I flew American Airlines a couple of years ago to the Bahamas. I went thru the whole routine of notifying everyone (reservation agent at booking, gate agent, and flight staff at boarding), nobody said anything about not being able to guarantee my safety. That is until I was seated on the plane!
Then, the flight attendants came to my seat and began ‘suggesting’ that I not take this flight, because they wouldn’t guarantee nor make any special effort to safeguard me from exposure (I’m airborne anaphylactic to peanut and tree nuts). I had already pre boarded to wipe down my seat. Please note, I didn’t ask to do so, when they pre boarded I just got up and boarded as well.
As I’m arguing with the airplane staff (2 flight attendants), one of them had the brilliant notion to suggest that I self- inject with my Epi Pen before the flight took off, as a ‘precaution’ in case of exposure!
I just stared at her with my mouth open, I didn’t know what to say, other than “Absolutely not!” I was so shaken that someone (especially flight staff, who had to have some first aid training) would actually think this was a good idea and as ‘prevention’. I had no words to explain why this was a terrible idea. Luckily the other passengers sitting beside and around me overheard this argument and vowed not to eat or open nuts and argued on my behalf, so I was ‘able’ to fly at my own risk.
However this shows the lack of basic allergy training that is included in American Airline’s staff basic medical/first aid training, and how potentially harmful their non-policy policy can be.
Anyway – this is why I won’t fly American, always had very good experiences with JetBlue.
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