Almost kicked off FLIGHT! Please help

[disfan07]

Just out of curiosity, when your son had his allergy testing, was there a scale between one to ten on the severity level, or something like that? The place we went just puts lines (a straight line with a cross on it, like a "t" next to the things she tested positive for allergies. Some of the things she was tested for have one line, some have more. I don't know if more lines means more severe, and how many lines is the limit. The woman doing the testing said they measure the size of the hives that develope (she did take out a ruler type object and measure each bump) and very small hives did not even get written down. A person on one site said that her child showed "severely allergic". Is that just determined by the size of the hives a person gets when tested? Or, is there some other way? They did test with a needle on a couple things, confirming a cat allergy for one. She's always at her friends house with cats and claims nothing bad happens. I don't quite understand it all. I am allergic to the grass in my yard, but at most, it makes me itch and makes my nose run. How does one know "how" allergic someone is, other than personal experience? I suppose I should start a new topic since I'm veering off.... sorry. Just curious.

I had both the skin prick and teh blood test done.
From what my allergist told me, the skin test is based on how quickly and how big a resulting hive is on the skin from the allergen that is being tested. I tested a 4+++ for peanuts

The blood test is more accurate and is based on a scale of 0-6. A 5or 6 indicate and extreme allergy.
I have a 6 for peanuts and i think a 3 for egg.
Basically, i can not eat anything with peanuts, may conatin peanuts, made on the same equipment and we avoid made in teh same facility as peanuts. We dont know about the airborne allergy yet. The only time i have been exposed to peanuts in teh air for an extended time is at work (i work with preschoolers) but thats a well ventilated building and classrooms

My doctors reasoning was, just becasue you dont react in one place, doesnt mean you wont in another...especially somewhere like an airplane...small space, lots of people, recycled air...so i might not have a KNOWN airborne allergy BUT i take the precautions just in case


For the people on here who say that they are incovenienced becasue of the people with food allergies. I'll gladly trade places with you and than YOU can see how difficult it is. I'm so sorry that our allergy interferes with YOUR life a few days out of the year...get over it

 

[kaytieeldr]

lol so it is ok as long as only one employee did it...with that logic law suits should be way down, jails should be way empty

What's okay? Can you please quote or link anywhere I indicated John Doe's interaction with the OP is "okay"? Do you actually think any news outlet would investigate, much less publicize, mistreatment to a customer by a single employee of any company? To what end? It's ultimately her word against his*.

While John Doe is an employee of Delta, the airline in its entirety, or even just as a matter of policy, did nothing wrong. Yes, I understand there were peanuts on the floor when the OP reached their seats. THAT WAS RESOLVED, while the OP and her children waited on the jetway - likely to avoid the risk of peanut dust while the area was being cleaned. Incidentally, the 'buffer zone' indicated on Delta's website is for the specific flight - not any flights earlier in the day, including the one immediately prior to the PA passenger's flight.


*I do believe the OP's experience as reported.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Also, who cares... dude clean the plane allergies or not.
Just leaving food laying around on the floor is disgusting.

It's been explained a number of times in this thread already, but based on the need for quick turnaround, the airlines simply do not have time to clean the plane between flights. How about this instead: "Hey passenger - don't drop food on the floor of the plane and if you do, pick up after yourself"?

 

[disneydance]

I'm shocked to hear this happened on a Delta flight but very sorry to hear about this incident.
A close family friend is a Pilot for Delta and always gets praises about his flight attendants from other but I guess there can always be a bad one or two. I know the company treats there flight attendants very well and most love there jobs (I did my job shadow a few months ago with Delta flight attendants on one of his flights) and they told me they love serving the customers etc. etc. and I got the emotion that they were all like that but I guess they can't all be like that.
I'm sorry about your experience with Delta this is a very sad situation

 

[kaytieeldr]

A close family friend is a Pilot for Delta and always gets praises about his flight attendants from other but I guess there can always be a bad one or two.

