The Peanut Passenger ?

nearly every VS flight I go on now has an announcement about their being a 'Passenger on board with a life threatening allergy to Peanuts' and how none of us were to eat, breathe, or think of peanuts for the duration.

Now either she (and its always a 'she') is following me, flight by flight, or, I wonder, is it a fictional passenger, and part of standard operational announcements, just in case?!

Can anyone shed light on the mystery Peanut flyer?

[Scrooge]

There are some that are that allergic to peanuts, however IMHO it is totally overblown.

On both my previous flights, that very same passenger was onboard but then when the FSM gave me my polos, they said 'just to let you know these may contain traces of nuts'! Crazy.

[Nottingham Nick]

It is yet another sign of the litigious society we now live in.

Airlines (and every other company) are frightened to death of being sued if someone has an allergic peanut reaction.

There are a number of old threads about the peanut subject - I remember one poster defending the absolute ban on peanuts quite vigorously.

I suppose it is one of those things that you don't know much about until it affects someone close to you.

Nick

[mitchja]

Having seen what a peanut allergy can do to someone, I can assure you it's a real problem and not a pleasent thing to see.

It causes airway and breathing problems which can then lead to unconsciousness if not treated and can be fatal.

If the person knows they have an allergy they often carry a Epi-pen with them (which is a self administered shot of adrenaline).

Regards

[Scrooge]

James, a former co-worker suffered badly from it, however it just seems that it has become more and more common over the last few years.

There is an airline, I want to say CO, but that could be wrong that says 'our aircraft have peanuts on them, if your allergic to them don't fly with us' or word to that affect.

Maybe we need a new slogan?

'V-flyer: May contain nuts'

[:p]

quote:Originally posted by locutus
Maybe we need a new slogan?

'V-flyer: May contain nuts'

[:p]


Only 'may'?!!![:D]

quote:Originally posted by locutus
Maybe we need a new slogan?

'V-flyer: May contain nuts'

[:p]


[y][y][y][y][y][y][y]

several you mean !

Also noticed that the airlines make those anouncements alot. on my flight back from BGI last year but I don't think people payed that much attention to it as they kind of chuckled and made a couple of jokes about it.

[honey lamb]

A friend of mine who flies on a weekly basis (and sometimes more) has a tree-nut allergy. He takes full responsibility for managing his allergy, tries to avoid them as much as is possible and always travels with an epi-pen to hand.

It is certainly becoming more common, and not unusual to have two or three people on a flight with nut allergies. We get medical information prior to the flight which often asks us to make a PA requesting that people refrain from eating any nut products they may have brought on board.
My brother-in-law suffers with a nut allergy and i have seen what can happen. If he eats anything, that's even been cooked in nut oil the reaction is immediate. As Mitchja rightly says the throat swells up making it impossible to breathe and the sufferer can suffocate in a matter of minutes. Thats why we take it so seriously on board, as it is certainly life-threatening. People who know they can have an extreme reaction should carry their own epipen, but we also have them in our medical kit for emergencies.

On their bags of nuts Qantas helpfully put on the back 'may contain nuts' just in case. Mind boggling. Makes me smile everytime.

I have never heard that kind of announcement in all my travels - but for my tuppence worth - its just me - if the risk is so high from there just being a nut onboard, exposed to the air, maybe, for those afflicted, travelling is not such a good idea. [:w]

Why not just not accept passengers with medical issues. Maybe in this time of the GFC the airlines could start selling passengers liability insurance. The passenger takes out the insurance to indemnify the airline against any costs incurred due to diversions or other passenger induced emergencies. A new revenue stream methinks. [}:)]

Because then you get sued for discrimination. Good idea though.

Seems very extreme to stop all passengers from eating nuts just because one passenger has an alergy. I know they can have a bad reaction, as my cousin is alergic to peanuts, but why on earth does that stop me eating them? It's not like I'm going to go an smear them on his food just before he eats it. My wife is alergic to wheat & gluten (she is a coeliac - you don't want to know the reaction she has when she eats something with gluten in it!), and while VS will happily provide her a gluten free meal, I'm pretty sure they would never put out an announcement asking other passengers not to eat anything containing gluten, and they will still handle all the other meals before/after handling hers. If you are allergic to something, surely it's your own responsability to minimise risks of exposure, not the responsability of the other 100's of passengers travelling with you?

