BBC presenter kicked off Turkey flight over daughter’s allergy

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0kkzzy8eqjo

by StillPlagueMyLife

28 comments

  1. Airline did the right thing I think. I presume they would be held responsible if someone ignored the demand

  2. This was an unreasonable demand, I think. It’s one thing to expect not to be fed a meal with certain allergens and another thing to expect everyone on the flight to change their behaviour for one passenger.

    If you need to guarantee yourself a nut-free environment you need to make your own arrangements, such as choosing a destination reachable by car and driving there yourself.

  3. I do find people who can’t possibly go without nuts for however many hours pathetic, but in this case the airline doesn’t seem unreasonable at all.

  4. Holy fuck the entitlement.

    My child has an allergy, so rather than making changes to my child, we require everyone else to make changes.

    Also, it’s important to note that there is **no way** for the airline to meet the requirements stated without doing a massive decontamination of the plan, since, presumably peanuts have previously been eaten in most/all of the seats of the plane.

  5. Also she said the plane ‘clapped and cheered and hugged her’ 

    So full of herself, if you know your daughters got an allergy don’t inconvenience the rest of the plane. 

    Someone eating peanuts 5 rows down from you isn’t going to be a problem in the slightest.

    Asking the person next to you is a reasonable request but to ask 200+ people a silly request is mind boggling 

  6. If the daughter’s allergy is so bad that she will die from someone else eating a peanut, that is a very dangerous situation to be in for that girl.

    Pilot was completely in the right.

    If the daughter had a reaction and died the parents would be suing the shit out of the airline.

  7. >as, like many other airlines,

    This is absolute bullshit from the airline, as other airlines do exactly what was asked for. How do I know, the flight I took less than 10 hours did exactly this.

    As soon as we were all boarded, a quick tannoy announcement to please not use any nut based foods, and that no nut based food would be sold on the flight, as a passenger has a severe nut allergy. This wasn’t even some high class airline, it was easyJet.

    >The Turkish-German airline said its website states all passengers must notify SunExpress 48 hours in advance of any special care required due to a medical condition.
    >”No such notification was received from the passengers in this instance,” SunExpress added.
    Absolute nonsense

    >She added she tried to contact SunExpress in the run-up to the holiday but found it very difficult to get hold of someone from the airline.

    So, this sounds more like incompetence by the airline.

    >The family ended up taking an EasyJet flight to the Turkish holiday resort the next day and said the crew made several announcements asking passengers not to open packets of peanuts on board.

    And here’s the crux of the issue. Losing custom to another airline that can make a simple request.

  8. A lot of folk here saying this is unreasonable – I think considering the fact the airline have said they’ve gotten aggressive and they’re vehemently denying it, then there’s more to the story – but I’m very sure it is common practice (on British airlines, at least) to not serve nuts and request that customers don’t consume them if someone notifies the crew of a severe allergy? I‘ve been on flights where these sorts of announcements have been made. And all they can do is request, if you really wanted to nobody can stop you.

    SunExpress being a non-UK airline probably doesn’t give them the same sense of cultural (probably not legal?) obligation.

  9. Is everyone having a laugh? These comments are insane. It is extremely common place in the UK at least when flying with a nut allergy that the stewards will announce if people could refrain from eating nuts.

  10. Solid parenting. Stuck 6 miles in the air with your child very possibly having a severe allergic reaction at any moment (residue materials) even if none of the other passengers are actively consuming KP’s finest.

  11. I love how this sub has totally missed the point again.

    Nobody asked for a guaranteed but free environment or decontamination of the plane. Only a simple announcement that a passenger was highly allergic to nuts and could passengers please not eat them for the very short duration of the fight.

    I’m not allergic to anything nor are any of my family, but I do travel regularly and I’d like to know that information so I don’t accidentally kill someone else’s kid on my way home.

    It’s no kind of imposition or sacrifice.

  12. The Airline company request 48 hours notice of anyone with special requirements, she did not notify them. End of story
    Just another over opinionated wannabe TV celeb

  13. The standard “we have a passenger with a severe peanut allergy on board. Please do not open any items containing peanuts on this flight” announcement is extremely common and takes, at best, 10 seconds. And could save a life. Why on earth wouldn’t they do it.

  14. I’ve been on flights where they’ve announced that due to there being a passenger with a nut allergy on board, no nuts would be sold, and requesting passengers who had brought their own nuts on board (ooer Mrs!) not consume them.

    I’ve always assumed that airlines would accommodate this if warned in advance.
    Getting on the plane, then making the demand is unreasonable.

    The captain was completely right to ask the family to leave the plane if he could not guarantee their demand and therefore their safety.