I'm not positive, but it doesn't seem that "John Doe" is a Flight Attendant. Sounds more like a Gate Agent or some other position that doesn't involve being on the plane once the door is closed.

 

[cinderella73]

edited for future flame proofing here

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

I just came across this thread. I am so outraged by what the Op experienced. I didnt get to read all the pages just the 1st and last one but I wanted to share a tip .

When dealing with situations like disabilities where sometimes you are given discrimination or even dealt with in a rude or offensive manner you do have a tool that can help .

Buy a little pocket voice recorder and keep it with you . They sell the digital ones at Target for like 30 bucks. If you encounter a situation switch it on or use a voice activated one and inform the person you are speaking with you are recording them . You do have to tell them for legal reasons . They might not believe you ( you dont have to show them the recorder , it can be in your pocket) . Whether or not they believe or even agree does not matter. You just need to inform them you are . They will either stop being offensive right away or get themselves into big trouble fast.

The recording can be used to be turned into their place of employment or even used to bring legal charges in extreme situations.

I heard today of a woman who uses a disability dog for her daughter who was given a really hard time and charged extra fees for having her disability dog with her when she stayed overnight at a popular chain hotel. They even threw her change back into her face. She was embarrassed and upset. She even showed them all her legal paperwork and politly explained that they are not allowed to charge more for a guide dog as it is not a pet and law states that no hotel can charge extra ( unless damage occurs which it did not).

I deal with the nut allergies with my kids and we will have our disability dog soon and you can bet I will have my recorder handy should a situation ever arise like that.

Its not something that would likely happen often and usually some calm reasoning will work fine. But if anyone ever encounters situations like this due to a disability its something you might want to keep in mind to protect yourself in the future.

To the OP you might even want to look into Peanut allergy sniffing dogs for your son at one point. They could be a great help to him. I didnt get to read all the posts but I hope everything turned out well in the end.

You sound like a great mom and let me tell you you handled it sooo much better than I would have! lol That guy would have been limping out of there when I was done with him. Hope it all worked out.

Living your life with a recorder in your pocket IMHO is not living at all.
How terrible to live on the offensive.....I would never do anything like that & this thread does apply to me.

 

[cinderella73]

edit.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Case in point when one night on the road we checked into our hotel to find that it had food all over the floor including crackers . It looked as if it could have nut shells as well. We couldnt take the chance because for us its serious. NOt only did they not have access to the cleaning supplies they were rude, refused us another room , and obviously didnt understand the seriousness of our situation. They were downright insulting. After waiting 2 hours tired to be told all this we were out a room for the night. It was a holiday weekend and we had to drive another 10 hours to our final destination which was dangerous with our exhaustion. All this after being talked to in a insulting manner.

This is extreme. Your issue was not (or should not have been) that "It looked as if it could have nut shells"; it was that you were assigned a dirty room, period. It makes sense that the night registration staff of a hotel cannot access housekeeping's supplies; even if they could, with no cleaning staff onsite at night, there'd be nobody to clean the room.

Gotta agree with NOTENOUGHWDW's assessment, though. Carrying around a recording device, even just on vacation, seems drastic. It's as if you're expecting problems - not merely that you're protecting your family, but as if you want something recordable to happen. What do you do with the recordings?

Wouldn't it be more reasonable to ensure in advance that the property is aware of any special needs? "We'll be traveling with a service dog, and due to allergies we need a specially cleaned room. Can you help me/guarantee that there won't be problems, or can you please connect me with somebody who can?"

 

[JLKennedy]

Since when are allergies considered a disability?

 

[ginna74]

lables are lables, I don't like being labled a certain way either, but some people do, it is a matter of preference. I suppose if if I had allergies that could kill me at the drop or a floating particle in the air.. I dunno what I would wanted to be labled as, but I sure do have kudos for the moms who make sure their babies are safe and sound and live another day! Yeh and just because people can't park in the blue spots doesn't mean they aren't disabled!!

