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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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:
FeralBeryl · 23/08/2017 13:54

For all the people banging on about 'what's the article got to do with planes?'

It shows you exactly what can happen to someone after being exposed to nuts when they have a severe allergy.

Not only can it kill you, it could 'just' leave you completely paralysed, unable to speak, move, live independently.
I saw the woman on TV, I saw her photos from before the incident and I cried watching her now. She had a warning card, 2 epipens, anti histamines and this still happened.

We desperately need to ban nuts inflight.
I challenge anyone to watch the clip on This Morning on YouTube then say you'd be happy to be responsible for doing that to another human being simply for an in flight snack.

4691IrradiatedHaggis · 23/08/2017 13:55

"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.

Ah right, didn't know that, thanks. Makes sense that guide dogs might be allowed to accompany.
I've been known to react badly in a house I'd never visited before - erratic breathing, shallow breaths. For the life of me had no clue why. Until they brought in a cat and chest went full on tight. In a situation like that you just get the hell out of there. How do you do that on a plane? You can't there's nowhere to go.
My point being if it was dogs I reacted to, I wouldn't expect people to not take guide dogs on planes.
Hard, isn't it? Banning nuts though is just such a small thing, and I'm genuinely baffled as to why some see it as eroding their personal rights to a bag of nuts. It's common decency, human life, and a bag of friggin nuts! Why can't you wait a few hours? It's about minimising risk. Not getting rid of it completely.

4691IrradiatedHaggis · 23/08/2017 14:08

You know what, this is a really important subject and just shows how much ignorance around allergies there still are out there.
They have me confused and I have some, as there's just so many different strains of reactions. What one could have a mild reaction to, others could have a strong one.
Just musing, but why do MN threads stop being able to post on after 40 pages? As it's going to get lost in the midst of time and forgotten about and people need to stay aware.
Needs stickying, this thread in my opinion.

DeleteOrDecay · 23/08/2017 14:08

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?

Pure whataboutary.

Not flying because of an allergy is beyond ridiculous.

If someone eats nuts on a plane, despite an announcement being made, then they should be held personally responsible for endangering someone else's life. It's not the allergic persons problem if they don't listen to announcements made on a plane. However the person eating the nuts on the plane makes it everyone's problem by causing someone to go into anaphylaxis and having the flight diverted and everyone's holiday being delayed as a result.

I can't believe the prospect of having your flight diverted and delayed, thus losing valuable hours of your holiday that most people will have worked hard to pay for, isn't enough incentive to just abstain from eat nuts on a plane.

Like I said, utter pig-headedness.

LadyinCement · 23/08/2017 14:09

I often take eggs on to planes - they are one of my foods of chocie

OMG!! A hard-boiled egg in an enclosed space! I would freak if the acrid farty smell of eggs assaulted my nose on a flight...

Lucysky2017 · 23/08/2017 14:11

Yes airlines serve egg in salads though. Everything is so contradictory!

None of us want to kill anyone however so if there are measure that need to be taken that are better overall for everyone than just saying if you have X (you are 40 weeks pregnant or have very bad thrombosis or certain allergies) you must never fly then that is fine by me.

4691IrradiatedHaggis · 23/08/2017 14:17

Yes airlines serve egg in salads though. Everything is so contradictory!

Already cooked eggs in products aren't going to have the airborne proteins though. Which is the problem here.
So not a threat like a packet of nuts would be.

DeleteOrDecay · 23/08/2017 14:30

Eggs do not produce a dust that in A confined space can be fatal. They generally have to be consumed to cause a reaction.

I don't know how many times it needs to be said on this thread before it sinks in.

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 23/08/2017 14:32

If your egg is producing dust i would suggest you dont eat it...

raviolidreaming · 23/08/2017 14:34

Why is this now about protecting Lucy's right to clean eating / living off eggs?! How self-absorbed can someone be?!

4691IrradiatedHaggis · 23/08/2017 14:38

Eggs do not produce a dust that in A confined space can be fatal. They generally have to be consumed to cause a reaction

I think the poster may have been referring to me with the post, who said that I don't have to be eating an egg in order to react - my eyes swell up and close if an egg is being fried in the same room as me.
So not necessarily needed to be eaten or indeed touched in order to cause a reaction.
As you say though, someone eating eggs on a plane is NOT the same - they're already cooked/in the food, and they don't give off any airborne proteins. So not comparable to eating nuts which WOULD be a problem for nut sufferers due to the dust involved with the nuts.
Banning nuts on planes is sensible as it minimises the risk. No need to ban eggs as it's totally different. There is no airborne dust.

