Teen Almost Thrown Off Flight Over His Allergy
Maureen Neary and her 17-year-old son got on an Air Canada flight headed from Vancouver to Toronto on Sept. 7, 2010. She asked the flight attendant if it was possible to make a P.A. announcement asking passengers to refrain from opening peanut packages because of her son’s peanut allergy.
The result of this request was that her son Scott (and she with him) was almost thrown off the flight.
What was the issue? “He [the pilot] was concerned the allergy could be airborne and he could be looking at a medical emergency and he didn’t want to have to land his plane,” Neary said in an interview with Allergic Living. She describes the pilot telling her directly “that he was not comfortable with Scott on this flight.”
She says if she hadn’t interceded, “I wouldn’t have known I was minutes away from being deplaned with my son and our luggage. The baggage guy was there being instructed to take the baggage off.”
A week later, Neary remains shocked and upset. “It was discriminatory, they shouldn’t be able to do that.”
Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said Air Canada would not comment on the specifics of the Nearys’ experience or on the pilot seeing a flight risk. Fitzpatrick was still trying to determine if there is an incident report and whether Air Canada would investigate the Nearys’ complaint.
A Request Goes Wrong
The Sept. 7 incident began when Neary, Scott and Scott’s cousin, all residents of St. John’s, Newfoundland, got on the Toronto-bound Air Canada flight in Vancouver. Neary, a cancer support worker, told the flight attendant checking tickets: “My 17-year-old son is flying with me and has a peanut allergy.” She then asked: “Could you please announce to the people onboard that he has this allergy and that they not open any peanut products?”
Neary has routinely made such requests of flight attendants. However, Air Canada doesn’t have a policy that such announcements will be made, but rather its policy simply advises passengers to take their own precautions and bring their medications on board. (The Nearys were carrying epinephrine auto-injectors.)
On the Sept. 7 flight, the attendant replied to her allergy announcement request that “we don’t do that.” Neary expressed surprise – she hadn’t been turned down on other trips. She says she wasn’t going to press the point, but the flight attendant offered to check with someone else and took Scott’s ticket. Neary went to her seat and Scott and his cousin took their seats several rows back.
The meal steward soon came by, asking: “How allergic is your son?” and “Is he anaphylactic?” and he next inquired whether Scott was allergic to “airborne” peanut. To the latter, Neary said she wasn’t sure, but stressed that Scott had only had one anaphylactic reaction – at six months of age.
The plane didn’t budge, and when Neary saw a big discussion at the front of the plane, she suspected it had to do with Scott. As she was approaching the huddled crew – the pilot, co-pilot, three attendants and a fellow who turned out to be a baggage handler – a stewardess confided that the discussion was about taking her son off the flight.
A shocked Neary identified herself to the pilot, whom she cites as saying “that for the safety and comfort of his passengers, he didn’t feel safe taking my son on board.”
She says the pilot mentioned that the airline served nuts in first class and questioned the airborne risk. (Air Canada serves cashews and almonds in first class but stopped serving peanuts a few years ago.) Neary stressed that her son is not allergic to any tree nuts, just peanuts, which Air Canada doesn’t serve. The pilot remained concerned, however, about possible airborne issues with other products that passengers brought on board.
Neary had sought the p.a. announcement precisely to try to reduce risks of accidental peanut contact with other passengers’ food. But now she found herself in the odd position of pleading to stay on the cross-country flight by playing down her son’s allergy – and promising that he would eat nothing at all on the flight.
“I just kept talking and talking until finally the pilot said, ‘well, I guess so.’ But he was very reluctant.”
Not just a Peanut Mom
This article reminds us that it is time for more education! We need another Airlines Forum, to educate the workers in the Airline industry about the risks of Ananphylaxis and what they can do to help. Our last discussions with the flight crew reps was more than 10 years ago, and obviously the crews flying now don’t have the same awareness.
I had an incident similar to this while travelling in New Zealand and we must create a consensus that all airlines and airline workers can refer to, so they can be confident that they take no more risk with an anaphylactic individual on board than they do with having someone aboard with any other type of stable medical condition.
spnx
This is the reason I will no longer fly with Air Canada.
