Keeping passengers safe from peanuts? What’s next? Pets, B.O.?

Ned, thanks for the detail, but there has to be a line. Should the Paris Metro have non-nut cars? Should the New York taxi’s be non-nut? What about the elevator at my office? I recognize that nuts are a serious allergy, but short of outlawing them completely, what should be done?

According to The National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases ( http://tinyurl.com/yg7c8lj ), the incidence of allergy to seafood, eggs or milk is anywhere up to 4-5 times that of peanut allergy). Stay tuned for further “buffer zones”!

Bruce, a terrific thing done by Janice with this article, was to bring this difficult subject into the open, so it can start people thinking and talking about it.

As you said, allergy to nuts is serious, and as it turns out, peanuts are apparently, from reports by allergists, the biggest problem among nut allergies.

There are many inexpensive snack foods available for the airlines to use to keep their costs down and still make passengers believe they’re getting something decent to eat.

More of a problem in air travel is what people bring with them to eat on the plane. That’s more or less out of the airlines’ control. Nevertheless, I personally don’t think it’s asking too much for the airlines to try to isolate a person with such an allergy from passengers with problem foods, as has been proposed by Canadian authorities.

Let me assure you that a peanut allergy is most definitely a physical impairment which the ADA defines as, “A physical impairment is defined by the ADA as: “Any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems: neurological, musculoskeletal, special sense organs, respiratory (including speech organs), cardiovascular, reproductive, digestive, genitourinary, hemic and lymphatic, skin, and endocrine.” That means, at least morally, in my opinion, we should be accommodating, to the extent possible, a person with this allergy.

Even though it has nothing to do with “travel,” with regard to subways, buses, taxis, and elevators I’ll try to give you a reasonable answer.

To start, we already ban some things people put in their mouths in each of the above. We ban smoking, generally across the US, in public transportation on land and in such small enclosed areas as elevators. In many cities they also ban eating and drinking of any kind, and definitely alcoholic beverages, in public transportation. So what’s the problem with banning peanuts?

In taxis, eating anything is normally not a problem as it’s rarely done, plus you’re normally traveling alone, with friends, or family in the cab, so they’re not going to eat something to hurt you anyway.

In other forms of public transportation, it’s normally not filled with substantial numbers of people eating peanuts or other foods which have the same affect, so you can avoid them if necessary, by moving elsewhere in the train, bus, subway, etc.

On planes, at specific times, there is a lot of eating going on, and if the airlines serve peanuts, that means that almost the entire plane is eating them all at once, which can be deadly to a person with the allergy. Plus on a plane you have a smallish enclosed space in which people can be cooped up for hours and hours, with much of the air recirculated, though filtered to greater and lessor degree. By the way, if an airline heats the peanuts to serve, that raises the peanut allergy problem to far greater levels than serving them cold. You see when you heat peanuts, their proteins aerosolize into vapors, and those vapors can severely affect someone with a sensitive peanut allergy.

We could take the discussion to extremes, but there is no point. I have a severe allergy to bananas. Within minutes of eating one, or even touching its skin I get sick and generally start puking soon after. Note, I’m not asking for a banana ban, or even a banana free zone in an airplane, but peanuts are different.

There is not only anecdotal, but there is also scientific evidence that airborne peanut protein exposure can trigger allergic reaction in some people with a particularly sensitive peanut allergy. The reactions reported have been rather mild compared to direct contact or ingestion, but it is a problem. I just don’t see a problem of banning the airlines from serving peanuts, or any nuts, for that matter, and to provide the ability to isolate peanut allergy passengers from others who might bring peanuts or peanut containing food on board, by creating a peanut free zone if needed.

Peter, I don’t think your characterization of the peanut allergy is fair, comparing seafood, eggs, and milk allergies to it.

Seafood, egg and milk allergies are generally manifest after ingestion, and only in extremely rare instances do these allergies have potential to affect people by contact or inhalation. Pet fish food if heated and inhaled would be one of those rare instances, but not many people are feeding pet fish which flying to Florida or France. There are some particularly sensitive people who would get a skin reaction to direct seafood contact, like I get from bananas, and might get some itchy eyes if in a kitchen of a seafood restaurant, but they like I do, avoid those situations.

Over time I’ve done research into this subject. Among the organizations contacted was the Allergy/Asthma Information Association in Canada. Papers I’ve read from them have indicated that an allergic reaction to the products you mentioned via airborne contact is extremely rare.

You know, no one is asking for accommodation for any food allergy other than a peanut allergy, due to its life threatening potential. Call me a spoilsport, but this is a very serious subject, and it needs to be taken seriously. Bringing up examples which have nothing to do with the discussion at hand, is unfair at best to real people and their families who live day to day with this serious medical problem, and its potential for disaster.

People have actually died from this allergy.

I understand how serious the peanut allergy can be and that this is a serious matter. That said, and I guess I’m asking this from a layperson’s point of view – are the people afflicted with this allergy truly in immediate danger just from being NEARBY to peanuts?

