flying southwest w/food allergy

[Lewisc]

Yikes!!! Speak ONLY for yourself, please!!! If I were one of those 299 passengers on a plane...I would HAPPILY hold off eating my Snickers until I was off the airplane...someone's life isn't worth me getting my peanut when I want it!!!

Remember....airplane air is NOT "fresh" like being in a building...it is RECIRCULATED the entire flight...I just cannot IMAGINE where you are coming from??? I am so sorry that you are so easily inconvenienced by other's needs.

Beca

What about a diabetic that using a Granola bar, with nuts, to help regulate blood sugar? I would happily not eat a candy bar if necessary but if it's literally life and death I sure wouldn't count on everyone. Suppose someone has the Snickers bar in his pocket, is hungry and forgets the announcement? Many of don't even know what products we eat have peanuts.

 

[Christine]

I agree that if your child is so allergic to peanuts that an unwrapped Snickers bar is going to cause a reaction, you need not fly and probably should rethink going to MANY places. Are you sure he is *that* allergic? I'm not trying to be insensitive. My son is PA; however, a Snickers bar somewhere on the plane is not going to affect him. When we flew USAirways, we requested a peanut free flight, which the airline complied with. The guy in the row in back of us pulled out his jar of peanuts and starting munching away. The airlines cannot control this. Fortunately, my son is not so allergic that this would bother him. My goal was to stop all 299 people from opening their 299 bags of peanuts. One person eating a granola bar or a candy bar or even one bag of nuts won't bother him. But my son is not your son. If your son's risk is that high, you should really reconsider the flight because the airlines can only do so much.

 

[BCV23]

My son is diabetic and I used to always pack peanut butter sandwiches for flights as a backup in case of delays. No refrigeration required and gave him protein and carbs.

Without food, he could have a life threatening insulin reaction.

I am not trying to be funny but would one of those disposable masks work for your son....the type painters use?

But good luck with everything.

 

[shelby2001]

I wish you the best of luck with your flight, my girls are not that allergic either, just 200 people opening peanuts at once could send them into breathing distress, but someone eating a candy bar or a peanut butter sandwich is ok like I said earlier she picked up the peanut on the plane it's when they touch or ingest that's when we have the really big problem so once again I wish you the best of luck.

Shelby

 

[weregoingtodw]

I don't have a child with a peanut allergy (my DD has anaphylactic reaction to fire ant stings, which reminds me - time for Epi-Pen refills before the FL trip!).

Having said that, I'm not sure why the airlines won't just do away with serving peanuts anyway. They are a HUGE choking risk to small children - to the point where children under 3 shouldn't be served them anyway. What's wrong with serving pretzels? Of course, that wouldn't help the peanut butter/granola bar set who need it for blood sugar, but it certainly would keep down the concentration of 'peanut fumes.'

Oh, and I would happily not eat peanuts for the wellbeing of a child. Quattro, I'll say a prayer that you never have to know the gut-wrenching fear of realizing that your child has a deathly allergy to something in the environment. Until you've walked a mile in her shoes, please reconsider making such ridiculous judgments.

 

[gigi1313]

thanks again all... i had no idea that this was going to be such a sensitive subject... go figure! LOL!

<<Are you sure he is *that* allergic?>> no, we're not sure... we know he went into anaphylactic (sp?) shock a few weeks ago due to nuts... never knew there was a problem before that (flew in aug/sept and ate peanuts along w/all our fellow passengers w/out a hitch)... we're going thru the investigative allergy testing now to determine the level of his allergies and exactly what nuts/other substances he is/is not allergic to... it's not a fun process for those that have not been thru it... and i'm just trying to cover all my bases in the meantime...

 

[Selket]

There used to be debate boards here at the DIS and the topic of what to do with peanut allergic folks is better served there where the rest of us don't have to read it.

I would like to add that I DO NOT accept the "diabetic must have peanut" argument. It might be a convenient choice but that is the limit of it. My 3 year old who is deathly allergic to peanuts is also a type 1 diabetic and I can absolutely assure you that the diabetic does not have to have peanuts or peanut products to keep up blood sugar. It might be what they brought along to eat but there are many other things that would work - including many that are served routinely on airplanes (like milk & pretzels). It is not an absolute requirement that a diabetic eat a protein and carb for a snack - just a better choice. I've treated lows many times with juice, candies, even sugar packets...

I do think that most peanut-allergic individuals are not *so* allergic as to react to one or two people on the plane eating peanut products. Having the whole plane eating them is another matter altogether. As I said to start with though, I'm not comfortable flying with my son at all - his reaction is so swift and severe I think he would not make it until the plane could land if he reacted. I just personally can't stand the thought of it so we drive.

 

[BCV23]

Selket, I don't think anyone said that diabetics had to have peanuts.

My son has had Type I for 16.5 years since he was six. Many things have changed in those years. Insulin types, food service on airlines, etc..

In the old days...for us this was up to about 2 years ago...he had to eat seven times/day and each meal or snack had a prescribed amount of carbs and proteins. Proteins could float a little, fats throughout the day. Now my son also has Down's Syndrome and unfortunately can not talk so we have to watch him very carefully and keep on schedule to the best of our abilities. We live outside of Chicago so delays do happen. It was imperative to have foods that would carry him through...not just treat a reaction but keep him on keel. And without that delicate balance, a life threatening reaction could happen.

So yes, it was my resposibility to have food that could be taken on board and provide him with the nutrition he needed. Meats, cheese, etc....not a good choice because of the need to keep them cool. Things do change and now that we need to have all the food that he needs since airlines no longer serve meals on most medium length flights, we take a cooler. But for the original poster, I think it is good to be aware that others might have peanut butter products on board for very legitimate health reasons as well.

 

[Disney Daniel]

Okay folks, this thread has gone too far off course and is no longer serving a useful purpose to the board. It is now closed.

Daniel