Waiting to board our plane and....

[bdcp]

DH takes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on cross country flights all the time. He travels at least once a month to CA. He's never had that request made, but he makes that particular sandwich because it doesn't require refrigeration and fills him up. While no one wants to endanger anyone, it's hard to expect 100+ people to be happy that because of one individual they have to not have a food they may have brought with them. As others have said, if I had a child that was that allergic, I wouldn't be dependent on those on the plane to be as careful as I would. BTW, there are packaged foods that you think don't have peanuts in them, but may have been made in a plant that makes other items with it and peanut dust does travel. In that case, completely innocent and unaware. Reasonable accomodation is what is supposed to happen. Now, I'm not sure that asking those on the flight to be 100% responsible is necessarily reasonable.

 

[bcla]

If it's so cheap (and have you looked at the cost of airport food recently? ), why shouldn't the family asking for the accommodation be willing to purchase it for someone? Sounds like a small price to pay for the health of their child.

Well - yeah. I took a flight recently, and they a complimentary Chex Mix like snack that was nut free. That frankly would have been pretty reasonable. Only first class got the snack boxes, although I'm pretty sure the crew would oblige if someone happened to need it to boost blood sugar. Still - I looked at the options, and the snack packages for sale were $6. If my health were at risk, I'd probably pay for it rather than subject someone else to the possibility of injury.

This was what was available:

http://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/flight-experience/beyond-food.aspx

Granted I see almonds and possibly peanuts (trail mix) in some of the options, but there's no particular reason why they would need to be opened. And what flight doesn't have juice even today?

I suppose the biggest problem is that if someone goes up to a family and tells them that they'll only choose something else if they pay for it, it could get really awkward. That's when arguments start flying about whose condition is more dangerous.

 

[bcla]

DH takes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on cross country flights all the time. He travels at least once a month to CA. He's never had that request made, but he makes that particular sandwich because it doesn't require refrigeration and fills him up. While no one wants to endanger anyone, it's hard to expect 100+ people to be happy that because of one individual they have to not have a food they may have brought with them. As others have said, if I had a child that was that allergic, I wouldn't be dependent on those on the plane to be as careful as I would. BTW, there are packaged foods that you think don't have peanuts in them, but may have been made in a plant that makes other items with it and peanut dust does travel. In that case, completely innocent and unaware. Reasonable accomodation is what is supposed to happen. Now, I'm not sure that asking those on the flight to be 100% responsible is necessarily reasonable.

The "facility that processes tree nuts/peanuts/peanut butter" message is more or less a warning for direct consumers of the product. There shouldn't be enough residue to cause a reaction from secondhand exposure. My kid's preschool didn't care about that message, but actual nuts aren't allowed.

 

[DisneyLuver2013]

Well - what's the choice? Spend $6, ask the flight crew if maybe they can do something as a medical necessity, or just put someone else's health at risk? There are a lot of things I prefer in life, but I may remove an option temporarily if the situation warrants it. It's not as if one life threatening condition is superior to another. However, it's a stupid argument to say that peanuts are the only solution. Why only carry one type of food? Also, an airline will make a reasonable accommodations for the sake of everyone's health. Is it really fair to put someone else's life at risk when the alternative is simply to spend a little money or simply ask the flight crew for food as a medical accommodation?

It's not as if a person can shut down a food allergy. However, it is within one's capability to buy something else or simply ask if too cheap to pay a few bucks.

No one, including myself, is saying that peanuts are the only option. I tried to make that very clear in my response (cheese crackers, Smarties, glucose tablets, etc.).

Why should someone have to carry a wide variety of food around with them for these very rare occurrences? I'm sure most people don't think about carrying around 2-3 different emergency snacks just in case someone is allergic to 1-2 of their emergency options.

And it's not that someone is being too cheap to buy an extra snack in an emergency situation, it's the point behind it. Why should someone have to spend money to buy airline food because the person with the allergy/the airline didn't let the passengers know in advanced to not bring foods containing peanuts on the plane?

Most people won't deliberately eat something with peanuts in it on a plane. No one is arguing on that. But if the airline springs this announcement on the passengers at the last minute, and then a diabetic has an emergency situation where all they brought was snacks containing peanuts - what are they supposed to do?

 

[bcla]

Most people won't deliberately eat something with peanuts in it on a plane. No one is arguing on that. But if the airline springs this announcement on the passengers at the last minute, and then a diabetic has an emergency situation where all they brought was snacks containing peanuts - what are they supposed to do?

