Boarding SW early with food allergies?

[kkandaj]

Does anyone know if I will be allowed to pre-board, such as other disabilities, to prepare DS's seat for him? DS has life threatening food allergies to soy, eggs, dairy and nuts. I would like to wipe down his seat and mine, as much as I can, to make sure there is no food residue on the seats. Sadly, people do not pick up after themselves and we have found chips, cheese its, candy in the seats and all over the floor.

DS will wait with DH for their boarding number. I will not be saving seats for the entire party (just the two I clean up for DS and myself). There are six of us traveling, but it is not necessary that all seats are cleaned, as another one of the adults can switch seats with me if he wants to ride by someone else for awhile.

DS is not airborne allergic, so I will not be asking the attendant to make an announcement regarding peanuts, etc. He is okay with people eating his allergens around him, but does get hives on his face if he gets residue (mainly dairy) on him. He is contact reactive to raw egg, but I doubt very highly anyone will have raw egg on the plane.

I asked this on the DISabilities board, but only had one response. Anyone on the Transportation Board know? Thank you!

 

[mom2brooke76]

They should be fine. My dd who is 7 has severe ADHD and learning disabilities along with other "hidden" issues and I've never had an issue with getting her a preboarding pass and we fly almost monthly

 

[mom2brooke76]

Sorry, should have added that you'll need to go to the person at the gate and ask them for the blue preboard sleeve. You'll just need to tell them why he needs to preboard.

 

[goofy4tink]

As mentioned already, just check at the gate. They should be fine with it. If it were me, I would bring a sheet and just cover the seat...just in case. And you're right....people don't clean up after themselves. It horrifies me to see some of the messes people leave behind. I have to wonder if these same people complain about long turn around times for flights!!!!

 

[kkandaj]

Thank you both for your help!

 

[candy0730]

My son has a peanut and nut allergy. When I purchased our tickets on SW to DC for last November there was a place to mark if there are any allergies. I totally forgot that I had marked it and when we arrived at the airport and requested a gate check for our car seat I was handed a blue sleeve and told that all 3 of us could board together. The SW agents were awesome!
I just wish I didn't waste money on EBCI.

 

[bumbershoot]

TRY to make sure they make an announcement about the nut thing before boarding, so people have a chance to eat their PB&Js before they board. You said he is OK with people around him, but some people don't *want* to eat something like that when it could possibly be a problem, so try to let those people know.


As for cleaning up...having now dealt with the messes that can happen, I do wonder HOW, and WHEN a person is supposed to truly clean up after themselves? DS once spilled OJ all over his pants, my pants, the seat, and it dripped to the floor, and the FAs barely gave us any napkins/towels to clean up with. They told us not to worry about the floor (they didn't give us enough to get to the floor). Dealing with crumbly food, there are no vacuums obviously available, and even if you had one, when can you use it?

I want to give people a break on the cleaning up thing, given my experiences in the last couple years.

 

[kkandaj]

I completely understand the accidental spill of OJ by a child and trying to clean that up on a plane. What I don't understand is half eaten bags of cheez its, with several of the cheez its smashed into the seat, left there. Or a bunch of M&M's in the seats. M&M's are not hard to clean up, but if my almost four year old ate even one, accidentally--because he's a kid and doesn't get most candy--he could literally die. At the very least, he would need to be epi'd and have immediate medical care. Those are risks I can't take on an airplane. That's why I need to be able to make sure his area is clean before he even sits in the seat. ETA: He is very aware of his allergies and has never tried to eat anything he's not supposed to. We talk ALL.THE.TIME. about him NEVER eating anything that mommy or daddy doesn't give him, but I know curiousity will get to him sometime.

Thank you all for your responses. I may call SW and ask the allergies to be added to the reservation. I don't remember seeing that option when I purchased them online, but I was trying to do it fast during a sale.