** or what ever they want to be labled or not as, but it is up the them in the end

 

[kaytieeldr]

Since when are allergies considered a disability?

I think when it's life-threatening, as some food allergies are - although to call a service dog a 'disability dog' does, as ginna74 points out, label the person negatively.

 

[brittsmum1998]

Living your life with a recorder in your pocket IMHO is not living at all.
How terrible to live on the offensive.....I would never do anything like that & this thread does apply to me.

I have to agree w/ this. What is this country coming too when we have to record conversations? jeesh

 

[crashbb]

Is it even legal to record (and plan to use in court) a conversation? I know that companies always put a disclaimer that phone calls may be recorded.

 

[cinderella73]

edit

 

[laurie31]

Also Gina and Kaytie- I made a mistake in calling it a disability dog. Its all new to me and I dont know what to properly address it as yet. I agree it does sound negative. I like guide dog better.

Service dog is the proper term. This covers dogs that guide the blind, assist quadriplegics, assist the hearing-impaired, and even "seizure dogs" that can predict when their owners are about to have a seizure.

Actually "service animal" is even better, as not all of them are dogs.

Sorry you've encountered such ignorance and rudeness "out there." Service animals are permitted everywhere by law, and I do mean everywhere. They are even allowed in hospitals, except in the OR and ICUs (as the patient would not need an animal's assistance in those places).

 

[cinderella73]

Service dog is the proper term. This covers dogs that guide the blind, assist quadriplegics, assist the hearing-impaired, and even "seizure dogs" that can predict when their owners are about to have a seizure.

Actually "service animal" is even better, as not all of them are dogs.

Sorry you've encountered such ignorance and rudeness "out there." Service animals are permitted everywhere by law, and I do mean everywhere. They are even allowed in hospitals, except in the OR and ICUs (as the patient would not need an animal's assistance in those places).

Service dog / animal .. Thanks! I will remember that. That probably covers it the best of all.

Thanks for your understanding. Most people are really great about things in regard to my sons allergies . And thankfully the good people always outweigh the bad ones.

 

[justhat]

Case in point when one night on the road we checked into our hotel to find that it had food all over the floor including crackers . It looked as if it could have nut shells as well. We couldnt take the chance because for us its serious. NOt only did they not have access to the cleaning supplies they were rude, refused us another room , and obviously didnt understand the seriousness of our situation. They were downright insulting. After waiting 2 hours tired to be told all this we were out a room for the night. It was a holiday weekend and we had to drive another 10 hours to our final destination which was dangerous with our exhaustion. All this after being talked to in a insulting manner.

Okay, I know this is OT, but why would you drive another 10 hours while exhausted? Why not stop at the next motel or whatever? Surely there must have been a vacancy somewhere and odds are the room would have been food free.

 

[cinderella73]

Okay, I know this is OT, but why would you drive another 10 hours while exhausted? Why not stop at the next motel or whatever? Surely there must have been a vacancy somewhere and odds are the room would have been food free.

It was a holiday weekend. We did try several other places at several other stops. After what I am remembering was our 8th try or so we got tired of trying. We knew we had family 10 hours away so we drank coffee and got back on the road. We had already wasted 2 hours at a hotel and 1 hour looking for places. We knew it would be booked up before we ever left home which is why we booked a hotel ahead of time in the first place.

And its not just that one incident that was so important. I was just making a point in general about how its hard at times when dealing with certain situations especially when away from home.

 

[justhat]

I know that wasn't your point, I was just wondering because I've driven long distances and know that when I need to stop, going another 10 hours is never an option. I could maybe get another 1 or 2 hours, maybe, but even that wouldn't be that safe, so I can't imagine 10. I think I would have to pull into a well-lit public place, like a 24 hour grocery store or something, and nap in the car.