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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think they should just ban nuts on all flights

999 replies

Ijustwantaquietlife · 21/08/2017 15:45

Just reading this and it's heartbreaking, seems like such a simple change to ban nuts on all flights to help protect people.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4809148/Former-ITV-producer-reveals-shocking-effect-nut-allergy.html

I've heard several people on mn saying they've been on flights where they were banned, seams to make sense as nut allergies are so widespread to just ban all together imo.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4809148/Former-ITV-producer-reveals-shocking-effect-nut-allergy.html

OP posts:
4691IrradiatedHaggis · 23/08/2017 11:20

My dd is a peanut and almond allergy sufferer. Thank god she doesn't react to traces or being in the same room as nuts but I'm aware this could change at any point so air travel is still a worry for us.

I'm not a nut allergy sufferer, but an egg one. As I mentioned in the thread, my eyes swell up and close if someone cooks an egg in the same room as me.
So it's kind of frightening to think that there's some out there that are insistent "airborne allergies are a myth." They really are not.
It doesn't take a huge leap of imagination to imagine throats and airways instead of eyes could close up in contact to an allergen.
Must be so frightening as a nut allergy sufferer to read some of the responses on here.

mumto2two · 23/08/2017 11:32

Some of the comments early on in this thread are incredible.
Firstly, there is no such thing as a 'slight' allergy. If there are specific IgE antibodies in your blood, you are allergic to that substance. The level of that does not necessarily correlate to the extent of any reaction. And as for those equating nut allergies to other allergies such as milk, it is generally known that most children with milk or other food allergies, tend to grow out of them. That is not the case with nut allergies. My daughter was diagnosed as being allergic to milk, strawberries and nuts when she was 3. She has had two anaphylactic reactions relating to nuts. Her reactions to milk and strawberries were quite different, and by 7 she had grown out of them and her IgE levels had dropped. Her nut specific IgEs remain high however, and she carries an epipen everywhere. There are no guarantees that an Epipen will be effective, so it is important that there is recourse to immediate medical care. That is not possible at 35,000 ft ! A lot of people think if it doesn't affect them or their loved ones, then it shouldn't affect their freedom to eat what they wish.

trixymalixy · 23/08/2017 11:35

Agree haggis. My DS has reacted in the past to milk being steamed for coffee, protein powder being poured out in his vicinity and a cake being baked with almond flour in it. In all of these cases he was not near enough for it to have been skin contact from traces. Airborne reactions do occur.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 23/08/2017 12:24

I said it before and I'll say it again - it baffles me that there are people who are reading first-hand accounts of people having severe allergic reactions to airborne allergens, yet are still denying point blank that airborne reactions occur!

EvansOvalPies · 23/08/2017 12:44

SDTG Aahh, that's apparently because these accounts are only anecdotal. So they count for nothing. Hard-written evidence in official recorded report form is the only thing that will be believed by some. Although not all experiences will have been recorded, of course. As some families are too distraught to even think of submitting a written report for a study to be published online, just so that they will be believed.

EvansOvalPies · 23/08/2017 12:51

We booked a flight a couple of years ago with British Airways, to the US. As usual, they contracted out to an American company (can't remember if it was United or American Airlines). I mentioned nut allergy for DD on booking-in form for British Airways. On flights (now run by American company), everyone was served same meal. Chocolate cake included, so I queried the ingredients (regarding nuts), as a precaution. Cabin crew member just shrugged her shoulders, said "I don't know, we in the US don't make such a fuss about nuts as you British people do". So basically, take it or leave it. We left it. And haven't flown to the US since, thus missing two recent family weddings.

It's bonkers.

kkkkaty123 · 23/08/2017 12:51

I have no experience of food allergies in myself or my children. The affects that some of you are describing sound horrific and I'm prepared to take your word for it. I can not think of one food group / item that I would be unhappy to forgo if it meant possibly saving someone's life or causing them great discomfort.

CorporalNobbyNobbs · 23/08/2017 12:58

That's mad Evans I've found them to take it very seriously in the States themselves, although the airlines are often not nut free.

