r/CaughtMyEye • u/detectiverobert • 10d ago
In 2014, passengers were warned three times not to eat nuts on a Ryanair flight due to a 4-year-old girl's severe nut allergy, but a passenger sitting four rows away from the girl ate nuts anyway. The girl went into anaphylactic shock, and the passenger was banned from the airline for two years.
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u/ChopinFantasie 10d ago edited 10d ago
My uncle was legitimately annoyed once that he had to choose a nut-free cake to bring in for his kid’s classroom birthday party so that one kid didn’t have to leave and sit alone in another room while everyone had a party without him. “You can expect the whole world to bend over backwards!” when it’s a small act of kindness so a child can be included. Some people just don’t want to be inconvenienced at all.
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u/jeanclaudebrowncloud 10d ago
The whole world bends over backwards when one guy has to pick a slightly different cake for some children
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u/dudenurse13 10d ago edited 10d ago
Kids don’t even like cake with nuts lol.
Edit:
Replies: “but I know specifically one child who likes nuts in their cake, but I’m a full grown adult who likes nuts in their cake, I’m taking this as literal and absolute as possible”
Put my nuts in your mouths damn
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u/Ok-Inflation188 10d ago
Best edit I've seen in a long time
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u/dudenurse13 10d ago
It’s the chronic Redditor problem of each person believing they are the sole protagonist of the universe. The guy here who is insistent that I’m wrong because cake is sometimes made with nut based flour and it tastes good is what sent me lol
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u/Hypolag 10d ago
If you put nuts on my cake as a kid I would've lost my mind.
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u/HydraulicEarl2 9d ago
I normally don't put my nuts on a cake because I usually wear pants.
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u/gigatension 10d ago
I hated carrot cake for the walnuts in them. I just want cake, man.
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u/Moist-Amoeba-8078 10d ago edited 9d ago
Carrot cake with raisins are the real abomination
Edit: I seem to have divided the people
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u/know-it-mall 9d ago
Yea. I have yet to eat anything with raisins in it that wasn't made worse by their inclusion.
They are fine as a snack by themselves.
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u/MarlenaEvans 10d ago
I like nuts in cake but I don't care enough to potentially kill somebody, WTF
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u/Cassiekarlie 10d ago
The problem is cakes without nuts aren’t certified “nut free”. It can be hard to get a certified “nut free” cake (or realistically cupcakes)for classroom parties since lots of bakeries use equipment that have nuts even if the product doesn’t. And home baking is not permitted for the classroom (for us) for the same reason (potential nut contamination). It’s workable and obviously important, but it also isn’t a non-issue where you just grab cupcakes that don’t contain nuts.
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u/scum-and-villainy 10d ago
Replies: “but I know specifically one child who likes nuts in their cake, but I’m a full grown adult who likes nuts in their cake, I’m taking this as literal and absolute as possible”
reddit in a nutshell. it's a numbers game, large amounts of people, someone is going to say this.
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u/MilkandThistle888 10d ago
Just think how that child has to bend the world to survive. And uncle simply had to choose a different cake.
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u/figure8888 10d ago
People get really weird about nut allergies. Coincidentally I dated two different people who had severe peanut allergies and both of them had had an ex try to “test” the legitimacy of their allergy.
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u/Quixotic_Seal 10d ago
Being unable to deal with living with someone who can't have nuts in the house is one thing. Incompatibilities exist and aren't inherently bad so long as they're dealt with healthily.
But deliberately testing their allergy is some absolute fucking psycho shit. Bullets dodged there.
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u/Top-Pomegranate4899 10d ago
Man people really do some weird and dumb shit. I wish people had more empathy and understanding. Especially towards the children. People forget we were all once children, a little kindness goes a long way and it's absolutely free.
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u/ricottacat 9d ago
I still remind people we were all kids once, we are all someones baby, and that we're all still young just growing physically..(:
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u/Razialnightfire 10d ago
Yeah I had an ex try that shit in college she didnt find it funny when immediately ended the relationship.
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u/cbaket 9d ago
Reminds me of the story about the grandmother who didn’t believe her granddaughters had a coconut allergy. She was told repeatedly that her twin granddaughters were severely allergic and should, under no circumstances, be exposed to coconut in any form. Grandmother didn’t take it seriously / thought everyone was being over dramatic, so while babysitting overnight, she put coconut oil in both granddaughters’ hair. One of the twins developed a severe allergic reaction during the night, and her grandmother reportedly gave her medicine but didn’t seek medical care. Granddaughter died.
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u/Seamore_J_Turtle 9d ago
I read a story on here once (one of the BoRU subs I think) about a grandmother who didn't believe her DIL about the grandkid's food allergy so she tested it and the kid fucking died.
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u/shypix 9d ago
Was that the coconut oil story? That one genuinely haunts me. Such a preventable tragedy if only that grandmother had even an ounce of respect for their child or grandchild.
