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!

Not evidence but my niece who has a nut allergy can detect nuts in the room. She says her lips tingle in the presence of nuts.

Having said that I would eat nuts on a plane unless there was an announcement not to. I've only had that happen twice in 50 years of flights.

But in those places they aren't trapped in a tube in the sky, possibly many hours from the advanced medical care they require should they suffer a reaction.

We were asked not to eat anything brought from home on a flight. As if their food/ sandwiches/ to our purchased at an airport would be any safer! No mention of a particular allergy on board. No offer of free, allergy tested food from the airline! If someone were that allergic, why would they travel cattle class on a scheduled holiday flight?

For the majority of people the issue is surface contamination rather than airborne allergies. Toilet handles, light switches, belt buckles etc etc.

I'm the same, blood pressure in my boots, head to toe rash, wheezing if they're in the vicinity, even if I haven't touched anything... but there's 'no scientific evidence' of airborne allergies :/

Last Monday.

Apologies if you know this but just in case - just be aware not all airlines, even in europe, have a policy when it comes to allergens and associated announcements.

If there's no policy the crew won't accommodate requests and that has led to some awkwardness or worse for some travellers who thought the announcements and what goes with it is standard across the whole industry.

It pays to do the homework on this when choosing airlines.

My DS is allergic to a lot of things (except nuts!) so nuts are a very important part of his diet. However we just flew a 12 hour flight and I packed snacks with no nuts as backup in case the airline made an announcement not to eat any. I fly long haul 3 times a year and it's happened twice in the last 2 years that they asked us not to eat or open anything with nuts in so it's not that rare. Be prepared.

I do feed him the nut containing food if no such announcement is made.

Which airline is it? Contact them in advance, make a Special Assistance request (it may be too late but better now than Friday).

I'm cabin crew and we serve nuts in First class and business class. Not an issue at all unless we've been made aware of someone with a nut allergy in which case we make an announcement asking passengers not to consume them

What airline was that with? I'd be extremely pissed off if I got on a plane and was told I couldn't eat my own food, as I have coeliac disease and the gluten free options on planes these days are absolutely dire, checked several airlines recently and they all offered the same thing - vegan lasagne. I don't like lasagne at the best of times but I especially wouldn't like a vegan version, as last time I tried vegan cheese I almost puked.

I don't avoid eating anything "just in case" but if there's a request not to open nuts (or something else) I'd of course comply with it.

I'm often served nuts on flights. Even when I'm not, I had a snickers on a flight a couple of days ago.

Yes, planes serve nuts! Occasionally there will be an announcement that there is someone on board with a severe allergy and then they don’t sell the nuts they stock on that particular flight. In that situation I’m sure the lady in question wouldn’t have eaten hers either

I was on a flight yesterday where they announced there was a nut allergy sufferer on board and please don’t eat anything with nuts.

DD and I had to Google (quickly, before we took off!) English translations of the ingredients list on the food we had bought in the airport. Both things contained nuts so they remained unopened and got binned when we got home 😩 - €30+ worth.

So to answer your question - I wouldn’t even think about it if no announcement was made, so yes, I would eat nuts then. But obviously not if they asked us not to.

it did make me think though - would be really helpful if airlines captured this info in advance and could say in the app ‘this is a nut-free flight, please don’t bring any food containing nuts on board’, in the same way they notify you what gate you’re at etc.

Would save money, wasted food and make the allergic person feel safer. Hardly anyone listens to the spoken announcements any more - as evidenced by the man who ate a Snickers on yesterday’s flight, two rows in front of the allergy sufferer! He’d had his headphones in since boarding and had no idea he’d been asked not to eat nuts.

It's surprising to me how many people on this thread are completely illogical about nut allergies.

I like nuts but I can do without them for a plane journey. I worked in a school where nuts, houmous and products containing nuts were banned, which I felt was a bit limiting.

I would, unless told otherwise!

Emirates serves nuts and won’t let you order nut free food. They have an extensive alternative menu for special diets but not nut free. I was served a packet of cashews but my daughter is allergic so I didn’t eat them as she is a bit paranoid about people eating them despite not having an airborne allergy.

Norwegian air told us not to eat nuts on one flight due to a passenger allergy however I did notice they serve them so assume they don’t if someone on the plane announces their allergy. They can’t stop people taking them kn though. I just made sure my daughter didn’t open her peanut M&Ms she bought at duty free

I think they make announcements now if they have a nut allergic person on board. So assuming there was no announcement then I don’t see the issue.

This article says less of a problem flying and best bet is to wipe down area you’re sitting in. It says that blanket bans aren’t necessary

Sure they sell them on most airlines . If there was a request not too I would off course oblige but without any warning why would I ?

Dispelling nut allergy and flying myths.

Unless told not to by crew, I wouldn’t think anything of it.

Why would she, a grown woman, ask for permission to eat a snack? If someone on the flight had an allergy problem, an announcement would have been made and/or nuts would not have been served on board. In the absence of that, let the woman enjoy her nuts. You're coming across as a bit of a snowflake, OP.

Exactly. I would do same.