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!

Perspective from an 'allergy mum' who travels a lot. My DS is only 6 and has severe nut allergy.

• We always have antihistamines and Epipens with us, but when we fly we take additional measures.
• We bring all his food from home and we never ever buy anything for him at the airport or on the plane.
• We tell the crew when boarding that he is allergic to nuts, and to please always check with us/avoid offering any food to him (in the super unlikely case one of us is in the toilet and the other distracted when they do their rounds).
• We always say we don't need an announcement as the allergy is not airborne, but they ALWAYS make the announcement anyway.
• We have updated his profile on the airlines' websites making sure they are aware of his allergies, but the crew is never aware, so I guess the info doesn't get passed down at booking.
• We wipe down around his seat, just in case of any contamination.

We do not expect people not to eat nuts around us or to be extra careful as it's our job to keep him safe really. And it's a false security. I would never trust a plane full of strangers to care for my son's life, so there is really no point annoying them.

Why hounous?😵‍💫
It doesn’t have nuts in but seeds (sesame seed to be precise). And I’m nit aware of blanket bans against seeds…..

I have always just let cabin crew know on plane arrival x

Thank you for your measured and very reasonable response 😊

I thought the notion that nut allergens were airborne had been debunked?

My DD had a severe reaction in May, despite an announcement asking people to not consume nuts, Fortunately, there were two drs on board who looked after her, she had the option to divert, she just wanted to get home. I wish they would ban them, there are so many other snacks you can have.

If you research on it, that seems to be the situation and a lot of the reactions are panic attacks and psychosomatic (although obviously they would seem very real to the individual with racing heart, breathing difficulties phantom lip tingling etc. But that is where the science seems to point.

I know, that’s why I thought it was a bit unreasonable. Apparently some nut allergy sufferers are also allergic to sesame. Also, I’m not sure that being in a school is any riskier than being in a shop for example.

Many many times they give out nuts On planes! Yes I’d eat them and Id eat my own too unless asked not to. I have my own food issues that most airline food
Is a no go for me.

if You have a nut allergy then you need to ensure you are on a nut free plane and they announce it and no nuts are allowed on the plane. But most allow it, no need for people to ask.

No, I wouldn't. Because I would most likely die of anaphylaxis before the plane landed.

It would be helpful if the people in neighbouring seats didn't eat them either.

I haven’t yet discovered a way to be on a nut free plane. It’s not an option when booking. You just have to alert staff. Maybe call in ahead. No?? How do you know if a flight is “nut free” (short of it being announced on the flight)?

My DS is allergic to tree nuts and Sesame and it is sesame that is more of a problem.

Unless told not to, then yes.
Just like people eat Gluten but others have severe gluten allergies, the world can’t accommodate to others all the time.
ambulances etc flashing lights are blue and that’s the worst colour for Epilepsy ironically, but they haven’t changed them 🤷🏻‍♀️

I wouldn't bring nuts with me, no. At airports I generally don't see nuts being sold, not even the M&S coated peanuts.

I think some airlines like Tui have a pre-recorded announcement on every flight that there is a passenger with an allergy, I guess they do this as routine just in case. Other airlines do not.

I don't understand how someone cannot just hold off eating nuts for a flight?

Every airport I’ve been in sells peanut M&Ms. Usually in the WHSmith (or whatever name it goes by these days) shop.

I was on a flight this year where they announced there was a passenger with a but allergy and then the crew served us nuts. 🤷‍♀️

I was half way through eating a nut bar on the plane last week when the announcement was made that it’s a nut free flight. it was made at least 10 mins after takeoff, pretty pointless really. If I’d been that familiy I’d be very unhappy with the airline

Should I also not bring strawberries, citrus products like juice, hummus, sesame seed snaps, or a prawn sandwich on board? I've heard that all those things can, in rare occasions, cause anaphylaxis. And all of those things are very often available from the in-flight menu. I have cats and can't guarantee that my traveling clothes will be cat-hair free (in fact, I can pretty much guarantee they WILL have some hairs!). Even if I don't eat nuts on the flight, I might have had a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast earlier that day.

There are no allergen-free environments. If I'm asked specifically not to eat nuts (or strawberries, or hummus) then I'll absolutely comply but I'm not going to swipe a whole load of nutritious and useful foods off my options on a purely hypothetical basis.

And like MrsTerryPratchett said, why is it always just nuts? I don't even think nuts ARE that 'dusty'. Citrus fruit and strawberries are juicy and squirt!

Surely it’s not the airborne risk thats the main issue but people eating nuts with their fingers then touching services, dropping nuts etc that’s the main risk

we all know planes aren’t the cleanest of places, does that mean the flight before someone with an allergy should be refused nuts?

There are lots of different severe allergies and it is not the fault of others- if there was someone with an allergy I wouldn’t but surely the risk is on the affected person to take- boarding a plane with a severe allergy is a risk that one will have to assess

you can’t just ban food groups because of one affected person. As nuts are often a substitute of other foods which people are allergic to. Such as chicken / dairy free milk etc

if someone has an allergy I agree with not selling / serving / not allowing on a flight - but you can’t outlaw a food imo

No I wouldn’t

probably because my adult daughter has a peanut allergy, she does tell the onboard staff that she has an allergy and they make an announcement….or have done up til now

I think the consensus here is that many people would eat nuts on a plane but (with the exception of 1 person) wouldn’t if there was an announcement about someone with an allergy. How very reasonable and sensible.

GAVEL

Sesame was what Natasha (who has Natashas Law named after her) was allergic to who died on a plane. That was after she ate it though

Milk seems to be the highest number of fatal allergic reactions now according to the BMJ

so you can’t just ban - it isn’t just bags of nuts either Nutella products are popular for planes as well

and yes I agree the consensus is that the vast majority would respect a ban of nuts (or any other allergy) on a plane if told about it

Because fatalities from peanut/nut anaphylaxis are far more common (though still rare thankfully) than fatalities from strawberries! They’re more common than sesame and fish fatalities too. That’s basically the reason I think.