AIBU for eating nuts next to someone with an allergy on a plane?

[PrincessJoann]

Had a bizarre situation today. I was flying from Hawaii to Florida. The stewards were walking around giving out mixed nuts.

The woman seated next to me said to the flight attendants that she didn’t want any because she is allergic to nuts and that there should’ve been a note in their system regarding not serving her nuts.

The attendant said in the survey she’d filled out for the airline regarding injury she had not indicated that it was an airborne allergy and only checked that she couldn’t ingest nuts. She stated they still shouldn’t have served them and she shouldn’t need to be that specific.

The attendants asked her if we needed to make an emergency landing or if she required medical attention. She said no.

The woman asked me if I could not eat the mixed nuts. Everyone around us had an open plastic cup of mixed nuts. I told her I wasn’t sure how my eating them or not would help her in this situation. She said it was just a courtesy.

I told her (truthfully) I hadn’t eaten at all yet and needed to have something in my stomach to take a medication. I asked her if I could go to the back of the plane to eat the nuts then come back. She sort of rolled her eyes but said this was fine.

When I came back she was complaining to the flight attendants about me and asking to be moved, specifically using the term “that asshole.”

I feel badly that I didn’t handle the situation better. AIBU?

Where is she even getting these imaginary biscuits of yours from lol?

She should've filled out the form properly. Clearly she didn't have an airborne nut allergy or everyone else eating nuts would've been an issue.

That said, I would have probably bought some biscuits or crisps and eaten them instead, primarily due to a fear of accidentally pinging a crumb at her, it landing in her gob and me killing her off at 40,000 feet.

She had no need to call you an asshole, tho.

Shrug. He’s a well-known physician-researcher who presents at numerous scientific conferences around the globe each year, so plenty of informed people consider him an authority.

He feels that people who exaggerate their symptoms and reactions are detrimental to public awareness of food allergy. There’s a big difference between intolerance and the rare deadly reaction.

Well said.

I would not forego healthy nuts for some sugar-laden crap biscuit in this scenario.

She didn't send someone else into anaphylactic shock! It literally didn't happen!

Yes, well aware.
But why take the risk? It's a very basic request. Even if she didnt fill out the form. Not going to punish someone for that.

But ok, virtuesignalling.

I'm sure there are alternative "healthy" snacks other than nuts.

You just ask for biscuits and they give them to you. You could probably even wrangle extra biscuits in this situation

On which airline? If it's in economy you don't usually get a choice.

Exactly. If the allergy she has is airborne she would have had a reaction.

I know if I had a severe allergy to nuts and could not be around others eating nuts I would have made it VERY clear as do the two people I know who have this type of allergy. It’s absolutely insane to be so flippant about it when booking a flight. You did nothing wrong.

This 100%

Why are nuts allowed on planes at all? I have often thought that the safest thing would be to make airports free from common allergens such as nuts and eggs.

Yes, and nobody wants to smell a stinky egg sandwich on a plane (eyeballing a certain person). 😂

Because for most nut-allergic people, sitting next to a passenger consuming nuts is NOT a risk. That’s the whole point.

So deprive millions of people per day nuts, eggs, dairy, sesame, strawberries, fish, shellfish, wheat and soy, and make airport restaurants, clubs and bars and aircraft caterers, find menus that avoid all of the above (the top 9 allergens) on the off-chance that someone with a true anaphylactic allergy passes through??

Absurd. And even if that were done, it wouldn’t preclude someone eating, say, peanut butter toast for breakfast and not washing their hands before handling their hoodie or backpack that they’d bring to their seat.

Better for people with truly serious reactions to protect themselves rather than expecting the world to accommodate them. Any doctor would tell you that.

Of course you’re unreasonable. What a question. How selfish of you.

No I didn’t know until I was boarding. But I was more ‘peanutty’ than at almost any other time in my usual day-to-day life, having just crunched a load into my mouth 30 mins prior. I don’t think it’s a massive imposition for airlines and airport lounges to not carry nuts, tbh. There’s always crisps. x

It's not the world, it's airports and aeroplanes. People can eat what they like going to and from the airport and at restaurants but I think there is a good argument for just not serving nuts at airports and on planes. They're not really needed, and they're one of the most common anaphylactic allergies that are spread around by cross contamination. That's not to say this happens every day but its easily avoidable. That's not to absolve responsibility from those with allergies for their own conditions but it just reduces some risk in a setting that could be difficult to manage.

On a recent flight we were asked ot to eat nuts because a passenger ger had an allergy.
It got Me thinking though, how about the meals they serve on oard have they all been checked for nuts.

Lots of people are eating onboard.

2.9 million passengers fly each and every day. Are you seriously suggesting all of the allergens be eliminated from airport food options and catering menus, because a minuscule percent MIGHT have an adverse reaction?

Absurd. People at risk must manage their own condition, not deprive millions of others.

How are you "deprived" for not being able to have a bag of nuts for a few hours?!
I don't think anyone is saying that all of the allergens should be eliminated from airport menus, are they?!
Just it's stupid to have a known, often fatal, allergen onboard an aircraft with recycled air ( don't know the technical term before anyone comes at me lol) as a snack when there's so many more, safer ones to have.
You won't die from being "deprived" 🙄 of a bag of nuts on a plane, but somebody else could quite easily due to entitled people who "want nuts and don't see why I shouldn't'

Tell us you don’t understand the concept inna few facile words. 🙄

In English, please?
Also, concept?