Southwest to stop serving peanuts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't die from a dog allergy

You can. For me and many others, allergic reactions to animals leads to asthma attacks.

Then you should probably not fly.

[Anonymous]

Back when I had a dog I used to fly with on a semi regular basis, I was told by the airlines that a passenger with allergies could be told if anyone has purchased a pet pass and could request no additional passes be sold for their row and adjacent rows. Is this not still the case? It was on Delta.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, I'm not a huge fan of animals on planes but I think the comparison is flawed. SW isn't banning nuts, so people (like pp) who want to bring nuts still can. But by not giving them away for free, I would guess they cut the number of people eating peanuts by, say, 60-70%. This means significantly lower risk that my peanut allergy toddler will somehow find a surface I haven't wiped down that is covered in peanut dust. There is still a risk that someone by is will eat peanuts or tree nuts- just as there is a risk we will sit next to an animal. The new policy is more similar to saying "we know people have asthma and will stop giving a puppy to everyone on board".

But on the other hand, there are lots of steps you can take to reduce your toddler’s exposure to peanut dust, such as wiping down services, whereas there is nothing an asthmatic person can do to prevent breathing an allergen that’s in the air.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 7 year old son has a severe allergy to peanuts. We carry an epipen (epinephrine injection) with us every time we leave the house as he could potentially die from allergic shock if he is exposed to peanuts. We don’t know whether he can breathe peanut dust or touch peanuts without going into shock and obviously aren’t going to test that. He’s had medical tests and all they can tell us is his allergy to peanuts is off the charts.

The Southwest news is good news as now we can fly Southwest but as prior posters have noted our choice was to either fly another airline or not fly at all. We didn’t complain about not being able to fly Southwest as there are certainly many people who have limited choices for any number of reasons and this was just ours.

My guess is that Southwest looked at the growing number of young children with peanut allergies (no one knows why but the incidence of food allergies generally and peanut allergies which are typically the most deadly) have been rising for awhile and just made a simple business decision of how many customers are they losing from peanut allergies versus how many would they lose if they eliminated peanuts as do many airlines have done awhile ago.

I don't understand this. Southwest isn't banning people from bringing peanut products on board. You have no idea if the person who sat in the seat before your son did (or is sitting next to him currently) was eating peanuts. This is just a single source of nuts that sure, helps, but if the allergy is this severe, how can you risk flying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, I'm not a huge fan of animals on planes but I think the comparison is flawed. SW isn't banning nuts, so people (like pp) who want to bring nuts still can. But by not giving them away for free, I would guess they cut the number of people eating peanuts by, say, 60-70%. This means significantly lower risk that my peanut allergy toddler will somehow find a surface I haven't wiped down that is covered in peanut dust. There is still a risk that someone by is will eat peanuts or tree nuts- just as there is a risk we will sit next to an animal. The new policy is more similar to saying "we know people have asthma and will stop giving a puppy to everyone on board".

But on the other hand, there are lots of steps you can take to reduce your toddler’s exposure to peanut dust, such as wiping down services, whereas there is nothing an asthmatic person can do to prevent breathing an allergen that’s in the air.

If only there were some product ... some kind of thing you could put on your face to filter the air, if you were that severely affected ...

Someone should really invent that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Back when I had a dog I used to fly with on a semi regular basis, I was told by the airlines that a passenger with allergies could be told if anyone has purchased a pet pass and could request no additional passes be sold for their row and adjacent rows. Is this not still the case? It was on Delta.

Not on Southwest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Took too long. No confined space should ever have nuts in this day and age.

No one ever died from being exposed to peanuts in an airplane cabin. NO ONE.

And no one ever died from being exposed to peanuts at school or work or at a restaurant or a bar or anywhere else.

People who are highly sensitive to peanut ether in the air (is that a thing?) need to pretty much just avoid all public places. Avoid life.

But the rest of us who love and enjoy peanuts should not have to prance around on eggshells to accommodate the very few morons who swear they'll die if they get even a glimpse or whiff of a peanut. Get real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Took too long. No confined space should ever have nuts in this day and age.

100% There are thousands of other snacks to choose from.

Also, due to long duration of confined space, animals (except true service animals) should be banned from flights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Took too long. No confined space should ever have nuts in this day and age.

