In June 2016, we took our annual San Francisco to Tokyo vacation. We try hard to fly business or first class- thinking that it would be safer for our allergy kids because there’d be more room between passengers. Two of my three kids are allergic to dairy, nuts, shellfish, sesame, sunflower, beans, soy, kiwi, most seeds. The most severe allergies are in my oldest. She can have full body hives upon contact to nut dust or dairy .. or water where there’s been shellfish.
In each of the past two years, United First Class has accommodated our food allergies by serving a non-nut snack rather than the normal warmed mixed nuts. Even though the non-nut snack had sesame in it .. and my child could have a reaction if she touched it, it is less scary than the nuts. Nut dust in the air, all over is much more dangerous for my child than sesame oil that may inadvertently get rubbed onto the bathroom door/latch, etc.
This year, it was different.
The head First Class attendant said they MUST serve the nuts. It’s the rule. And then she proceeded to tell me how she just can’t believe how schools are going nut-free. How that is so unfair to the kids who eat peanut butter sandwiches. I was speechless. I should have defended myself and explained better why food allergies are serious and why we need to accommodate .. but I did not want to cause a bigger scene than I had already created. My allergy daughter (12 years old) was already holding back tears for thinking she was causing all this trouble.
Somehow we need to educate people, especially the folks who work the airlines, how serious food allergies are.. and that there IS a way that we can accommodate and make it possible for food allergy people to fly.
And it’s not just educating about food allergy .. about dog/cat-induced asthma too! I’ve inquired about pets on flights and the response is usually if we can’t fly with a cat/dog on board, we need to get a different flight because passengers are allowed to carry on cat/dogs.. but what about life-threatening asthma??
Anyways, back to story .. so we flew to Japan without incident but it was extremely stressful and it once again reminded my 12 year old how mean people can be.
I think what it takes is massive awareness/education about food allergies. People can survive without their mixed nuts.. but my kid may die because of them.
Sep
14
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