flying with peanut allergy

[babygirlamg]

anyone have any experience on any flights with a peanut allergy.....i always go southwest but with my daughter having a peanut allergy im trying to find out what is the best airline to go with....she has never been on the plane with me.....

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Go over to the Transportation Board and do a search for "peanuts" in the thread title. You'll find a number of threads on this topic.

Southwest does serve peanuts, but will not if you alert them before you fly about your daughter's allergy:

http://www.southwest.com/html/custo...el-needs/customers-with-disabilities-pol.html

Other airlines have similar policies. You will need to check their websites for their policy.

Keep in mind that no airline can stop people from consuming peanut products on the plane.

 

[Que_Sarah_Sarah]

Airtran no longer serves peanuts. Only pretzels. (At least in my experience)

 

[clanmcculloch]

The recommendation I've most often read is to take the first flight of the day because there's deeper cleaning done overnight as well as to preboard to wipe down all hard surfaces (tray table, chair arms, etc) and to cover the fabric part of the seat with a sheet. Even if the airline doesn't serve nuts, you never know if people who flew before you had nuts which could result in nut residue being left behind.

 

[wendow]

Also a Southwest flier here. We have received the same recommendation from airlines themselves to take the first flight of the day since the plane is cleaner. I usually call the airline a day or two before our trip to let them know my dd has a peanut allergy. They have always been fine not serving peanuts on the flights we have taken. They've even offered NOT to serve the pretzels which say they were "processed in a peanut facility" kind of note. They have always allowed us to pre-board so that we can wipe down all surfaces my dd will be in contact with. We've never had a problem.

 

[MedicGoofy]

My sister in law has flown several times on different carriers and has called ahead like previous poster. Yet, she has gotten some different responses. Some, they have told her, they will try not to serve the allergen while she is flying with them, people can bring what they want on the flight. Which doesn't much help her. Other flights, will continue to serve whichever snacks they have. Some, will serve what they have, but will tell the seats surrounding her, that they need to refrain from eating snacks that have nuts in them.

She is allowed to preboard each flight. There is no question with this. She boards and the person flying with her cleans FOR her. She doesn't generally clean the area. She will sit next to the window, which has also been cleaned, so that she is not surrounded by other people.

She also has her bottle of benadryl on hand to drink and her epi in case of an 'accident' or an emergency.

 

[dancin'girl]

We fly SW and I wish they would get rid of those darn peanuts!!! But...the posters above are right when they said that you cannot control what others bring onto the plane. This is true on any flight, not just SW. I must say that SW is very accomodating and our experiences with them have led us to continue flying with them. I always call ahead to make sure the allergy is noted on our reservation. Then we pre-board and I wipe down our entire row if I can, including the window, arm rests, table, etc. I also have DD sit on a towel that I bring from home. The only time we had an issue, it wasn't the airline's fault -it was a sloppy passenger (although if they didn't serve those peanuts, there wouldn't be an issue!!). I had no choice but to take the open seats that were left (connecting flight) and there were peanuts on the floor right in front of the seats. I tried to clean it as best I could, but I was paranoid the entire flight. DD was absolutely fine. The other two times we have flown we had no problem finding a "clean" row (no peanuts on the floor) and DD was fine then, too. They will serve a nut free snack and announce to the passengers to please refrain from eating any peanut products.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Southwest will ask other passergers not to eat peanuts but will not stop hem if they want. i am pretty sure this is true with other airlines also.

 

[DVCDawn]

My DD12 has severe peanut, tree nut, lentil and chickpea allergies. Whenever possible we fly JetBlue for several reasons:

1. They usually volunteer to eliminate snacks that contain nuts from the selection they offer (free!) to passengers in your row and the rows in front and behind you.

2. The captain often announces that there is a peanut/nut allergy aboard the flight and asks the other fliers to refrain from eating nuts.

3. All seats are leather and easier to clean. No little nut fragments caught in the seat upholstery.

That said, my DD does not react to airborne allergens -- we flew on Continental years ago and they passed out peanuts to everyone and she didn't react. ( I cried and panicked for the entire flight anyway!) And we always make sure she is never seated next to anyone but us.

