Note to readers from Lianne (No Nut Traveler): It is ALWAYS my advice when flying to NEVER accept any airline meals despite assurances from crew. Mistakes happen, recalls happen, human error happens, crews are NOT trained in cross contamination – we have NO idea if loopholes in labeling exist in airline catering. In my opinion, no airline meal is ever worth it.
I am 37, and I have a shellfish allergy that has resulted in my suffering anaphylactic shock. When boarding my first ever business class international trip (10- 2019), I was approached by the flight attendant who asked me what I would like to eat on the menu. I had scoured the web to see if American/British airlines listed the ingredients in their foods, but they could not provide me specific details to the meals I would be offered. After a few minutes, the flight attendant showed me the chicken option and told me they had removed the sauce to be careful. To move on with my flight experience, I just said ok and knew in the back of my head I just wasn’t going to eat any of the plane food on the flight at that point.
When they awoke me to serve my meal, I was providing a heaping shrimp appetizer plate on the same tray. I pointed this out to the Flight Attendant, and she apologized and took the shrimp plate away. When I did not eat anything else on the flight, she pointed out to me that I must not be a big eater since I declined all other options. I just smiled politely as to not cause a scene.
To add to the experience, on each leg of the trip in first/business class they still serve nuts, which is crazy in this day and age. I have a nut allergy that is not as severe, so had to decline the food on each additional flight as well.
My daughters have food allergies that make flying a very scary experience. We travel with 2 sets of EpiPen injectors (child and adult). Needless to say, we will eat in advance and bring our own food.
However, I still get anxiety when someone sits down next to me with a tray of sushi on a flight. Not only is it rude to the rest of the plane (raw fish on a plane?), it’s also a public health issue at that point.
I hope that this can get resolved quickly with at least the bigger airlines without any additional incidents.
Safe travels!
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