No one ever died from being exposed to peanuts in an airplane cabin. NO ONE.

And no one ever died from being exposed to peanuts at school or work or at a restaurant or a bar or anywhere else.

People who are highly sensitive to peanut ether in the air (is that a thing?) need to pretty much just avoid all public places. Avoid life.

But the rest of us who love and enjoy peanuts should not have to prance around on eggshells to accommodate the very few morons who swear they'll die if they get even a glimpse or whiff of a peanut. Get real.

You're a troll, and an ignorant idiot at that (in the true sense- a foolish person lacking knowledge)
Of course people have died from being exposed to peanuts. Residue gets on their hands and easily can be breathed in or ingested.
My 5 year old allergic son has gone to the ER 2 times for anaphylaxis from peanut contact (even after giving him Benadryl and his EpiPen)
A couple years ago, I had to climb on the disgusting floor of our flight to pick up all the peanut M&Ms that the last passengers dropped all over.

Absolutely no need to have any peanut products on a flight.

[Anonymous]

No, you’re the idiot, true completely selfish idiot, to think the entire world should adjust to your kids allergies. Life just doesn’t work that way.

If you know you or your kid are allergic to something it is up to you, and you alone, to plan accordingly and make proper decisions about what you do and where you go. The rest of the world should not stop what we are doing to accommodate your family’s allergy issues. What a self centered point of view.

There are people allergic to just about everything out there. Latex, tree nuts, peanuts, meat, milk, animals, the list is endless. Should the entire world change just to accommodate every group of people that are allergic to something? Nope.

So if your kid has a super sensitive peanut allergy then make them wear a mask when they’re on the plane. Because chances are that someone on that plane will be enjoying their peanut product. Peanut M&Ms, peanuts snack mix, pnut butter sandwich, trail mix, roasted peanuts.

You and your kid need to do the adjusting, not the rest of us. I’m glad all the airlines agree!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Took too long. No confined space should ever have nuts in this day and age.

100% There are thousands of other snacks to choose from.

Also, due to long duration of confined space, animals (except true service animals) should be banned from flights.

I have a severe, immediate, and life theatening allergy to avacado, which seems to be everywhere right now. Even touching it makes me very sick. Should I demand avacado free zones? I have a friend whose daughter is anaphylactic to wheat. My nephew was in ER last month after he was accidentally exposed to corn.

We have to live in the world. I'm grateful my parents didn't demand people change their habits for me. I learned to advocate and avoid very young. Trusting other people to keep you safe is dangerous.

[Anonymous]

I saw this as a mom to a kid who has peanut and treenut allergies: all of this banning nuts from places is ridiculous. Kids aren't dying from nuts, kids are dying from drownings, guns, car accidents.
The overall risk of dying from food allergies is 1 in 10 million about the same as dying by getting hit by lightning.

Here is a research article
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5589409/#!po=29.6875

When my kid was first diagnosed I really thought he was at a really great risk of dying. I worry more about him getting hit by lightning or getting attacked by a dog.

Peanut dust is heavy, it isn't going to float up and contaminate anyone. I think it is so ridiculous all these patents who take all these precautions then take their kids to Disneyworld or other crowded places where there are nut residue.

[Anonymous]

Personally I don't really care what snacks are or aren't served. I usually pack a gorp style mix for flights - it helps to have some protein mixed in with a little bit of dried fruit and sweets. If someone comes over the loudspeaker asking for folks not to consume peanuts I won't, but it's not like they clean the planes between flights, so just because no one eats on that flight doesn't mean there aren't traces of nuts from previous flights. How many flights a day does the average SW plane make? 6? 7? 10? I don't understand how someone who has life-threatening allergies from any incidental contact could ever fly.

And the emotional support kickdog epidemic really needs to stop. Asthma is a much more serious problem in this country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Took too long. No confined space should ever have nuts in this day and age.

100% There are thousands of other snacks to choose from.

Also, due to long duration of confined space, animals (except true service animals) should be banned from flights.

I agree animals shouldn’t be in plane cabins. But you cannot ban nuts. As many people are allergic to wheat as to trea nuts.

[Anonymous]

Not to mention, your kid might not be allergic to peanuts at all if you didn't act like they're kryptonite.

https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2017/01/10/peanut-allergy-early-exposure-is-key-to-prevention/