We are a military family getting relocated to the US. After some research on airline policies regarding peanut allergies, we chose to fly with Delta. At the time our tickets were being purchased we requested a note to be put regarding our daughter severe peanut allergy and were given a verbal confirmation (the only confirmation that Delta would give) that such note was in our records.
Upon our arrival at the airport, we were informed the flight we had selected was overbooked and that we had been switched to fly with Air France. We were not aware of Air France’s policy so when we requested that no peanuts would be served on board and that an announcement could be made, we were told NO. We spoke to the Air France manager and asked how we could possibly fly with peace of mind over the Atlantic ocean knowing there were peanuts everywhere on the plane. (Despite having all of the necessary medication in our carry-ons, having our daughter suffer from an anaphylactic reaction on a plane was not an option.) We were told that in order to make any changes to the catering, we had to provide at least a 24-hour notice, which we obviously did not have.
After many long conversations we were told that after all Air France was not comfortable flying our peanut allergic daughter and ultimately would not let us board. We explained to her we are a military family travelling to serve our country, moving from a base in Turkey where all families recently had to be evacuated due to the dangers surrounding the base. We explained how the US government had purchased our tickets 2 months prior, had specifically asked to fly with Delta because of its policy on peanut allergies, had the governmental travel agency contact Delta so that Delta could be aware a peanut allergic child would be on board and yet, we were switched to a different airline and had received no notice of such change. Ultimately, we had done anything in our power to secure a safe flying option for our daughter. Thankfully, the Air France manager felt compelled to help us and re-booked us on new Delta flights.
I think it’s important to note that in our story that while Delta has a compassionate and understanding policy (we were allowed to pre-board the planes to clean the surrounding sitting areas, announcements were made and no peanuts were served), Delta had failed to note the severe peanut allergy on our reservations, which made us be rebooked without notice. We had a much longer journey than anticipated due to this delay, but were able to safely fly to our final destination.
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