DeleteOrDecay · 23/08/2017 14:47

Exactly 4691.

trickster78 · 23/08/2017 15:11

Argh. How many times do the same statements have to be made?

We take absolute responsibility for my daughter's allergies. You have no idea what it is like to have a condition where benign food can kill. The amount of thought that has to go into EVERY SINGLE DAY to keep her safe. Not a choice. Just alive. A day out. Where could we stop for safe food? Oh, nowhere. Let's pack 2 meals and snacks in case of delays. School treats. Provide an alternative. Or, not told in time and she has nothing. Every. Single. Time.
Teachers that don't listen and hand out chocolate. School dinners. Weddings. Family parties. Provide own food. Or, multiple conversations that aren't always adhered to. Sleepovers - well. Too hard, the kids can come here. Parties - here's your food, no cake for you as usual. Thousands of conversations about how to use the epipen. Oh, could you sign a disclaimer as we can't legally administer it (bollocks). Even the food in hospital isn't safe for her.

I don't want pity, my kid is awesome. She deals with it all admirably. I refuse to not let her see the world because of ONE snack that could easily not be provided and an alternative given for those lucky people who don't have to think about food all the time.

Fluffypinkpyjamas · 23/08/2017 15:15

Well we know all the people we would hate to be want to avoid in real life , just reading some of these fucked up selfish bastard posts. Some are so dumb I think they must be on a wind up.

MsHarry · 23/08/2017 15:26

Pretty anti-social to consume eggs on a plane! Stinky!

4691IrradiatedHaggis · 23/08/2017 15:33

Pretty anti-social to consume eggs on a plane! Stinky!

Yep, and that's a separate thread all in its own right. People eating stinky foods in enclosed places. Smile

LadyinCement · 23/08/2017 15:47

Yes, it is a separate thread. Drives dh mad on his commute. Very brown banana woman every morning squashing it over a bowl of cereal... on a swaying train.

But re nuts, I was trying to say that yes, it is right to ban nuts, but you cannot be 100% sure that everyone has received the message. The airline might not serve nuts, but there will be clueless passengers and defiant arses; how will you police a flight of 300+ people?

TronaldDumpy · 23/08/2017 15:55

What's a "brown banana woman". Is it her shape?

LadyinCement · 23/08/2017 16:00

Woman with Brown Banana. I have no idea if she is a woman of colour suffering from scoliosis.

4691IrradiatedHaggis · 23/08/2017 16:15

The airline might not serve nuts, but there will be clueless passengers and defiant arses; how will you police a flight of 300+ people?

By not serving packets of nuts with drinks, it's minimising the risk.
It's a risk that just isn't needed. True, it would be hard to police people twats who decided they were going to open their own bag of nuts they'd brought as it was their right to a snack over life. So anything that lessens the risk is surely a good thing.

Andrewofgg · 23/08/2017 16:48

Tell everyone that if the passenger with the allergy has a serious reaction they will have to divert the plane and everyone will be delayed for hours and let public opinion do the rest.

DeleteOrDecay · 23/08/2017 16:58

Maybe a fine combined with a lifetime ban from the airline if they consume peanuts on a plane after being asked not to might be enough of a deterrent.

If people won't abide by a simple request out of common decency and thought for others, hit them where it hurts most, their wallet.

worridmum · 23/08/2017 17:00

They could do something like in Japan where families of people commiting suicide by jumping in front of the train have to pay for the disruption (mostly taken out of life insurnce or there estate not directly from the family but it worked and reduced the number of people jumping in front of trains)

So you eat nuts despite being told not to you have to stump up a fine for the costs assoicated with diverted travel deleyed arrival missing of transfers etc.

The number of defiant arses would certianly bulk at being defiant if they would lose A LOT of money for being defiant.

BeALert · 23/08/2017 17:06

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 else would you like us to do to take personal responsibility?

We already avoid nuts. Carry medication. Check off the box saying 'Nut allergy' whenever it's offered. Wipe down the seating area in the plane. Ask people around us to stop eating nuts if they do start. See an allergy specialist regularly.

Is there something we're missing that you think we should be doing?

LadyinCement · 23/08/2017 17:07

It's easy to avoid eating a packet of peanuts, but it would be hard to prosecute/ban for life someone who was eating chocolate/biscuits/bread and didn't realise they contained nuts. I just read that gluten-free bread contains nuts, and people may take home-made sandwiches on board. And how would you identify the source of a nut allergy attack? It just seems to me that it would be difficult to police a complete nut ban. If I were a sufferer/parent I would not be confident.