Nut allergy on plane

Oh that's good to know. Ds is allergic to cashew and pistachios but we have been told to avoid all tree nuts. He has lots of mangoes in summer and seems to have been fine with it so far but it's something to keep an eye on..

@Whyherewego

This is actually the best explanation I've seen of the reason and now makes sense to me. If we eat the nut product and then touch the toilet door and transfer particles and the allergic person then touches it, they can get the particles from that.
Thank you genuinely for explaining ! I get why they say it now

The slight flaw with that argument is that in these days of often sub 45 minute turn rounds (that’s brakes on to brake off again….) on short haul flights cabin interiors probably only get a decent wipe and seats/carpets hoovered once every 24 hours during a lull at base.

By the time you hop on board a late light return from e.g the Med to the UK the aircraft may have done half a dozen sectors, maybe more, carrying dozens of nut and Toblerone eaters since the last time surfaces were last properly cleaned.

That’s why the advice often offered to those worried by this is to try and pre-board (if the airline facilitates it) and wipe down your furniture…and it’s also why the airlines cannot guarantee a nut free cabin environment.

This appears to have been an airborne reaction.

https://metro.co.uk/2022/06/07/british-airways-girl-with-allergy-nearly-died-as-man-refused-to-stop-snacking-16779250/

FWIW I have a DS with an anaphylactic peanut allergy. It means that we onlly travel on planes that have a nut policy and do not serve nuts with their meals or snacks. Most arilines have the policy available on their website. My worry is when there is code sharing though and you are put on a plane you do not expect. Last year we were supposed to be travelling long haul via Cathay which still serve nuts. My child's allergy consultant ordered blood tests to test for a certain indicator in the blood that would advise us if his allergy was 'more likely' to be airborne than not- but it's not a wholly reliable test. Luckily his test results came back that although he was anaphylactic (which we already knew of course having found out the hard way when he was a toddler) that it was not likely to be airborne.

We always ask to board first and do a deep clean of the aircraft with alcohol rubs. We do the same when we go to cafes or restaurants- wipe everything down first. Issue is that you are more likely to be able to reach medical help while at a cafe than 10 hours en route in the air.

I appreciate it if people are a little bit sensitive to the very real worries and concerns and fears people who have allergies have when they travel. A PP said they just eat the nuts. Well, not eating your snack is unlikely to cause you much more than a slight discomfort compared to what the alternative might be for someone else. And in many cases it's not as simple as saying 'don't travel then, you allergy-ridden wastrel'. Dcs only grandparents live in Australia and they are very old and frail. We would like to see them again before they pass. You can try and account for every single possibility out there, and that's the best anyone can do really.

https://ki.se/en/research/popular-science-and-dialogue/spotlight-on/spotlight-on-food-allergy/airborne-exposure-to-peanuts-did-not-produce-severe-reactions#:~:text=%22The%20amount%20of%20protein%20in,participants%20in%20the%20study%20either.%E2%80%9D

Interesting article

I have a colleague with an airborne nut allergy - at a work event the catering team had something with nuts and although she didn’t eat it she still ended up in hospital with Anaphylaxis.

This was in quite a big room, not a contained aircraft.

I think whoever wrote & published that article is an idiot to be spreading that kind of take on it and encouraging people to minimise the risk.

This is interesting as a study. However, I live by the rule of thought that it only takes one incident with one person...

"Is contact through touch or smell a risk?
People with peanut and allergy often worry that touching or smelling nuts could cause a serious reaction, but research suggests this is not common.

One small study showed that when 30 children with serious peanut allergy had contact with peanut butter through touch or smell, none of them experienced anaphylaxis and none reacted to smell. A third had a mild reaction to touch including redness, itching or rash in a small area, but these were not serious, and no medication was needed. The researchers concluded that at least nine out of ten children with similar allergies would not have a serious reaction to touch or smell, but the study only looked at peanut butter, not other forms of peanut.

