My wife and I have been traveling with our son who is severely allergic to peanuts as well as several other types of nuts for several years. He is now 10 years old and we are all very savvy travelers when it comes to flying with a food allergy. We have flown on several different airlines and until recently have had nothing but good experiences with the airlines.
We always notify the flight attendants prior to boarding. All that we ever ask is that they not serve nuts in the row in front on behind us. We take great care to wipe down the seats and tray tables. Of course we pack several epipens in our carry on luggage.
Until a recent experience with American Airlines we always have had good luck with the flight crews. Many times they have told us they would completely remove nuts from the aircraft. We have even had pilots ask the passengers not to take nuts out of their bags for the flights. Of course this is above and beyond anything we could ever hope for.
On a recent flight with American Airlines we unfortunately did not have a great experience. We notified the flight attendants as usual prior to boarding of our son’s allergy. The flight attendant with hesitation fired back that it would be best if we did not travel by air if we had any concerns about nuts and no precautions would be taken on our behalf.
During the flight, even after our request, the same flight attendant tried to serve us nuts. Later in the flight after handling nuts he poured our son his water without washing his hands. After our flight we checked with American Airlines and found they have a policy that no precautions will be taken for passengers with nut allergies. They will not even allow pre-boarding to wipe down seats. We will no longer fly with American Airlines until they decide to revisit there policy on nuts.
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