BeALert · 23/08/2017 13:08

Cabin crew member just shrugged her shoulders, said "I don't know, we in the US don't make such a fuss about nuts as you British people do". So basically, take it or leave it. We left it. And haven't flown to the US since, thus missing two recent family weddings.

This is not a typical reaction in the US. We are in the US, DH flies weekly and this is absolutely not the case on the flights he takes.

BeALert · 23/08/2017 13:08

...but I will follow that up by saying he doesn't fly American any more...

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 23/08/2017 13:10

and I'm prepared to take your word for it

Exactly

I like nuts but it won't kill me not to have any on a plane

Want2bSupermum · 23/08/2017 13:14

DH avoids American Airlines because they are crap. United is a much better airline and Delta have been brilliant with us. My cousin travels with Air Canada with her highly sensitive son. They carried epi pens on his flights in addition to what my cousin carries for him.

MyStomachHurts · 23/08/2017 13:14

I simply don't see the harm in banning them. Woul dit actually hurt to not be able to eat a nut? Peoples lives are at risk, how does that even compare to a nut craving?

SinisterBumFacedCat · 23/08/2017 13:19

YANBU. People are addicted to nicotine and manage to handle flights without a fag for several hours, if you can't fly without eating something that puts other people's LIVES at immediate risk then you have a problem.

I'm a nut allergy sufferers, it's not a new thing, I've had it since I was a very young child and distinctly remember that horrible feeling that the nut was stuck in my throat and chocking me, it's not pleasant. I do my best to avoid foods with nuts in but it doesn't help that some places have a very lacklustre attitude to nut allergies, most places you have to ask to see the ingredients yourself.

LadyinCement · 23/08/2017 13:27

I am a bit on the fence here. Obviously banning nuts on flights is possible, but I still think that parents of sufferers/sufferers need to take personal responsibility. What if some of the passengers do not understand English when an announcement is made? Or they weren't listening? What if someone eats their own food which they don't realise contains nuts?

If my child were severely allergic, I think I'd avoid flights full stop as the risk seems too great.

MsHarry · 23/08/2017 13:32

Definitely. Nobody NEEDS to eat nuts on a flight. Safer for all if banned.

Lucysky2017 · 23/08/2017 13:33

It is very difficult. I often take eggs on to planes - they are one of my foods of chocie for journeys (airline food never meets my requirements and is often junk these days anyway). So now we hear eggs might kill someone too. But what if there are nuts on your clothes from the day before?

I hate the smeller on the clothes of smokers and also if someone has a cat or dog and sits next to me I am genuinely extgremely ill within a very short period. Could we force people not to travel who have cats and dogs or are smokers to accommodate me?

4691IrradiatedHaggis · 23/08/2017 13:33

What if some of the passengers do not understand English when an announcement is made? Or they weren't listening?
All the more reason to stop handing out nuts, surely? It's about minimising the risk, not eradicating it completely.

MsHarry · 23/08/2017 13:33

If my child were severely allergic, I think I'd avoid flights full stop as the risk seems too great.

Ridiculous!

MsHarry · 23/08/2017 13:34

It's the dust from peanuts that is the problem, eggs don't create dust.

4691IrradiatedHaggis · 23/08/2017 13:35

Could we force people not to travel who have cats and dogs or are smokers to accommodate me?

Correct me if I'm wrong but cats and dogs don't tend to fly with the passengers on a plane? Never seen a dog curled up by its owner's feet on a plane before.
So how is that even comparable?

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 23/08/2017 13:35

I'm sure the parents do take personal responsibility, @LadyinCement - they know that, even if the airline do make an announcement, it's not going to make the flight 100% nut-free - but it can and should reduce the risk of exposure to the allergens.

SinisterBumFacedCat · 23/08/2017 13:39

Incidentally Flew on Quantas Long haul 16 years ago and they already had a no nuts policy.

BeyondThePage · 23/08/2017 13:45

Haggis -
"If you’re travelling with a recognised assistance dog, it can travel with you free of charge in the cabin of your British Airways flight. "

I have seen a few on UK flights.

RockyBird · 23/08/2017 13:51

DH and I were served nuts with our G&Ts on an internal BA flight last November.

I am not allergic to them but was surprised they still served them.

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