Ask someone for help? It's been mentioned several times in this thread. And it's also been noted that peanuts are kind of lousy for boosting blood sugar in an emergency. There will almost always be alternatives. One is spending additional money, which seems to be offensive to some here (i.e. "Why should I spend money when I already came prepared?"). Another is asking for help.

Also - how the heck are they going to notify everyone preflight? Maybe put it down in the boarding pass? A lot of people ignore alerts from the airline anyways. There is such a thing as a reasonable middle ground. I'd certain hate for someone's principles to mean unnecessarily risking someone else's health/safety.

 

[Tiggeroo]

I can't read all of these pages, but I read a few. Because this allergic reaction can be so severe and requires so little to trigger it I just would comply, nicely. However, a campaign of some sort to get airlines to do their best to give notice would be nice. Because I have heard so much about this problem I deliberately avoided bringing snacks with nuts on my last flight. There were so many little dogs on board as carry on that I thought that could be a tough allergy to have now.

 

[AddictedtoDoleWhip]

 

[FigmentFinder]

The "facility that processes tree nuts/peanuts/peanut butter" message is more or less a warning for direct consumers of the product. There shouldn't be enough residue to cause a reaction from secondhand exposure. My kid's preschool didn't care about that message, but actual nuts aren't allowed.

My DD's new school doesn't allow things made in a factory with peanuts. Which is a little odd because as you said, it's really more a warning for people with allergies. I was specifically warned about granola bars. But we comply, I would never harm somebody else's child.

Sometimes those "made in a factory with" labels seem to be on everything you want. They can be on the oddest items. Looking for chocolate syrup for a cub scout treat, I found the generic syrups were made in the same factory with anchovies. Needless to say, we didn't buy that.

Is that popcorn peanut and tree nut free?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

There is literally nothing else your mother could ear aside from peanut butter crackers for her sugar needs? I know those little packages of crackers are convenient. We carry the cheese ones. But there's nothing that would work for her? Nothing?

While sitting at a gate being told at the last minute that her item of choice cannot be consumed...

Probably nothing at all could be done.

If a medical condition is potentially lethal, then further heads up is needed than right at the gate in the event other passengers have potentially lethal medical conditions if they cannot follow their own mitigation plan.

What if no snack carts/shops had no peanut free cheese cracker option?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The airlines could e-mail everyone ahead of time, but what about the standby passengers that board right after eating a Snickers bar or Reese's Peanut Butter Cup while waiting to hear if there was room on the plane?

plus there's still techno-phobes who don't have e-mail. I know several.

At check in, maybe? Print it on the boarding pass so those who check in at home see it? (Solely their issue if they don't read it.)

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

I'll ask again... So, OP, where were you flying to?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

So, you're cool with that growing up and claiming disability and never working ever? That would personally responsible in this situation, right?

For what it's worth, food allergies are classified as an actual disability and must be accommodated.

If that were true, stores couldn't sell peanuts.

It *may be* considered a disability. But it seems that is limited to educational institutions.

http://www.foodallergy.org/advocacy/disability

And more: http://www.ada.gov/q&a_lesley_university.htm

Not a single word about airlines, FTR.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

That's my favorite thing about allergy threads. It very quickly shows which people are quick to accuse someone of being selfish while being totally selfish themselves. Always good times.

Thankfully, we're done relying on the masses and if anyone wants to talk about peanut desensitization, I'm your girl.

I just wanted to comment that I spent over 3 years bending over backwards accommodating a friend and her daughters. We were in her trusted shared snack list because my girls wanted them to be able to eat what they were bringing to event.

I was extremely happy to do this, because their allergy rather sucked and their mother was in constant fear for them. We were glad to be someone she could trust with her daughter's lives. I always did an extra cleaning of everything before making it and would send her pictures if the labels even on already vetted items to ensure I did not make any mistakes.

So I walked about as close as one can in someone else's shoes of life threatening allergies.

She did not expect this at all. She raised her children to live in the world and avoided situations where the circumstances could not be controlled.

Your passive remarks to people as though we want someone with this allergy to die so we can consume a peanut are ridiculously unfair.

Guess what? My friend does not fly with her girls. Because she took personal responsibility for their safety the very first day they experienced an anaphylactic reaction and their allergy was discovered. And she does not take the personal responsibility because she thinks other people want her kids today. She does so because it is such a complicated issue to rely on others to keep her girls safe.

