She reviewed the written policy with me and she explained all that was required was completion of Cathay’s official medical form for passengers with disabilities. I booked the flights and my son and his doctor completed the form. Cathay responded via email they received the form, completely understood his medical condition and committed to not serving any peanut based courses on his booked flights.
On his last flight (HK to NYC) on June 8, 2015, an attendant confirmed my son’s peanut allergy at the gate when boarding. However, there clearly was no communication with the food service or flight attendant crew. In the middle of the flight, the attendants served peanut congee. My son raised the issue and they then confirmed with the their ground personnel. They moved him to a flight attendant’s jump seat, handed him a mask to place over his face, and had him take all of medication. The captain of the plane then found him in the cabin and blasted him for inconveniencing everyone on board. He declared him an irresponsible individual who should know better than to ever fly. Besides, the captain noted the plane was in the middle of the Pacific (over 3 hours away from anywhere to land) and that that was only my son’s problem.
After this incident, I immediately filed a complaint with Cathay requesting an investigation to determining how this oversight occurred and cited bullying by a captain for having a disability. Cathay lied in their response and claimed there were only traces of peanuts rather than visible nuts. They also lied about the captain’s behavior. If this had been true, we clearly would never have filed a complaint. On June 29, I filed a complaint against Cathay with the US Department of Transportation.
As a note, my son is a frequent flier and has never had any previous problems.
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