 

[seashoreCM]

Newspapers make excellent floor covering for a situation like this. Newspapers are not that great for seat covering because the ink rubs off onto clothing. If you are lucky you will find some newspapers about the gate area but more and more these days the custodians are meticulous about snatching up the papers as soon as the person near them gets up, and throwing the papers in the trash. In order that the next person who wants a newspaper to read has to go buy one, boosting the business of the concession stands.

 

[NotUrsula]

Just FYI, I was at Tuesday Morning the other day in the luggage area and saw some fitted airline-seat covers for sale. I'm sure that they were meant to be marketed to germaphobes, and they probably didn't sell well because they are really overkill for most people, but I can see them being useful for folks with serious contact allergies.

 

[SilverMickey]

On my last flight as I was getting off the plane I saw a flight attendant doing super heavy duty cleaning. My son said eww sorry some one got sick... He said no one got sick, we have a family with food allergies coming on the next leg and we are heavy duty cleaning this row. They also had not given out peanuts on our flight.

Talk with the airline in advance. They really go above and beyond to keep every one safe!

Have a great trip!

 

[mom2brooke76]

I've been on several "peanut free" flights due to allergies on SW, but on my most recent one they didn't serve pretzels either due to someone both being allergic to pretzels and also having a dust allergy of some type. SW is great about accommodating allergies if you'll alert them to it ahead of time

 

[kkandaj]

I appreciate these responses and support so much! I did call the airline and they added the allergies to his reservation. She said when we get there, go to the gate and they will give him a "peanut dust" (even though he won't react to actual peanut dust) document that will allow us to board early. (just like a pp told me )

The airplane seat covers are a great idea for my kiddo! I will be watching out for those. I have heard of people bringing fitted sheets to put over the seat. The newspapers for the floor are a great idea also!

I knew the DIS would have the answers for me! Again, thank you!

 

[goofy4tink]

TRY to make sure they make an announcement about the nut thing before boarding, so people have a chance to eat their PB&Js before they board. You said he is OK with people around him, but some people don't *want* to eat something like that when it could possibly be a problem, so try to let those people know.


As for cleaning up...having now dealt with the messes that can happen, I do wonder HOW, and WHEN a person is supposed to truly clean up after themselves? DS once spilled OJ all over his pants, my pants, the seat, and it dripped to the floor, and the FAs barely gave us any napkins/towels to clean up with. They told us not to worry about the floor (they didn't give us enough to get to the floor). Dealing with crumbly food, there are no vacuums obviously available, and even if you had one, when can you use it?

I want to give people a break on the cleaning up thing, given my experiences in the last couple years.

I've seen smooshed Cheerios all over the seats and floor, I've seen juice boxes smashed and left behind, I've seen M&M's all over the place, Cheez-Its, used tissues on the floor and on the seats. I can understand a child spilling something. It happens. That is not my issue. My issue is the complete lack of respect...just make your pigstye mess and leave it for the 'hired help' to clean up.

I appreciate these responses and support so much! I did call the airline and they added the allergies to his reservation. She said when we get there, go to the gate and they will give him a "peanut dust" (even though he won't react to actual peanut dust) document that will allow us to board early. (just like a pp told me )

The airplane seat covers are a great idea for my kiddo! I will be watching out for those. I have heard of people bringing fitted sheets to put over the seat. The newspapers for the floor are a great idea also!

I knew the DIS would have the answers for me! Again, thank you!

Excellent!!! Glad it's working out.

 

[Ninnygunk]

My son has a severe peanut/tree nut allergy. We ONLY fly SW. They consider that a disability & allow you to board early to wipe down your seats. They've told me that they can't control what passengers bring onboard with them but they're always kind enough to make the announcement. They also serve pretzels in place of the nuts. When I make the reservation I make sure & mark his allergy so they'll have a record of it when we check in. Good luck - we love SW!!

 

[MinnieGirl33]

Wonder if something like this would be helpful?

http://www.amazon.com/Cover-it-E1-A...BUP4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1328062375&sr=8-3