In another study, 84 children were positioned half a meter away from a bowl of peanuts for half an hour and none of them had a moderate or serious reaction. The researchers also collected peanut proteins from the air and the amounts of peanut protein were so small they were very unlikely to be able to cause moderate or serious allergic reactions. These studies only looked at peanuts, but there is no reason to think that tree nuts would be any different."

I travelled in business last week.

i lost my hearing aid in the chair and they took they whole thing apart.

they found someone else’s glasses, several spoons and a lot of sweetie wrappers and tissues.

not my hearing unfortunately

they are only surface clean

Yes this too, if there’s no need most people don’t read the ingredients list and wouldn’t think to.

I just eat the nuts.

We are also often allowed to board first if I ask so I can wipe down our seats and tables.

Absolutely. I guess it’s a result of cheaper flights. But public buses are cleaner now.

I’ve never been in business or first so perhaps it is cleaner up the front of the plane.

Also if you are not impacted by nuts, you may be unaware that a product even contains nuts as your health doesn't require ingredients to be checked,

They really need to tell people at check in (maybe an alert on the app?). Telling people on the plane is too late. Many will have already bought snacks or meals to eat on the plane and lots will still eat these anyway as no good or cheap food options on many flights, and some won’t hear or properly register the announcement as lots of other noises and things going on around them (this would be me as I have AuDHD) so won’t even realise.

This is actually the best explanation I've seen of the reason and now makes sense to me. If we eat the nut product and then touch the toilet door and transfer particles and the allergic person then touches it, they can get the particles from that.
Thank you genuinely for explaining ! I get why they say it now

Yes. I have found used tissues and empty snack wrappers around my plane seat. Sanitation appears to be unimportant for some airlines.

Thanks to both of you for this info. I’ve reintroduced pistachio and cashew so thankfully no problem there - just mangoes.

@User746353

Could the allergen rule in airplanes be more about legal liability? Maybe different laws apply to accidental death or injury on planes and the airlines just need to cover their asses.

AFAIK there isn’t an “allergen rule”, airlines tend to have their own individual policies which often make the point that they can’t guarantee a nut free cabin environment for all sorts of reasons from chances of cross contamination at catering facilities right through to the chances of surface contamination due previous occupants.

Also if you listen carefully to the cabin crew announcement at many airlines (if one is made) it is often only a strong suggestion to other passengers that they shouldn’t eat nut products and make passengers aware there is somebody with a food allergen on board, it’s often not an announcement of a total ban.

One of my DC is highly allergic to multiple foods (not nuts funnily enough). The reaction is speedy and dramatic. It's not really possible to control an environment to the extent he needs.

Do planes carry epipens in their first aid?

At least you took responsibility. I was on a flight once and people were asked not to ear nuts. The couple in front of us complained and asked where the person with the nut allergy was. They were told quite close. They had planned to eat a giant toblerone between them on the flight home. They really didn’t need it.

So are pistachio and pink peppercorn. Also cross reactive with cashew, but not as often as pistachio which is from the same family: hazelnut, Brazil nut and almond. My child is fine with mangoes but allergic to pistachio. He can eat other nuts and we have to make sure he eats them regularly to prevent allergies forming

I was on a flight last year where they announced someone on the flight had a nut allergy but this was announced while people were still taking their seats and putting away hand and everything was a bit noisy. I remember thinking there’s no way everyone heard that but I was so glad I did as my children had Nutella snacks with them. I couldn’t stop thinking that the announcement should have been made a lot more loudly and clear as I am certain there would have been a lot of people that were focussed on other things that wouldn’t have heard the muffled announcement.

Mangoes are botanically related to cashews. I read they can trigger a reaction in people with cashew sensitivity.

I did think nuts were banned from aeroplanes and schools entirely. Is that not the case?

No. And I took two flights this week where nuts were given out as snacks.

If I had a severe allergy, I would never trust the general public on this. It isn’t malicious, it’s just that people forget that certain things have nuts in them. Almond croissants and chocolate hazelnut products are always around at my ‘nut free’ work place.