Peanut allergies have been known to cause problems everywhere. Recently, they’re to blame for a family being kicked off of a flight. A two-year-old with a severe peanut allergy boarded a flight with his parents. They took necessary precautions by wiping down their seats and packing an EpiPen as well, just in case. But the parents asked the flight attendants to avoid serving peanuts in their immediate vicinity – a request that has become common and that most flight crews happily agree to. But on this particular flight, the Bay Area family was told to deplane, per the pilot’s instructions.
Allegiant Air issued this response to the family’s ultimate complaint:
“The Dana family indicated to our flight crew that their son had a severe peanut allergy,” Allegiant Air told CNN in an email statement. “The flight crew then contacted a third party organization that advises Allegiant and other carriers when making decisions about the safety of passengers with potential medical issues onboard an aircraft.“The third party organization, which includes on-call medical doctors available to provide guidance, advised that the family not fly on that specific flight.”
It is unclear why another flight would have been more “safe” for the child, or why this mysterious third party didn’t just recommend that the crew avoid serving peanuts near the allergic child. While no one likes to be inconvenienced, food allergies can be life threatening, and people need to get to where they’re going. This means that sometimes they have to fly when peanuts are around. Since the parents did their part to keep the child safe, there is no reason the airline couldn’t meet them halfway. Kicking people off of flights shouldn’t be the panacea for every problem on board.