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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think it's nuts to serve nuts on an aeroplane?

134 replies

ontosecondary · 13/10/2014 16:09

www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2787807/british-airways-denies-request-not-serve-nuts-flight.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

and to hope that someone knows why airlines persist in doing this?

OP posts:
Original poster
ontosecondary · 13/10/2014 18:19

Hmm, IA in danger of being held to be wholly R.

OP posts:
KnackeredMuchly · 13/10/2014 19:44

Yanbu OP. It's not a necessary food group people will need for even a 20 hour flight.

Quite amazed reading the article that Ryannair accommodated everything BA wouldn't - although they still had one stubborn arsehole cause a life/death reaction Sad

I was delighted to read they banned him from flying. Can't believe Ryannair are the good guys! Shock

TSSDNCOP · 13/10/2014 19:51

I was surprised BA had started serving nuts again when I got a flight in the summer. It didn't help that they were completely minging TBH.

I do know that whilst you may have thought nuts were banned on aircraft, I've had them so frequently in Upper Class cabins you wouldn't believe. They were served warmed in little bowls on BA and AA flights.

Do upper class cabins have different air?

Greengrow · 13/10/2014 20:26

It's very difficult. In this family it is one of our major food groups. We would more often than not have loads of nuts with us.

Casperthefriendlyspook · 13/10/2014 20:29

What about other food allergies? I'm anaphylactic with shellfish. I have to inform the airline, but have never heard an announcement of 'no prawns', for example. Just genuinely curious. I know others with other allergies, yet the main focus seems to be on nuts....

TeamScotland · 13/10/2014 20:33

If you were asked not to open and consume them on a flight due to another passenger's allergy, you just wouldn't would you? Only a completely mindless cunt would ignore that request.

TSSDNCOP · 13/10/2014 20:36

I think Casper it's because it's common to serve nuts with drinks. Airlines such as BA serve comp drinks and it's posh innit to serve with the nuts it at least it would be if the ones I had on Julys BA flight didn't taste like the Devils own bollocks

Greengrow · 13/10/2014 20:41

When we go on trips as we tend to eat paleo the sorts of foods we eat are not serve on planes (which concentrate on junk food which would make us ill ) so we have to take things like veg raw, meat and certainly nuts. I will often be carrying nuts. I have never been asked by an airline what types of foods I carry and if they are foods to which someone nearby might be allergic. I virtually always have eggs as well by the way and people have egg allergies. Strawberries is another product some people might be allergic to and many of us who bring whole good foods with us rather than relying on sugar junk might have. It is hard to get this right because what the air line serves is a tiny part of the problem. Obviously if an airline has a long list of foods I cannot bring on a plane I would not bring them on and the same if someone near me said get those eggs removed to the front of the plane or I will die of course I'd do that.

ProudAS · 13/10/2014 20:41

Some people are severely allergic to berries or milk protein. Should we ban then too ???? Perhaps we should ban medications in case another passenger us allergic!!

fairgame · 13/10/2014 20:43

I find some of the comments from the DM readers quite brutal!

MrSheen · 13/10/2014 20:44

'Traditionally' the specific problem with nuts has been that they get all dusty in the bag, then the bag is opened and the difference in pressures propels the dust into the air where it is circulated around. They also became as issue because it used to be totally normal for every passenger to be given a bag of nuts, but shellfish is rarer on planes (I imagine its a bit of a pita from a food safety pov anyway).
People have reacted to milk on planes but you don't hear of that being banned either.

SadOldGit · 13/10/2014 20:50

Most sensible airlines should just ban nuts on flights. Flew last year with EasyJet ( brilliant service) who made announcement re no nuts etc. DD2 bought children snack pack from trolley, which contained...................nutella spread! - she didn't open it mind.

DD1s boyfriend has severe nut allergy (cue us carrying epipens everywhere) so I support a nut ban - easier for all

Whyisitsodifficult · 13/10/2014 21:00

I agree with other posters who ask about all the various allergies some people have. As a vegetarian family, nuts are a great source of protein for us and it drives me crazy that my children cannot have a peanut butter sandwich in school! How do families with nut allergy sufferers cope when they are in an uncontrolled environment? Do they just never go to a restaurant in case the table next to them are eating nuts? As I understand it some children are being cured of their nut allergy by eating microscopic bits of nut to build up their tolerance to them. Why are more people allergic to nuts now than 20 years ago!? It's my bugbear as they're such a great nutritional food!

Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost · 13/10/2014 21:12

They should have the medical information about their passengers and if any have nut allergies then for that journey nuts should be completely banned
The cabin crew have a duty of care to their passengers after all.
Y.N.B.U

hiddenhome · 13/10/2014 21:37

Whyisitsodifficult

Wow, such irritation coming from you Hmm sorry that these potentially life threatening situations are putting you out.

Children cannot be easily 'cured' of nut allergy. Research is ongoing. Also, many children are severely allergic to several types of nut, not just peanuts.

Do you have any idea of the stress involved in caring for a severely allergic child? No, you don't. When ds1 was taken into the emergency room, the first thing the stupid nurse said to me was "the last person we had in here with peanut allergy, died"...........her words haunted me throughout ds1's childhood and I ended up with severe panic attacks and depression as a result of the stress.

naty1 · 13/10/2014 22:15

I was so scared when gave DD first nuts at 2 about allergies. As i can imagine how awful it would be. She has a mild soya allergy so bad enough reading packets for that.
Ban nuts on planes no one would starve.

Whyisitsodifficult · 13/10/2014 22:21

Hiddenhome. Enlighten me then, just how do you go about life? You cannot possibly ban peanuts or any other type of nut from the world. So how do you get on public transport, go to the library, cinema etc knowing that someone may have nuts on them? Other people have severe allergies but it's always nuts that get the bad press. Interestingly the Anaphylaxis society go against the idea of banning nuts in schools! Education is obviously needed but you can't ban everything as there are lots of different allergens!

Aeroflotgirl · 13/10/2014 22:26

The responses are shocking. So somebodies right to eat nuts on a flight, trumps sombodies right to life.

Aeroflotgirl · 13/10/2014 22:31

No whyisit you cannot ban and that is why people with severe nut allergies carry and epi pen, but at 30000 feet with tge same air circulating through the cabin, it is extremely difficult to get help fast. I am sure you won't wilt nit eating nuts of nut products on a flight.

Casperthefriendlyspook · 13/10/2014 22:33

Good point about nuts getting dusty in packets. I'd be a bit Confused if they started serving bags of prawns certainly! I've had 3 anaphylactic reactions in the 20 years I've been allergic - twice in restaurants where there was cross contamination, and once at my parent's house, when my dad hadn't washed fish from the fishmonger (oops). Thankfully it's never been an issue on a plane - I would be worried sick if either of the DCs had a nut allergy as it seems to be one of the more difficult to avoid....

MrSheen · 13/10/2014 22:36

Lots of people with allergies don't eat out. People wash stuff, sit on coats at the cinema, take their own food to parties, avoid high risk places. People manage, but what is really galling is when they are told that their incurable, life threatening, pita, medical condition is annoying to other people, as if it's akin to having noisy headphones in the quiet carriage and they should just be a bit more considerate.

My nut allergic child is also a veggie, btw. Do you not think I wouldn't fucking love for him to be able to eat nuts the same as your kids can?

Why are more people allergic to nuts now than 20 years ago!?

Pretty sure it's because EasyJet stopped serving them on flights.

hiddenhome · 13/10/2014 22:41

I'm not going to enlighten you about anything whilst you're being so unpleasant.

What do you want these allergic kids to do, fuck off and die in a corner or something?

Go and visit the Anaphylaxis Campaign website if you want info and go to the Allergies section here if you want insight.

PinkSquash · 13/10/2014 22:42

How can not eating nuts on a flight be worse than potentially killing someone.

Flights are pressurised, planes and trains not so, as with any allergy you have to be fucking careful with everything.

hiddenhome · 13/10/2014 22:43

You wouldn't be this judgemental and unpleasant if someone's kid was suffering from a potentially fatal heart condition or something.

wobblyweebles · 14/10/2014 02:22

Whyisitsodifficult

We do eat out despite having a child with nut allergies. Here's the difference between eating out and her being exposed to kids eating nuts in school. I'll type it slowly so it's easier for you to understand but really I would have thought you could work this out for yourself.

When she's with us in a restaurant, we can watch her closely so that if someone else eats nuts we can prevent them from touching her.

Also because we are with her we are alert to any signs of allergic reaction, which means we can treat her immediately.

On the other hand, in school she has been in situations where an unsupervised child has eaten peanut butter then either touched her or (my personal favourite) waved the peanut butter sandwich at her face to wind her up.

When she had a reaction at school it took a while for anyone to notice, because they had a lot of children being supervised by a small number of supervisors.

I can't explain why so many more children now have peanut allergies but as it is clearly true perhaps instead of whining about it we could try to make their lives safer instead of whining about how unfair it is to have a food group removed from your lives in some limited situations?