7/7/2024
Last night, my 8-year-old son and I were flying on Allegiant from Chattanooga to Tampa. I let the gentleman at check in desk know that he had a severe allergy to cashews and pistachios. He noted it in our account. I asked if they served either and be said he would check.
When we went to board, the same gentleman was boarding us, and he went down to check with the flight attendants. He came back and said they serve cashews, and I asked if they could not serve them on this flight. He told me to ask the flight attendants. I got to the plane and asked who the head flight attendant was was and she happened to be at the entrance of the plane. I told her my son was allergic and had anaphylactic reactions and asked if cashews could not be served. The attendant seemed to indicate that this was fine. However, the other attendant began saying no, that they had to serve the nuts.
I tried to say that his food allergy is covered under ADA laws and that he should be provided accommodations. The head attendant then assured me that they would not be served. We went to our seats and buckled up. We sat quietly in our seat listening to the flight attendant make derogatory comments about me and my son and stating about how she’s going to do her job (giving people nuts). She has the airline policy open and came to our seat loudly talking in a disrespectful and “talking down tone” to me telling me that the airlines policy did not give us an allergy free environment.
She then went over to the area in which she stands and began talking to herself/another attendant about it being in black and white and how stupid I was. While this was going on my son and I remained buckled in our seats with no response to the behavior except he had tears running down his face- but no noise, he was whispering to me that he was scared.
The other attendant came to us and asked more questions about his allergy and then came and told me that they were going to serve cashews and I said we may not be able to stay on flight because cashews can cause medical emergency for him. Then she left and the guy I had originally checked in with came and said we didn’t seem unruly. I kind of laughed and said no- it was such a silly thought. Then the attendant came back and said all the food was stored together and I said that was fine that we would not be eating anything from the plane.
Shortly after that, the person who checked us in came and told me that we were being removed from the plane. I was shocked but told my son (who was still tearful) that we were going to go ahead and get off the plane. We got up quietly and left the plane. I inquired about how we were unruly. I was told that it was because of his allergy because it could cause an emergency that the captain requested, we be removed as unruly passengers. The person who removed us from the flight acknowledged more than once that we were not being unruly.
I have never experienced anything like this, and I fly often with both kids who have food allergies. Is there anything that I can do about this? I don’t even think what they did aligns with their policy. It was very clear that the one flight attendant was extremely angry that I asked for the cashews to not be served on the flight. Food allergy is a legitimate disability and should be respectful. Bringing an 8-year old to tears and berating him for a condition he cannot control is shameful.
This is Allegiant allergy information on their website: Does Allegiant make accommodations for passengers with peanut or other allergies?
Allegiant recognizes some passengers suffer from mild to severe allergies, such as to peanuts, tree nuts, or animal dander. We strongly recommend consulting your physician prior to travel and carry necessary medication, such as an Epi Pen®.
Inflight food offerings may contain trace amounts of nut ingredients or may have been processed in facilities that also process nuts. In addition, we are unable to prevent other passengers from bringing nuts and/or products containing nuts onboard our flights. There may also be dogs or cats onboard your flight. Please alert our flight crew if a seat change is necessary to minimize exposure. If possible, our flight crew will assist. Unfortunately, Allegiant is unable to guarantee an allergen-free flight.
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