Oh this thread is perfect! Look at was on my sugar sachet the other day...

I have a friend who has a serious citrus fruit allergy - mostly to the orange family - it can kill them (and nearly has on one occasion).

She has been travelling with her husband on a plane and she started having an allergic reaction - this was caused by a person two rows away eating an orange that they had brought on board. Pushing into the skin and peeling the orange managed to create an aerosol of orange oil droplets in the cabin air, which were then blown onto my friend by the cabin airflow.

Fortunately, she is well versed in handling her condition, and carries an epi-pen. Her husband also went and asked the person with the orange to stop eating it, which they were happy to do.

The environment in a plane is slightly different, and this needs to be borne in mind.

That said, I find that some of the warnings on food packaging - such as 'may contain nuts' on a packet of nuts - are quite bizarre.

Mike

Heaven help us if there is ever a passenger with a juniper/gin or even worse lime allergy on board. Could cause quite a stir amongst certain flyers if they were asked to stop[}:)]

Iain

quote:Originally posted by iforres1
Heaven help us if there is ever a passenger with a juniper/gin or even worse lime allergy on board. Could cause quite a stir amongst certain flyers if they were asked to stop[}:)]

Iain

Indeed it could! I for one would be wanting the UC cabin sealed with it's own air-conditioning system to handle the T10&T's - suspect I would be far from alone too, from what I have read on here.

James

quote:Originally posted by iforres1
Heaven help us if there is ever a passenger with a juniper/gin or even worse lime allergy on board. Could cause quite a stir amongst certain flyers if they were asked to stop[}:)]


Fortunately for all V-Flyers, my friend is fine with limes [8D]...

Mike

quote:Because then you get sued for discrimination.

How can you be sued for discrimination for not accepting a passenger where there is a life threatening risk to that passenger that you can only try and control by adapting the environment (eg banning nuts and then searching all passengers for said nuts) and then if there is a breach in any of the controls medical attention cannot easily be administered?

Maybe VS could convert the beauty therapists area into an ER area.[}:)]

Why should an airline take the risk to try and control the environment to take care of the well being of say one passenger. Make the passenger take the risk through additional compulsory insurance to remove the airlines liability. If they travel and don't declare - then the airline should sue them to recover costs. If they don't want to do that then they can make alternative arrangements - eg boost the UK economy and holiday at home. [y]

Its all about risk management the airlines should ask is the risk worth the reward? And it would appear that the answer is yes.[:D]

my friend was on a domestic US flight a couple of years back,when they announced that they had a 'peanut free zone' on the plane, where certain rows were boarded off for such allergic folks.

He quipped how he would like a 'heterosexual free zone' on his next flight, as that would make his time more pleasurable airborne...

[preiffer]

Surpise surprise - we have one onboard the VS20 today.

Sorry, while I DO have *some* sympathy - this is just bullsh!t. I mean, really, HOW do these people manage to SURVIVE in other everyday situations, say, I don't know...

A restaurant?
A supermarket?
A bus or train?

Or for that matter, ANY other airline such as UA or AA whose passengers get IRATE if they don't get warm nuts with their drinks?

While I know it CAN be a serious issue, COME ON people - those with nut allergies last the rest of their entire life without being wrapped in plastic bubbles, so WHY are VS so utterly paranoid about it? Beyond that, surely if the allergy is that severe the person is aware of this and likely has medication. Just like a diabetic would, I therefore EXPECT them to carry it.

There are a billion allergies out there which aren't catered for. I can only imagine the fun to be had in Upper if I announced I had a fatal allergy to champagne....


Ridiculous.

quote:Originally posted by preiffer
There are a billion allergies out there which aren't catered for. I can only imagine the fun to be had in Upper if I announced I had a fatal allergy to champagne....


I do tend to agree with the general point, however you'd be safe re. the champagne as VS 'forget' to load more than a bottle or two on half of flights, so the desperate sippers could go into a loo with a straw?

the more serious point in all this is that once people (like us) begin to realise that the CC are telling fibs about 'special passengers' being on board, then they start to take what CC say with a pinch of salt.

Haven't Virgin considered the consequences of us all getting rather cynical, through this fake peanut plea, and ignoring CC announcements? its not a smart move in general - best to treat people honestly as adults, not sheep to be mis-directed, and you'll have a safer plane, with happier co-operative relationship between passengers and crew.