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| Geez, look at the "variety" of options... |
Now, even though I can understand their brief frustration, I do hope that they would understand that they are being asked to refrain from eating their nutty snacks, out of consideration for the health and safety of another human being and would not have a "hissy fit" over it, but I digress...
So, back to the supply-side problem. Even if all airlines banned peanuts and nuts on all flights, today, there would still be mountains of them for sale throughout the airport. I don't know what the solution is, but I think it's one of the many topics we can discuss at the conference. I think if we can get even a "peanut-reduced" airport/airline environment, things would be a degree safer for peanut/tree nuts allergic passengers. Plus, if the airlines agree to discontinue the service of peanuts/nuts on flights with an allergic passenger are aboard, and less passengers are boarding with their own, then there should be less agitation when passengers are asked to forego nutty snacks.
What are your thoughts? (Trolls need not comment, thank you!)
I'm torn. As the mom of a peanut-allergic child, I would love it if I never had to worry about him being exposed to peanut residue on airplanes. On the other hand, as someone with type-1 diabetes and my own food allergies, peanuts/tree nuts are often a much-needed snack option for me.
ReplyDeleteI also have a medical condition that requires a particular kind of food, so I can understand that, and I think the more tempered goal would be to have a dramatically "peanut-reduced" airplane cabin, as I mentioned. It would be a lot easier to manage one or two people eating medically-necessary allergenic snacks, rather than a plane full of them. :)
DeleteGreat peripheral vision. How wonderful to see a thoughtful piece based on original observation.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Henry!
DeleteYou know, this is a sensitive one for me. My son is allergic to some tree nuts, but we are frequent consumers of those nuts he's not allergic to. And nuts are our go to snack for traveling because if you buy the right ones, they are natural, healthy, and don't need refrigeration. And they don't bruise like a lot of fruit can. For me they are the perfect travel food. That being said, I certainly would have no trouble putting our nuts aside on a flight if there was someone on the plane with a life threatening allergy to one of the nuts we were eating, BUT I would need a little warning. My son's diet is limited due to his allergies and therefore finding a replacement snack isn't always easy. In fact, it can prove to be very difficult, which is why we always bring snacks/lunches from home. So, I just ask the airlines to notify passengers while they are waiting to board, not after they've boarded the plane and no other food options exist. If the flight is a short one, we can probably just skip the snack and so be it. But on longer flights, if they don't notify someone with a restricted diet that they won't be able to consume the only food they brought on the plane, I don't think that's fair. It's really the responsibility of the airline to make advance warnings. That's my opinion anyway.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can understand that, which is why we need a discussion that explores all the angles. They could alert people at the gate that peanuts/nuts will not be allowed on board a particular flight by scrolling a notice on the screen in the waiting area, or making an announcement a short while before boarding begins, though I can imagine the collective grumblings that will be heard all the way up to boarding the flight, but I guess that is unavoidable. I don't think the announcements can be made any further in advance, though, as people come in and out of flights up until the last minute. I also think the same provisions should be made for someone who is airborne allergic to any food item, but I know there's often even more push-back on things when you start extending beyond PN/TN. I think you have a subset of people who have more of a need for nuts or other specific snack items, and another subset who need to avoid a particular item. However, I'd think the vast majority of people can eat whatever is available, and only have "preferences" as opposed to requirements. I do agree that things need to be handled different on long-haul flights, because going 6 hours without a snack is not a viable option for those with restrictions. It's not an easy issue, by any means, because I don't exactly relish a huge population of people switching over to cheesy snacks, either, since my daughter is also allergic to milk. She isn't airborne allergic to it, but I think of those who are and what it might be like for them. There's definitely some brainstorming to be done!
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