The "Unfriendly Skies" and Food Allergies

Guest Post by Lianne Mandelbaum

My family was scheduled to be on a flight from Denver to Newark on August 31, 2013.  In the waiting area before we boarded, there was a family of five eating peanuts.  I informed them that my child had an anaphylactic peanut allergy and we then moved to different seats in the waiting area.  I also asked them if they were on our flight.  Unfortunately, the kids weren’t  just eating peanuts, but throwing them up in the air and missing their mouths as well as crushing them on the carpet.  As my eight year old looks on with horrified eyes after I had already spoken to the parents, I started taking steps that I always do to try and keep him safe when we travel.  I asked United to make an announcement on the plane that there is a child with a life threatening peanut allergy in seat 8A and to refrain from opening peanuts around him.  This has been done as a courtesy on every United flight that I have taken.  They refused to do this again and again as I spoke to multiple people on the chain of command.  They stated that the flight crew was not going to make such an announcement and that this was their final decision.  My son, at that point, is crying as they have been less than tactful in front of him and he is saying that "I don't want to die on a plane".  Of course, we refused to board.  The plane took off and then they took over two hours to get our luggage to us.  They could not have been less helpful.

To bring an eight year old to tears and to terrorize him is unacceptable and needs to be published.  United Airlines should be ashamed of themselves.  I have since done some research and found out that, after a flight crew on United made the same refusal to a woman in May, she subsequently went into anaphylaxis on the plane and the plane had to make an emergency landing.  The person who opened the peanuts, when interviewed, said if an announcement was made, they never would have opened them.  All we wanted was basic awareness and decency. I have since filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation.  My goal, however, is to bring awareness to the public of the perils of traveling with a child with life threatening allergies.  Losing a child to a food is just so senseless.  The public needs to be aware of the seriousness of food allergies.  Please see Natalie Giorgio's story here.  What a sad story.  Food allergies can kill.  The inconvenience a person might feel who really wants to eat that Reese's Peanut butter cup pales in comparison to the fear of what it must feel like to have an allergic reaction to those foods.

There are people who say that individuals, like my son, simply have to take great risks when using public transportation.  I have to say that I strongly disagree.  We can minimize these risks so easily.  So why should we be castigated by the airlines for trying to do so.

I have since been reading online and speaking to other parents with allergic children and am shocked to hear so many similar stories.  It seems like parents of children with food allergies are being "bullied" by the airlines.  I have been told about families that have been refused entry on a plane just for informing the crew their child has an allergy.  So if you inform the crew you
run the risk of being thrown off.  There are also many parents I have talked to that just feel completely terrified every time they fly (especially on United).  Funnily, United has just started a campaign using the old slogan "fly the friendly skies".  I think its time that they were exposed for the "unfriendly skies" that families with allergic children and adults with food allergies face.  Not only is the environment unfriendly but the staff is rude, unsympathetic and downright mean spirited.  Jet blue and possibly Delta by contrast will make an announcement and will create a buffer zone to keep your child safe.  They are empathetic and have always taken my son's allergy seriously.  So there is a kind and safer way to behave and create safer flying policies.  United would do well to emulate them.

A change needs to happen.  Children and adults with life threatening allergies need protection.  We are being "bullied".

Lianne's son

The Perrin Post also published a story about this incident.  Read the story here.

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Customers Bill of Rights for Children and Adults Flying with Food.