  15. Touching, smelling, or inhaling particles from peanuts does not usually
    cause a severe reaction. It typically requires ingestion to cause serious allergic
    complications. 🙄

  16. Maybe there should be a blanket ban on nut and nut products on every airline. Not too hard to do . The smoking ban easily came into force

  17. > The family ended up taking an EasyJet flight to the Turkish holiday resort the next day and said the crew made several announcements asking passengers not to open packets of peanuts on board.
    However, Ms Palmer said they were forced to spend an extra £5,000 booking the additional flights, an airport hotel and other costs.

    How does a one day delay and rebooking run to £5k?

    What on earth were they buying when the replacement flight was with easyJet?

  18. I guarantee the airline wouldn’t have kicked her group off simply for talking to those seated near them.

    I’d bet the “just talking to other passengers” was a bit more excited and emotional than the article lets on. Especially considering that the airline’s account of events says she tried to gain access to the cockpit.

    Given that the airline did not have advance warning of an allergic passenger, they couldn’t guarantee safety or a nut-free passenger cabin, and no one wants to fly with a fresh corpse on board, which would likely be the end result of a peanut allergy gone wrong.

  20. Why couldn’t her child wear a face mask, maybe it is the cynical in me but if my child would be that allergic I wouldn’t put my trust in others to keep her safe.

  21. The take from people here is alarming. She got kicked off the plane simply because the plane couldn’t competently manage her allergy?

    By that logic, this person will never fly again and that’s ok with you?

    Peanuts are just one of many allergies to be mindful of, and is this the reaction we’re gonna get?

  22. I feel there’s more to this story that’s been reported, there’s a lot of entitlement in the parts that are there as I wouldn’t ordinarily expect to be thrown off a flight for simply saying to the guy sat next to me “hey just so you know I’m allergic to nuts, would you mind not eating them if you have any?”.

    TBH the story sounds like she demanded the pilot announce it, then when he refused, probably decided to announce it herself, likely trying to hijack the safety breefing, and got thrown off for that, which is something you do not interrupt (I’ve heard of people being thrown off private jets for mucking about during the briefing).

  23. Don’t they remove nuts and things before the flight if a passenger has such a severe reaction? I’m sure years ago on a flight they made an announcement that people wouldn’t get their complimentary nuts. Everyone was chill and would be chill.

    The airline did what was right by them, the other passengers and the girl. If the airline can’t guarantee her safety then they could be liable

  24. We live in a world where you can wear a N95 mask on a flight which will block peanut allergens.
    We also live in a country where if you have such an intense allergy you should be able to seek micro-introductory treatment to get your allergy to a level where you tolerate a small amount without dying.

    Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s insanely harsh to kick off somebody for making such a request. That said, things like corporate manslaughter exist and perhaps the pilot didn’t want that risk, even if EasyJet make tannoy announcements.

    But I do find it ridiculous that a couple of hundred people can’t eat or do something completely normal and healthy, because it would affect somebody who could simply wear a £2 N95 mask for 2 hours.

  25. I’m of two minds here.

    Firstly, I always told don’t fuck around with allergies. Regardless of severity, things can change over time and what was once a ‘little’ reaction can be become something far more dangerous. With that in mind, I do understand why she’d request an announcement. I don’t think she’s wrong for asking. And it’s not hard to just ban a food like nuts for the flight.

    But I can’t help but wonder how did it get to the situation she was in where she was **on** the flight and found out her ‘protocol’ couldn’t be accommodated. I can’t help but think if I, or someone I cared or was responsible for (such as a child!), relied on me to ensure that the holiday could accommodate their medical needs, this is something I’d clearly look into.

    The airline asks for a 48h heads up, she failed to do so.

    ‘”What are your policies about nuts – make that crystal clear on your website.’, she should have contacted the airline way in advance she knew it was a different airline to what she’s previously flown before, who have made announcements. Should the airlines have ways to request this info on booking? Probably. I mean I bet she told her travel/medical insurer.

    The sad thing is her lack of preparation caused this and what I assume to be the husband getting aggressive and gain access to the cockpit is inexcusable.

  26. Interesting take here because we have a parent saying they calmly asked and the airline saying she was removed from the flight for becoming aggressive and according to the statement ‘tried to gain access to the cockpit’.

    It’s entirely possibly that the mum was attempting to demand an allergens free environment- which is impossible, esp if there is a quick turn around on the plane – instead of asking for people to refrain from eating peanuts.

    People aren’t very good at assessing their own behaviour so she can think she’s been entirely reasonable, but hasn’t been. Be interesting if anyone comes forward from the flight to shed some light on what happened, because if she was trying to gain access to the cockpit then of course she’s going to get kicked off regardless of how reasonable the initial request is

  27. So the whole flight can’t have a trolley service? Just in case?

    It’s nice to sit back with a drink and snack

  28. On a Ryanair flight last summer the stewards asked everyone on the plane not to eat any nuts or snacks containing nuts as a passenger on board had a life threatening allergy.

    Not more than ten minutes in a family two rows in front of us crack open a family pack of nuts and start sharing them around the multiple rows of seats they are occupying on both sides of the aisle

    Even my 9 year olds mind was blown 🤯

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