Hope this helps,
DVCDawn

 

[WheeledTraveler]

I don't have a peanut allergy, but flew Southwest yesterday and there were passengers on my flight who did have one.

Things I noticed:

1) They did announce that there were people with peanut allergies so that they would not be serving peanuts. They served pretzels instead.

2) They did not actually ask passengers to refrain from eating peanut products they'd brought with them.

3) They did not announce anything until we were already boarded. So if someone had a little kid who needed more than a snack and the only thing they'd brought with them was something like PB&J, it was too late for them to get more food.


I preboard as a wheelchair user so was sitting close enough to things to hear when the gate staff let the crew know that there were 2 people (siblings) with peanut allergies so I knew before pretty much any other passengers who weren't part of that party. I had been eating trail mix and I didn't even have time to go wash my hands at that point before I was boarded, which I would have done if I could since I have to touch all sorts of places on the plane to get from my wheelchair at the door to my seat (I did put my trailmix away at the bottom of my bag as soon as I overheard about the peanut allergies). I'm unsure whether the family preboarded or not since I was the first to preboard and didn't pay attention to anyone else and wouldn't have been able to tell anyway.

I just wanted to give you an idea of how I saw things happening as a non-allergy person on a flight that had people with allergies. This was a flight going from BWI to Hartford, but then continuing on to Orlando and, although it was an 8:55AM flight out of BWI, it still was not the first leg of the flight.

 

[Mrsjvb]

Southwest will ask other passergers not to eat peanuts but will not stop hem if they want. i am pretty sure this is true with other airlines also.

nor should they.

 

[Anya22]

We have flown Delta with our peanut-allergic son. We notified them in advance and we had to check in at the desk instead of using the automated kiosk. On both flights, they stuck us in the very back of the plane (which was on an MD-80, I think, and the engines are in the back so it was super loud and we couldn't see out the window, which kind of was a bummer). They also didn't serve peanuts within a few aisles of us either. I wiped everything down when we got on. Although, I did notice peanuts on the floor under our seat. My son didn't have a problem thankfully.

 

[utterrandomness]

nor should they.

Why shouldn't they? There are limits to freedoms, including things that will put other people's lives in danger. I agree that they should let people know in advance so that they can bring other options, but people with allergies should be able to travel on an airplane without fearing for their lives because someone's sandwich is more important to them. It's like smoking in crowds, you may have the "right" to do it, but the right to life trumps the privilege of doing whatever you want.

My apologies for being argumentative, but I believe that people should take others into consideration more than they do.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Why shouldn't they? There are limits to freedoms, including things that will put other people's lives in danger. I agree that they should let people know in advance so that they can bring other options, but people with allergies should be able to travel on an airplane without fearing for their lives because someone's sandwich is more important to them. It's like smoking in crowds, you may have the "right" to do it, but the right to life trumps the privilege of doing whatever you want.

My apologies for being argumentative, but I believe that people should take others into consideration more than they do.

This topic comes up several times a month on every internet discussion board which has anything to do with flying. There's really nothing new to add, except that your freedoms end where mine begin. You don't have a right to travel by airplane. If your allergies are that severe, then don't fly. Yes, people should be considerate of those with allergies and those with allergies should be considerate of everyone else, however your allergies don't trump other people's needs.

(Honestly, I don't even like peanuts).

 

[utterrandomness]

This topic comes up several times a month on every internet discussion board which has anything to do with flying. There's really nothing new to add, except that your freedoms end where mine begin. You don't have a right to travel by airplane. If your allergies are that severe, then don't fly. Yes, people should be considerate of those with allergies and those with allergies should be considerate of everyone else, however your allergies don't trump other people's needs.

(Honestly, I don't even like peanuts).

Yes, fatal allergies should trump other people's conveniences. Because in most cases, eating peanuts is a convenience, something you want to do, not something you have to do. Someone with allergies shouldn't have to sit at home all day because you didn’t pack something that doesn't have peanuts in it. What you do in your own home is your business, when you're out in public you have to take other people's needs into account.

 

[livndisney]

Yes, fatal allergies should trump other people's conveniences. Because in most cases, eating peanuts is a convenience, something you want to do, not something you have to do. Someone with allergies shouldn't have to sit at home all day because you didn’t pack something that doesn't have peanuts in it. What you do in your own home is your business, when you're out in public you have to take other people's needs into account.