I standby my and the opinion of others that a last minute notification at the gate is unacceptable and unfair. Yes, your daughter's life is important. It doesn't make the late request any more right. It is extremely selfish not to mention foolish and life threatening for someone to do that. Adults should know better and kids deserve better.

 

[DisneyLuver2013]

Ask someone for help? It's been mentioned several times in this thread. And it's also been noted that peanuts are kind of lousy for boosting blood sugar in an emergency. There will almost always be alternatives. One is spending additional money, which seems to be offensive to some here (i.e. "Why should I spend money when I already came prepared?"). Another is asking for help.

Also - how the heck are they going to notify everyone preflight? Maybe put it down in the boarding pass? A lot of people ignore alerts from the airline anyways. There is such a thing as a reasonable middle ground. I'd certain hate for someone's principles to mean unnecessarily risking someone else's health/safety.

This is getting a silly. I'm guessing the "offensive to some here" is referring to me, correct? I can never figure out when someone is being passive aggressive or not.

You aren't going to change my mind. I'm not going to change yours. I'm not going to waste any more of my time going back and forth with you when you can't see the points I'm making.

Have a good night! (and I mean that genuinely, not being sarcastic)

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The plane will have alternative snacks/drinks onboard. Even if the flight wasn't serving, it's in the galley. If you had a health issue (even from lack of food from traveling all day) let the flight attendant know. S/he will get you something to tide you over.

And there are passengers with peanut allergies are onboard all the time. They don't pull it unless it's a severe allergic reaction. This is not an occurrence that happens frequently. I think that is getting lost in the discussion.

And what if it is at a moment during the flight when flight attendants absolutely cannot leave their jump seats?

A person with a medical need requiring particular food is coached to rely in themselves. Why create an unnecessary emergency by telling them the must rely in the FA with no means to predict the timing will work out that the FA can assist in a timely manner.

 

[bcla]

This is getting a silly. I'm guessing the "offensive to some here" is referring to me, correct? I can never figure out when someone is being passive aggressive or not.

You aren't going to change my mind. I'm not going to change yours. I'm not going to waste any more of my time going back and forth with you when you can't see the points I'm making.

Have a good night! (and I mean that genuinely, not being sarcastic)

You're not the only one who made a claim that it was unfair for someone to pay for something else to eat when they already felt they were prepared. If you believe I was singling you out then I'm not sure what else I can do to show you that I was responding to a general tone from several posters.

Yes I understand the points you're making. However, I've learned that in life there are always a bunch of compromises. There are creative ways to handle situations that don't involve insisting that it's unfair to be expected to change one's routine. A lot of things happen at the last moment and what purpose is there to become uncompromising out of the principle that "nobody told me ahead of time". That's really impractical too when flights can be changed, and the passenger who triggered the warning isn't even on the same flight. And in this day and age who doesn't arrive prepared? Certainly an EpiPen or adrenaline shot is often on hand, but that usually doesn't get administered until someone already has difficulties breathing, is suffering a heart attack, and/or is already in severe pain. So why shouldn't a diabetic taking insulin or some other blood sugar controller have something as simple as glucose tablets handy?

Sometimes one just has to suck it up and deal with the fact that the situation may be unfair. The passenger who may suffer from anaphylaxis frankly can't change the condition or the sensitivity to a particular food. However, a diabetic who brought peanut crackers does have the option to fork over some money for something else, or to ask the airline crew for some aid. Heck - ask as you board the plane if the concern is that it might be needed during takeoff.

 

[NHdisneylover]

The child with the allergy has no option except to avoid the allergen.

The person who prefers peanut butter as their protein has just that - a preference. You can use a bagel and cream cheese. You can use cheese and crackers. You can use a sandwich with meat. Heck, you can get an egg and bring it with you in a thermos. There are so many shakes out there for balancing blood sugar that it is impossible to list them all. You can use simple sugars, such as juice, in an emergency.

What can the peanut allergic kid do? Just sit there and die while the person eats their preferred snack? That is just selfish. Don't sugar coat it. It is selfish.

Sigh. Every single one of those options requires refrigeration--which is not always easy or possible--which is why many diabetics keep nuts or peanutbutter with them as their go to item. Again, IF they know ahead of time, they can make other arrangements (which likely involve more hassle and cost to them, thus why they should not have to do that ALL the time just in case someone with an allergy happens to be on their flight).

