howie — My son has a severe peanut allergy diagnosed by respected allergy doctors so it is not paranoia. The part about food allergies (anaphylaxis in particular) is that each reaction can be different. One exposure can simply lead to hives or vomiting, while another exposure can trigger full anaphylactic shock which may be fatal, if untreated. Some people my only react when the item is ingested or some when comes into contact with the skin. This issue is not a joke or to be taken lightly. Consider this. The epi-pen emergency medication is effective for 15-20 minutes per dose before the patient needs to get to the hospital. If you were on the plane with my son and he has an allergic reaction on a flight from the East Coast to the West Coast, he would need to take several epi-pens… more »
…in case an emergency landing would be necessary. So would you rather divert your plane to save my child’s life in the event of an accidental exposure because you really need a peanut on a six hour flight or could you hold off and avoid endangering my child’s life and not risk impacting a whole planeload of people?
I wish no one would have to deal with this issue. I don’t relish the fact that we would inconvenience other travelers, but I think that if it was your child you may think differently. We deal with this on a daily basis and have only travelled by plane one time. We contacted the airline in advance, found the first flight of the day to ensure the plane was as clean as possible, took several epi-pens, covered the seats with towels and worried the whole time and that was only 1.5 hours.
My vote would be to ban peanuts and peanut products only on a flight where a passenger with a peanut allergy requests a peanut-free flight in advance. « less
howie — My son has a severe peanut allergy diagnosed by respected allergy doctors so it is not paranoia. The part about food allergies (anaphylaxis in particular) is that each reaction can be different. One exposure can simply lead to hives or vomiting, while another exposure can trigger full anaphylactic shock which may be fatal, if untreated. Some people my only react when the item is ingested or some when comes into contact with the skin. This issue is not a joke or to be taken lightly. Consider this. The epi-pen emergency medication is effective for 15-20 minutes per dose before the patient needs to get to the hospital. If you were on the plane with my son and he has an allergic reaction on a flight from the East Coast to the West Coast, he would need to take several epi-pens… more »
I wish no one would have to deal with this issue. I don’t relish the fact that we would inconvenience other travelers, but I think that if it was your child you may think differently. We deal with this on a daily basis and have only travelled by plane one time. We contacted the airline in advance, found the first flight of the day to ensure the plane was as clean as possible, took several epi-pens, covered the seats with towels and worried the whole time and that was only 1.5 hours.
My vote would be to ban peanuts and peanut products only on a flight where a passenger with a peanut allergy requests a peanut-free flight in advance. « less