No More Peanuts on Southwest

[FCDub]

I still don't understand all the consternation about this. There are plenty of foods out there. Eat something else.

No one will starve because they can't get a free bag of 11 peanuts.

 

[Marsh215]

I'll be on a SW flight this evening, I'm glad that I get pretzels instead of nuts.

 

[Lewisc]

Smoking was banned on all domestic flights by 1990. International flights to/from USA were banned in 2000 when international agreements were created between countries. Biggest reason was safety, not passenger discomfort. A fire on a plane at 30,000' is bad news!! Recently they've banned E-Cigs from being transported on commercial airlines. Nothing to do with passenger complaints and everything to do with safety.

Everything I've read suggests the issue was a question regarding second hand smoke. Safety? Then why it take take 12 years to go from a smoking ban on domestic flights of less then 2 hours to a smoking ban on international flights over the US? The safety issue allowed, for a time, smoking by pilots. Issue was safety due to nicotine withdrawal.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

Everything I've read suggests the issue was a question regarding second hand smoke. Safety? Then why it take take 12 years to go from a smoking ban on domestic flights of less then 2 hours to a smoking ban on international flights over the US? The safety issue allowed, for a time, smoking by pilots. Issue was safety due to nicotine withdrawal.

Please, please hope we don't go backward to smoking in confined spaces. Noticed a number of people smoking in the outdoor seating area of a restaurant at a local vacation spot last week.

 

[Huff]

Everything I've read suggests the issue was a question regarding second hand smoke. Safety? Then why it take take 12 years to go from a smoking ban on domestic flights of less then 2 hours to a smoking ban on international flights over the US? The safety issue allowed, for a time, smoking by pilots. Issue was safety due to nicotine withdrawal.

By far the main issue was safety. Back then the majority of adults smoked and lobbied hard against any attempt to stop smoking. Over the years fewer people smoked and knowledge of 2nd had smoke reduced the arguments. You are correct for the 2 year gap between passengers and pilots. I live in a family of pilots. Again, fire on a plane is extremely dangerous. 30,000 feet up and no escape from it.

 

[ncc1701]

I'll be on a SW flight this evening, I'm glad that I get pretzels instead of nuts.

Agreed and it has nothing to do with allergies. I am not a fan of peanuts, so DH would get my bag while I ate Chex Mix purchased at the airport shop. I prefer pretzels or the cookie things American Airlines gives out.

 

[Lewisc]

By far the main issue was safety. Back then the majority of adults smoked and lobbied hard against any attempt to stop smoking. Over the years fewer people smoked and knowledge of 2nd had smoke reduced the arguments. You are correct for the 2 year gap between passengers and pilots. I live in a family of pilots. Again, fire on a plane is extremely dangerous. 30,000 feet up and no escape from it.

Fire on a plane is dangerous but my memory is concern over second hand smoke was the reason US banned smoking. It's logical. If it was a concern over fire the ban wouldn't have been phased in over a dozen years.
To refresh my memory I went to Google. I won't bother with Wikipedia, it agrees with me.
I'll give you a couple of links.
https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/celebrating-25-years-of-no-smoking-in-airplanes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tedree...ned-smoking-on-domestic-flights/#1534d5755407
I can't find a single source which mentions fire safety for the plane as a reason for US decision.

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

I am very happy to hear SW is no longer serving peanuts. My DD is allergic to peanuts (and more) and we always preboard and I wipe down everything possible to lower her risk of exposure. The elimination of 100+ bags of peanuts on the plane lowers her risk even more. And that is the key, lowering risk. I always have 2 epipens and rapid melt benedryl in my purse with back-up epipens in my carry-on.

For those of you who do not have allergies or anyone in their friend and family circle with special needs, consider yourself blessed. For those of you with such obstacles, I can commiserate. For anyone who derives some self-satisfaction for pointing out meaningless statistics and purposefully mocking and taking actions that knowingly could endanger the life of another human being is disheartening. Statistics are great for the larger picture but when you are affected, it takes on a deeper meaning and understanding. True character is revealed in the actions one takes or displays toward another of lesser power.

 

[Sugardimples]

I really wish they could figure out where all these peanut allergies are coming from and then maybe they could be fixed.