Teen Almost Kicked Off Plane
Maureen Neary and her 17-year-old son got on an Air Canada flight headed from Vancouver to Toronto on Sept. 7. 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.
According to Neary, 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 that 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.
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dairy/sesame/treenut allergy
My daughter has anaphylaxis allergy to dairy. She’s also mostly vegan, so nuts are an important protein group for her. I disagree with asking airline staff to request passengers to refrain from eating a certain food because of an allergy. My dairy allergic daughter sits in an airplane surrounded by coffee cream, cheese, yogurt, milk etc. She takes all the precautions (washes her seat handles, tray table, eats only her own food, has the meds etc.) and has never had a reaction in an airplane, movie theatre (buttered popcorn & chocolate), etc. nor is she stressed out by the proximity to the allergic foods.
There are far too many food allergies for us to start asking for avoidance of every allergic food. We’ll have nothing left to eat. Allergic Living reported one cannot have an allergic reaction from airborne food. An allergic person must ingest the allergen to have an anaphylaxis reaction. I’ve witnessed anxiety reactions when a person is near their allergen, but please, stop asking for your allergic food to be eliminated and learn to live comfortably (as we have) with the allergen nearby. Wash hands, bring your meds, even wear a mouth mask, but please, it’s time the special request stop or we’ll lose allergy credibility (with all the special requests), and have nothing left to eat.
Willow
Gwen, thank you for this article. It reinforces my sense that until Air Canada gets with the program, I’d be better off flying WestJet. I flew from Toronto to Vancouver this past spring, and I was very pleased with the way WestJet handled allergies in general.
@dairy/sesame/treenutallergy
I have multiple food allergies, but peanuts and nuts are of particular concern in flight because when those nut packages are opened, the proteins become airborne. (If you need scientific proof, there was one Canadian study which detected peanut protein in air filters.) Some folks do have a reaction when they breathe in those proteins. The medical community is behind this fact. I’m not sure if I’d be one of them. But I don’t want to find out in flight.
Maureen Neery wasn’t making a “special request”–she was asking for accommodation for her son’s medical disability.