And, realistically the option that the people with allergies has is to, as you say, avoid the allergen, or at least avoid being in a metal tube they cannot exit and quickly get to medical help, and not fly. I am not saying people with allergies shouldn't fly---but they DO have that option, so I think it is a bit unfair to claim they have no options but everyone else does and must work around their needs without even prior notice.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Let's all remember that getting on a plane is not always people heading on vacation - there is not always a choice to be made with regards to whether one is going to fly or not.

I imagine that some airlines are going to become peanut free before too long - or at least they'll start offering peanut free flights.

I disagree (and I live on another continent from my family--so I do understand there are many non vacation reasons to fly).

I cannot think of any reason that someone absolutely MUST fly on a commercial flight, unless they were returning form somewhere they had flow to in the first place.

Yes, we all prefer to fly to see a sick relative, attend a funeral, etc---but it is not required and if it is truly not safe to do so I think it is reasonable to not. I missed my own grandfather'S funeral as I was 8 months pregnant and not cleared for flying. We could have made the 20 hour drive, but my grandmother would not hear of that.

Simply because we live so far apart (I am in Germany, my parents are in Mexico), we fully expect that if anythign major happens to my family (either the side of us here, or may parents) we will be on the phone with one another and not trying to get so far so quickly. Stinks, but that is the situation. If a child had such a deathly allergy I would think you would be in the same "stinks but that is the situation" category. If it is that bad, you either miss funerals and rushing to hospitals or drive and use the time needed to do so. Such is life.

 

[NHdisneylover]

So my nephew who is on a heart transplant wait list and who has many allergies like nuts should not be able to fly from Washington to Houston to see a pediatric cardiac specialist once a month because you need your precious peanuts. They notify the airlines before they go that he has allergies. They accomidate him by using special seat covers and not serving nuts on the plane. But you really need to bring your mixed nuts on the plane even though they announce no nuts to be brought on the flight so screw Him and his bad heart. I can't wait till the day they ban all nuts from the airlines and stop selling them at the airports. I hope you never have to experience having to care for a very ill child.

OK, so I guess we found a reason. I am a little stunned there is not any doctor within a few hours drive that could treat him. This is still a rare thing that one MUST fly with such severe allergies. and, again, your nephew and his family clearly know in advance when he will be flying--so the airlines could easily alert people of they only had a system set up to do so.

 

[bcla]

Sigh. Every single one of those options requires refrigeration--which is not always easy or possible--which is why many diabetics keep nuts or peanutbutter with them as their go to item. Again, IF they know ahead of time, they can make other arrangements (which likely involve more hassle and cost to them, thus why they should not have to do that ALL the time just in case someone with an allergy happens to be on their flight).

And, realistically the option that the people with allergies has is to, as you say, avoid the allergen, or at least avoid being in a metal tube they cannot exit and quickly get to medical help, and not fly. I am not saying people with allergies shouldn't fly---but they DO have that option, so I think it is a bit unfair to claim they have no options but everyone else does and must work around their needs without even prior notice.

I still don't get why peanuts or peanut butter seems to be the superior option. It seems like a bad option from all the stuff I learned during my wife's pregnancy.

http://blog.joslin.org/2011/02/hypoglycemia-or-low-blood-sugar-how-is-hypoglycemia-treated/

Chocolate, while on of life’s list of things to eat before you are 50, is not one of the treatments for hypoglycemia. Nor is peanut butter for that matter.

In fact, if the food is fatty or contains fiber it isn’t a good treatment for low blood glucose because it won’t bring the blood glucose up quickly enough.​

An in any case should diabetics be able to assert that they also have no other option? Yeah - this is getting pretty silly because it seems to be more an argument over who has the superior rights and possibly even over relatively minor things like a small expense for a substitute snack. And if the same argument is made, should a diabetic be placed in a metal tube where they may not have access to medical help in case of hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia?

It's easy enough to say that this person or that person should just avoid this or that because there are risks. Heck - I remember discussing something with my mother about a restaurant that got in trouble because of it didn't have a properly placed elevator for disabled customers. Her response was that people in wheelchairs should just stay home. I was rather shocked. But in the end reasonable steps can and should be taken. I don't know if it's ideal that airline personnel don't typically announce an allergic passenger until just before the flight, but that's just the way it tends to happen.