Would you eat a packet of nuts on a plane?

[Purpleturtle45]

I thought it was widely understood that you don't eat nuts on a plane. The woman next to me just cracked a packet open!

Given the amount of people with nut allergies I’m surprised that nuts are still considered reasonable produce in stores and restaurants - but people are selfish.

Of course I eat nuts on a plane often they are handed to me with a drink by the crew!

But this also applies to other allergens like milk, and no one is suggesting that people forgo milk in their tea which they could splash around their seat and tray, or their cheese and onion crisps, which have all the scattering risks of a packet of nuts, or cheese toastie which can happily be smeared over any surface the person touches.

I love nuts but try not to eat them on public transport or in offices. They should not be served on planes. I don’t love them so much that I absolutely est them whenever I wish. I have loved ones with serious nut allergies and am therefore aware of how dangerous exposure can be for some.

Do you say the same about dairy and gluten?

There are people who are deathly allergic to wheat, but we would all still eat sandwiches.

The problem of course is that the airplane isnt cleaned after each flight so while there may not have been a nut allergy sufferer on your flight, there may be on the next one and now there is peanut dust on lots of the surfaces.

I think peanuts are particularly bad as they are so dusty and even a tiny bit of the dust can cause a serious reaction.

Another poster mentioned milk, but milk dries in and people are unlikely to pour milk (or cheese or bread, etc) all over their fingers and then touch the tray, seatbelt, headrests, etc.

Just think about how your finger look after eating peanuts compared to a cheese sandwich, there is much more of the allergen after the nuts. You have to wipe your hands after eating peanuts, not so much after a sandwich.

People being intolerant to gluten is not an allergic response generally, eg in the case of coeliac disease it’s very serious but you won’t get an anaphylactic reaction.
People are allergic to wheat however, and that may include the gluten bit so it’s complicated. But they’ll call it a wheat allergy usually.

Overall, studies have shown that peanut and nut allergy is associated with higher rates of accidental exposure, severe reactions and potentially fatal anaphylaxis.
They’re taken seriously for good reason.

Most anaphylactic reactions aren’t fatal, but it’s very difficult to know which ones will be, so immediate treatment with adrenaline is always recommended, followed by a trip to a and e.

I love snacking on nuts, but I wouldn’t ever take them on a plane, love Snickers too, but again wouldn’t take in on a plane. It’s not a big deal to me to pick a different snack, some crisps and a Mars bar instead.

A aeroplane is one of the worst places I can imagine being if someone did suffer an anaphylactic reaction. And many people have peanut or tree nut allergies, who haven’t yet had anaphylaxis, so don’t have an EpiPen. Just not worth the risk, for an easily substituted snack.

Glad you said this. One of my DC has severe mill allergy and nobody ever comsiders the implications of this.

You can buy them on the plane to eat as a snack so why not? I’m sure if someone had a severe nut allergy then they would mention it and ask you not to?

They sell cigarettes and alcohol at airports too. It’s generally considered that these aren’t for consumption on a plane.

I would unless otherwise advised.

We flew to Japan this Sumner and when everyone was finally seated the flight attendant announced that there was someone on board with an extreme nut reaction so please can everyone refrain from eating them.

Of course you’re going to abide by an announcement like that, but I would eat nuts if they were provided and there was no announcement

You are told explicitly not to consume these on a plane.

You are only told not to eat nuts if they know someone has an allergy. I have flown 6 times in the last 10 days. I was given peanuts on 4 of those flights.

good for you.

Don’t be so ridiculous

Nuts are healthy and for a lot of people are an important part of their diet

Its unfortunate that some people have serious life threatening allergies and of course these need to be taken seriously but preventing a whole food group being produced and sold is an utterly disproportionate response

Fuck off. Peanut allergies are not the only allergies.

My son has multiple allergies, including egg, dairy, oats and a bunch of other random ones. If you take all nuts off the menu, his diet is suddenly very restricted. I would never, ever eat/serve him anything with nuts if crew announced someone on board is allergic but equally there is no way I'd abstain otherwise.

And yes, I was served a bag of peanuts on BA on Friday, in business class.

But dairy? Which is the most deadly allergy in the UK?

This is NOT true.

See the figure in my post at 8.45 today.

ETA All allergies need to be taken extremely seriously, but peanuts and nuts do result in most fatalities in the UK. Dairy allergies need to be taken very seriously too obviously and unfortunately people don’t seem to be as aware that it’s an issue especially for children.

Well so I thought, but it’s the third time on this thread someone has said that dairy causes the most allergy deaths in the UK…

It wouldn’t occur to me not to, but if asked then obviously I wouldn’t. Surely they make announcements if someone on the flight has an allergy so severe that someone eating nuts on the plane would cause them a problem?

I wouldn't necessarily take nuts on a plane, but the crew often hand them out with drinks so I would eat those for sure. I assume if a passenger is allergic to nuts they will tell the airline in advance.

What a silly notion. Nuts are a perfectly normal travel snack. If someone's allergies are so serious that they would be triggered by someone eating them on the plane they would also be triggered by the traces remaining on the breath and hands of anyone who ate them in the terminal concourse before boarding, and traces on the upholstery from previous flights. I do greatly sympathise with the limitations that nut allergy sufferers have in their lives but there is no such thing as a genuinely nut free environment and unless we decide at a global level to deliberately make all nut trees extinct (I do not recommend this) then all nut allergy sufferers must learn to live with the knowledge that any environment that isn't their own home will include allergens. The only places where it's reasonable to have a no-nuts policy are thr nurseries and schools for younger children who are still learning how to manage their allergies but even then those policies don't create a genuinely nut-free environment (any child may have peanut butter on toast for breakfast and get a smear on their uniform) but the policy reduces the risk a bit. No one is forced to get on a plane, any allergy sufferer must decide for themselves whether to take the risk knowing that there is no reasonable way for the plane to be allergen-free.

Packets of nuts aren't my snack of choice so I wouldn't eat them but last time I flew DS would only eat peanut butter sandwiches (very fussy child) so I did take a peanut butter sandwich for him but if there was an announcement asking people not to eat nut products, or if someone sitting nearby asked people not to eat them, then I wouldn't have let him eat it of course. But the airline we usually fly on doesn't make announcements about allergies, they will only ask the people in nearby seats to refrain from eating the allergen.

Nut allergens are not airborne. If you have an allergy you need to be taking precautions yourself, not expecting everyone else to do it for you. The only place that’s acceptable is a restaurant.

The really silly thing is that if they do an announcement it's usually after everyone's been seated for 10 minutes. By which time snacks will already be being consumed by some passengers. There should be a written notification 24 hours beforehand to all passengers if they have any expectation of it being taken seriously. Giving the announcement after everyone is seated is a pure arse-covering exercise by the airline to reduce their likelihood of being sued. It does not actually reduce the real risk for the allergy sufferer.