And I am sure you take other peoples needs into account as well. So when someone asks you not to use the chemical drenched wipes to wipe down everything you see, you take into account other people's needs.

You also take into account, that there are situations where the only "safe" food available for someone does contain peanut butter. Not everyone eating peanut butter is selfish.

 

[Mrsjvb]

Why shouldn't they? There are limits to freedoms, including things that will put other people's lives in danger. I agree that they should let people know in advance so that they can bring other options, but people with allergies should be able to travel on an airplane without fearing for their lives because someone's sandwich is more important to them. It's like smoking in crowds, you may have the "right" to do it, but the right to life trumps the privilege of doing whatever you want.

My apologies for being argumentative, but I believe that people should take others into consideration more than they do.

simply, your right to fly does not supersede mine. I have a friend who got into a HIGE kerfluffle over a peanut allergy:

her son was at the picky stage., would ONLY eat PBJ, period, for lunch at school. well in comes a kid with a listed peanut allergy. and you know what they told my friend? that HER SON had to eat BY HIMSELF away from all his friends in a totally different building because they didn't want to INCONVENIENCE /Embarrass the allergic child. (translation: mama threw a hissy fit and demanded that every other child in the school NOT be allowed to have any peanut products at all) since my friend was not about to have HER child punished she fought it tooth and nail. and won.

Or me, for instance, there are times when I need protein, fast and by golly if that means I scarf down a Payday in my airline seat I am gonna.

if a person has such sever allergies that being in a confined space puts them at risk THEN DON'T FLY. take the train. drive. whatever. do not assume that your right to a safe environment means you are allowed to tell others what they can and cannot eat.

 

[Hannathy]

And if the peanut allergy folks were reasonable more people would cooperate.

a couple people eating peanuts away from the person isn't going to hurt, an entire planeful opening their packets at the same time could cause a problem, people eating peanut butter isn't going to hurt at all unless the allergy person goes and eats the sandwich. There needs to be a concentrated amount of the protein in the air to cause a reaction and peanut butter doesn't release any.

I have always been curious of 1 thing. Why don't people with peanut allergy wear a mask when they fly if they are that concerned?

 

[Betty Rohrer]

the wipes that most used to clean area are a problem for me. and yes it can be just as bad as a peanut for your child. it can cause me to had trouble breathing, ie needing oxygen. how would you feel if in keeping your child safe another passenger has to be remove by EMT's. it can be a no win situation.

 

[DVCDawn]

Hannathy, mrs. jvb, etc.,

I almost never respond to these kind of posts, however, I feel obliged to now. Full disclosure, I am the parent of a child with life-threatening food allergies.

Some of your arguments are simply ignorant. I'll be specific:

Hannathy says, "And if the peanut allergy folks were reasonable more people would cooperate." Wow. People with food allergies or those caring for those with food allergies have the right to advocate for themselves or their children. I'm guessing that you are not aware that food allergy can be considered a disability under federal laws, such as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It's in Section 504 if you want to look it up. You should also know that for every "unreasonable" food allergy person you encounter, there are plenty of "reasonable" ones standing right behind them. Consider that more than 12 million Americans have food allergies. That’s one in 25, or 4 percent of the population.

Mrs. jvb says, "if a person has such severe allergies that being in a confined space puts them at risk THEN DON'T FLY. take the train. drive. whatever." Again, wow. I'm sure that if you took a moment before clicking on Submit Reply you'd see how preposterous that statement is. Sometimes you need to go somewhere that is not accessible by trains or cars and you must fly. Simple as as that.

The original poster was asking for advice, specific advice. The thread is entitled "Flying with peanut allergy." Based on your statements, it's clear that you don't have a peanut allergy. Why did you read it? Why did you respond? I can only guess that you wanted to insist on your right to eat a Payday bar. (BTW, go ahead and eat your candy bar. But if you're sitting next to me, I'll ask you politely not to.)

I'll admit, I've read through plenty of threads on this board that don't have anything to do with my family's disabilities. I've learned plenty from them and hope they've made me more empathetic. I wish it would have had the same effect on you. Bottom line, this is supposed to be a place of information and support.

DVCDawn