, or at least a private charter to get there where they were going.

I mean, what if there were leftover peanuts in the seatback in front of him (like I have discovered may times ) and he reached in touched it?

Lame...

randomman

People with sever allergies to peanuts do not necessarily have any problem with almonds. That's a separate deal.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=382413

A very interesting read about allergies... I do remember the thread!

You are correct, but many nuts are processed on lines that also process Peanuts and may have peanut oil on them. My mixed nuts (no peanuts) from Costco (which are suspiciously similar to the mixed nuts on UA) list peanut oil on the ingredients.

Thanks for posting the thread Wiggums. I too remember the discussion that you referenced.

(Sorry I seem to have migrated over to the UA forum today.)

Regarding anaphylactic shock from a peanut allergy it is very real and very life threatening and needs to be treated with the highest amount of caution.

I did CPR on a 20 month old infant about a month ago who was suffering an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts (not on an airplane). If you've ever seen a blue baby and a helpless mother clutching the kid crying the most dreadful, soul-shattering cry, trust me, you'll begin to take serious allergies seriously.

(The kid lived thanks to prompt drug delivery. And I didn't stop shaking for about 48 hours straight after, and yes, I'm down one pair of underwear.)

It's a courtesy for those flying to notify the carrier in advance of an allergic condition, but if it doesn't happen, and at the end of the day it means you and I can't eat our lox or trail mix for a few hours. Oh well. At least we don't have to live in fear of death every time we enter an enclosed space or put uncontrolled food near our mouths.

Sorry for my little rant. The whole baby nearly dying thing was a life-altering moment for me.

No, in the worst case, the passenger will die. A severe reaction can kill long before a plane could make an emergency landing.

It's funny how people view things.

I have no food allergies and never really gave much thought to the whole thing. However, we found out last year that my son (now three) is highly allergic to peanuts. His doctor gave us an EpiPen. He ended up having a cashew a few months later that was baked in peanut oil. Within 60 seconds he was spitting things up. Then full vomiting. He started choking and we were able to stick him with the EpiPen and then go to the E/R (which we learned later was wrong--call 911 for paramedics).

My point: yes as parents, we have a responsibility to keep our kid away from peanuts, etc. We've flown many times on UA and NZ and simply tell the FAs no nuts. However, the big issue is we can't see every second what a three year old will get into (say peanuts left over from a previous pax in a not properly cleaned seat).

The way I look at it, I don't want to "inconvenience" people but if it was YOUR kid what would you want? I'm sorry if you can't have nuts for a few hours for a particular flight, but isn�t that better than a dead child? I�m sorry I can�t afford my own jet to fly my family wherever I go. But sometimes, in a modern society, we make sacrifices for others.

One thing I want to point out about the EpiPen. It's not a guarantee that everything's better. Our procedures are 1) stick child, 2) call 911. Over time the EpiPen can loose its effectivness. So you can see even if we're prepared, if things go bad, there�s no on time arrival for everyone.

The other thing is that for some reasons, our doctor and allergist didn�t have good reasons, we�re seeing more and more children with allergies to peanuts. My son has two other children in a class of 11 that are also allergic to peanuts!

Just my .02.

PS Edit: no it wasn't us on the flight. We're at home waiting for baby #2 to arrive and praying that she isn't allergic too.

And to be clear, we don't ask everyone else to not have peanuts, we just make sure we're not given any.

Dawg - make sure you check the expiration on the pen before sticking (set a reminder in your calendar or email program w/ a month's notice).

Make sure you don't leave it in temperature extremes (like your glove box) and most epi's have little windows. If it's discolored or has solid particulate, it's probably no longer good (consult your doc).

And yes, always call 911 if there's a suspected allergic reaction. I'm a volley EMT (which is how I ended up doing CPR on the aforementioned infant) and can tell you that our pre-hospital care is what saved the kid (drugs, o2, etc.). Not to mention I think we probably set a land-speed record on the way to the hospital.

I can't imagine what would happen 36k feet up. Except, well, death.

Sorry all it's a bit off topic, but it's good info for those that may not know it.

Thanks for the post. Yes, we get regular replacements and store them inside when we're not out. I keep one in my front pocket if he's out with me; the wife uses her purse which is always with her. I was a bit suprised at the temperature range. Store at 77F/25C. Excursions to 59F/15C to 86F/30C permitted.