When I mentioned to the Chief Steward on an Air Canada flight that I was allergic to peanuts, the conversation went like this:
“I’m not going to tell people not to eat peanuts, it’s their right”
When I mentioned that Air Canada no longer serves them, so they would actually be snacks the passengers have brought themselves, he repeated that their right to eat them took priority over my life-threatening allergy.
He said “it doesn’t matter, I know CPR”.
I told him CPR would be ineffective with a blocked airway, and he said “I know that, my brother is a doctor”. Then he asked if I wanted his badge number “so I could report him”.
I didn’t take it, I was somewhat stunned by this reaction.
From now on, I take Westjet, who cheerfully and politely let the passengers around me. No passenger has had a problem with this, once they hear the reason.
I have not flown Air Canada since.
Totallynuts
In February my children and I were thrown off our flight from Mexico because of my peanut allergy. We were flying Mexicana.
The entire event was terrible. The staff treated me like a criminal that was not welcome. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I were alone, but I was flying with my 3 year old daughter and my 8 year old son.
The worst part about this experience was when I went to the TV station in my city and attempted to tell the story of how poorly I was treated. They made the story out to be completely different. They told the story of a woman that is “so angry” at the world because she wants everyone to feel sorry for her! I had people tracking down my personal email and sending me hate mail wishing that I would “choke on a peanut and die.” Now whenever you google my name it brings up about 10 sites that have hundreds of people bashing me. I tried to stand up for people with allergies and all I got was the fear that someone would actually find out where I live and hurt me and my family.
My allergist once told me that I was the most allergic person to peanuts that he has seen in his 35 year career. I am one of those people who actually have a hard time breathing in a plane filled with people opening bags of peanuts. And I will welcome any doctor who wants to test that theory on me.
One day, someone will die on a plane due to anaphylatic shock and maybe only then will the tragic death of a person finally change the ignorance of the airline industry.
It makes me sad that people’s “right” to eat peanuts outweighs another persons “right” to feel safe and stay alive.
floppymeister
I am the mother of a child with a life threatening peanut allergy. We are taking a family vacation this December. She has never been on a plane before. I’ve been concerned about peanuts/nuts on the plane. What will an epipen do on a plane???? It won’t do anything.
I have a real problem with an airline and people with bad attitudes towards this allergy. What is the big deal? The big deal is that people could die. I ask, what’s so imporant about eating a small bag of nuts on an airplane? Surely not eating peanuts won’t ruin your flight experience. Grow up people. The allergy is serious and it’s about time everyone starts taking it seriously. The schools don’t allow peanuts or nuts of any kind. This is just basic common sense. Shame on Air Canada and everyone with a hateful attitude. Eating peanuts on a plane (an inclosed space with no fresh air) versus a person possibly dying….hmmm choice should be easy.
ksharma
I have had horrible experiences with Air Canada and will never fly them again if possible. West Jet is great, they don’t serve any nuts, are friendly and have always made an announcement even when I haven’t requested it. It’s not going to get better than that, no one can guarantee anything but they do the best possible job, smiling all the while.
cookster
This summer we travelled to Ireland. Air Canada would not agree to make an announcement on the plane which concerned us as we were travelling with our 11 year old child who was allergic to peanuts. We travelled Air Transat and they were amazing. They made a full plane announcement, and were very accommodating about helping us heat up the food we had brought for him. It was a great experience! I will certainly fly Airt Transat again!
allergymomof2
I’ve had the same experience – we fly Westjet all the time due to the disrespect, miscommunication and inconsistencies we’ve experienced on Air Canada. We’ve flown Zoom before it disbanded and British Airways and Air France, all with willing staff who go above and beyond to do everything possible to make things safe for my son. Of course I don’t expect them to wrestle peanuts out of the hands of passengers, but the vast majority of travellers will comply with a simple request to avoid eating them if they are provided with information in the terminal about the issue.