That’s what I personally don’t understand about this type of argument. As far as the general public is concerned, myself included, we think of an allergy as something that affects you once you eat or touch the offending substance… so unless they’re force feeding you the nuts or having a food fight, I don’t understand why it’s a concern? I mean, if they heat them up and they’re steaming peanut vapors into a closed environment, I can kind of see that maybe presenting a problem to those who are very sensitive. But I’ve never been on a plane where they heated them up (granted I’ve not been on many planes).

So I’m asking in all seriousness here for those who are experienced in this, why do you feel it necessary to completely remove peanuts from specific environments? Why can’t you just take personal precautions against eating them? And if there is a legitimate reason why simple precautions aren’t enough, then please works towards educating the public about it so that we know why you want them banned instead of leaving us to think that you somehow just can’t control what you put in your mouth.

They sell respirator/filter masks at hardware stores for just a few dollars that filter out all sorts of toxic paint vapors. They look a little like a souped up surgical mask. Aren’t these sufficient to filter out peanut vapor? Certainly they are better then your sweatshirt. Just stuff a few masks in your carry on in case you need them. Seems like a simple solution. If someone asks why you’re wearing a mask- tell them. They are likely to be sympathetic.

It’s reasonable to ask if an airline can serve pretzels instead of peanuts if you let them know in advance. I’ve heard Southwest will do this. However, the days of airline meals are long gone, and you can’t expect someone not to eat the food they brought on board with them, unless you offer to buy them an airline boxed lunch (provide they are available).

KH January 12, 2010 at 9:45 am
Last week, while flying together to Dallas on American Airlines (sitting in first), as soon as the flight attendant brought out the cups of warm nuts, I mentioned to her the severity of his allergy. She was incredibly insensitive and rude about the situation. “What am I supposed to do? Stop people from eating?”, she said. I told her that instead she can avoid passing out a cup of warm nuts to every single passenger sitting around him as it could potentially cause a disaster (even with an EpiPen – at 30k feet…). She didn’t care, took no precaution and continued against his pleading to pass out nuts to every single passenger in the cabin. That’s reckless.
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wow. I bet that’s against company policy too. I cant imagine a coworker being so indifferent. I’ve had passengers approach me during boarding and say, I’m allergic to peanuts. I say, thanks for letting me know….I head straight to the PA and announce it. “Ladies and Gentlemen, It’s been brought to my attention that someone onboard as a severe allergy to peanuts. If anyone has brought their own onboard, please REFRAIN from consuming them, thank you!”

Never, ever a problem.

I’m not unsympathetic to those with peanut allergies, but I think the point Janice is trying to make is, how practical is such a rule? If we were to stop at a rule that airlines can’t serve peanuts or peanut products, I think we can all live with that. After all, who out there is so addicted to nuts that they can’t do without for a few hours?

But the issue of creating “safe zones” is a different matter. For starters, if you have an arbitrary “peanut free buffer zone”, how do you stop people from bringing peanuts and/or peanut products into the buffer zone? Do we allow gate agents the power to search through our carry-ons before boarding to allow them to confiscate any offending products? What happens if someone has a bag of peanuts in their coat pocket? Or, what about the diabetic that keeps a couple of candy bars in their pocket in case of an unexpected hypoglycemic reaction? Do you allow that person the opportunity to move away from a peanut-free zone? If you’re a person with a peanut allergy, and said diabetic sitting next to you opens up a Snickers bar during a 2 hour tarmac delay because they can’t wait for the snack, what do you say to that person? Or, as Janice pointed out, what happens if someone who suffers from an allergy buys a ticket in Business or First? Most such cabins, especially domestic First, probably aren’t big enough to provide a buffer zone, so you’d have to prohibit the consumption of peanut products in the entire class.

Here’s a more targeted suggestion – provide an opportunity from anyone suffering from a nut allergy, or other life-threatening food or pet allergy, to identify themselves during the booking process, but at least 24 hours in advance. Whatever their assigned seat is, identify passengers within a set area – I don’t know what would be considered “safe”, but let’s say three rows on either side for the sake of argument. You could then send an automated notification to everyone in this area that there is a person suffering from a food allergy in the general area, and request that they please refrain from bringing that type of food on board with them (I think most folks would cooperate as long as they’re told in advance). Give them the opportunity to switch seats if they have a problem with it. The airline could take things one step further and make sure all of their snacks/meals on the flight are free of whatever good causes the allergy. If someone with an allergy either fails to identify themselves in time, or books at the last second – well, guess everyone will just have to do the best they can. I doubt you’ll have someone with a serious allergy on every flight, so you’d still be trying to accommodate them, without putting out blanket directives that will be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce.

I completely sympathize with those who have potentially life-threatening allergies to bees, peanuts or anything else, and in fact know children with extreme peanut allergies. Their situation in school is dealt with on an ad hoc basis, which is what I think would work best for air travelers. It is neither practical nor possible to completely protect people and I would not favor an intrusive government regulation sich as proposed in Canada.

@ Ned “at least morally, in my opinion, we should be accommodating, to the extent possible, a person with this allergy”

Morally? Really?

Allergists desensitize people to allergens all the time. Allergic people should get treatment. It could save a life.

I want to know why the airlines serve peanuts that have wheat as an ingredient, which is another common allergen.