On Sunday May 8th, 2022, I was flying from Atlanta to Orlando with my fiancé, who suffers (not by choice) from an extremely severe nut allergy. We had previously flown from Connecticut to Atlanta and received EXCELLENT customer service from the flight attendants who assured us no nuts would be served and even went as far as making an announcement to other passengers. I must tell you finding an airline who does that now a days is far and few between, but when it happens, it is extremely appreciated. It makes us feel so much safer and protected when flying.
However, on our flight from Atlanta to Orlando, we informed the flight attendants that he had a severe nut allergy and were treated with the utmost disrespect. One of the flight attendants approached us and said he would not accommodate the nut allergy and said, word for word “We can’t not serve almonds on this plane, and we really don’t want to have to divert this flight, there is peanut dust all over this plane.”
He then proceeded to rip out all of the flight info books in the back of my seat and was hitting and pointing to all of the seat surfaces. We understand this is a risk which is why we board and immediately wipe down the seats. After this disgusting behavior, he reminded us again that he really didn’t want to divert the plane and that NOW was our chance to get off the plane. My fiancé and I sat their speechless. In my head I was thinking, on this 50-minute flight, would anyone die if they didn’t eat almonds? No. Would someone’s life be at risk if someone DID eat almonds? Yes. I have never once been treated the way we were on this airplane. Both my fiancé and I were visibly upset and shaken.
An extremely kind female flight attendant informed us minutes later that she had found pretzels and that they would serve those instead, which was comforting to hear. Props to her. I am appalled that Delta would want someone like the aforementioned crew member to represent their company and treat customers the way we were treated. His actions should have been flagged and all we got was $60 in flight credit for something that now causes severe anxiety every time we go to get on a flight. Will they be accommodating? Will they yell at us?
I understand you can’t stop people from bringing nuts on to a plane, but if you know well ahead of time that someone is flying with a SEVERE nut allergy, each plane should be well prepared ahead of time and staff should be not only more accommodating, but much kinder. I leave you with a few words, do better and be kinder. No one asks to be born with a nut allergy. They shouldn’t have to fly in fear of their lives.
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