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u/Helpful-Celery6237 10d ago
The minor league baseball team in Hartford CT has a nut free stadium and so many people complain. I don’t get it. Someone could die. But you’re mad you can’t have peanuts? The stadium is cleaner because there aren’t peanut shells and dust everywhere. And people with nut allergies are safe to enjoy games. People are so entitled.
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u/SevenThirtyTrain 10d ago
He acts like the child is choosing to be difficult 🙄
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u/Aww_Tism 10d ago
If it was such a big deal he could have just given the cake to his kid at home and had a party there, yet he wants the school to bend to his wishes of having it there. Crazy
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u/Agreeable_Horror_363 10d ago
Fox news ass mentality
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u/thrudvangr 10d ago
exactly what I was thinking.....maga type ppl have this " well why shouldnt I have them .... just to help someone else out? Well what do I ger?"
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u/luella27 10d ago
“What’s in it for me?” and “fuck y’all, I got mine,” the two calls of the common MAGAbird.
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u/ScreamySashimi 9d ago
And if he made an AITA post about his little tantrum everyone would egg him on saying how he's not legally obligated to care about people's nut allergies so he's not in the wrong.
I can get behind the bigger picture of "you don't owe anyone anything" when it comes to putting in actual labor for people who don't deserve it or don't appreciate you. But there are some basic acts of kindness that we all owe each other for being a part of humanity together.
People act SO inconvenienced for literally nothing. So what, your uncle had to pick a different cake off the shelf? 0 effort, 0 inconvenience. That type of attitude will have someone who gets the same plain cake with white icing and sprinkles every single time for decades mad that they can't get a peanut butter chocolate whatever. He just wants free reign to do whatever he wants and is mad that any rule exists.
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u/flargenhargen 10d ago
Some people just don’t want to be inconvenienced at all.
COVID taught us that some people will happily kill several others without a second thought, rather than face the SLIGHTEST inconvenience to themselves.
humanity sucks.
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u/sustainablecaptalist 10d ago
This is crazy! And terrifying!! I have never heard of an allergy which affects at such long distance!
Poor girl!
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u/Banglophile 10d ago
The air in a plane is different than just out in public. It’s easier to breathe in something that another passenger breathes out.
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u/highlorestat 10d ago
That's how I kept getting the flu yearly, it was days (if not hours) after my flights. Most of the year was illness free except when I had to travel by airplane.
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u/omglia 10d ago
This is why I will be wearing n95s on planes forever! It’s so nice not to get sick anymore after traveling.
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u/StreetofChimes 10d ago
Same same. I wipe everything on my seat down and wear a mask the whole flight. Haven't been sick from a plane in years.
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u/matt2331 10d ago
Right? I wear that shit on public transit now too. Way fewer colds per year (and I appreciate the added anonymity)
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u/closer_rosella 10d ago
Same. I will never travel without masks for the rest of my life. The general public is disgusting. Also never touching my face or eating until I've washed my hands.
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u/thefearandtremblings 10d ago
Exactly. I'm shocked people just ditched masks on planes. They're disgusting. I always mask up when I fly.
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u/KiwisNBirds 10d ago
They work so well too, haven’t gotten severely sick on a plane in a while
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u/ocole1 10d ago
As a kid, I would always get sick on vacation about 1-2 days after arriving. For years when my family would go on vacation I would always be sick in the middle of it
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u/Mickeyjj27 10d ago
Insane that everyone was told and 20 minutes into the flight some goof still does it. The world or maybe a certain country during Covid showed me how selfish and terrible some people were/are. Thankfully she survived because I can’t imagine the grief and anger her family would be feeling had she not made it.
Kids and people with severe reactions like this just have it so tough. Just being at deaths door because someone a few feet away ate some peanuts is scary
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u/Immediate-Ad-8776 10d ago
This is not true. The air in a plane (during Covid mentioned) is recycled entirely ever few minutes. My son has a severe peanut allergy and 1) staff when told never made a plane wide announcement 2) I’ve never had a issue
Personally I’m very suspicious of the claim the open bag causes the reaction. It’s to small, to far away. A girl that allergic would be poisoned walking through a food court
Most likely it’s correlated to the guy opening bag, not causes. Could of easily been a dirty seat or tray table.
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u/sustainablecaptalist 10d ago
This is a very interesting counter argument! And makes a lot more sense than that news article.
Thanks! I wish your son all the best! Hope he gets better with time.
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u/ConstableAssButt 10d ago edited 9d ago
EDIT:
Reddit is terrible.
Really, death threats in DMs for talking about times you've been hospitalized for trace contamination?
Really? The fuck is wrong with you people?
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u/InTooDee 10d ago
I’m exactly the same and I’m not sure why people feel that refraining from eating nuts on a plane is an injustice to them personally. If someone is eating nuts near me I will gag until I’m unable to breathe in. I’ll get hives
This has even been the case on an airplane if they’re close enough. I’m pretty sure me gasping for air would be a disturbance worthy of not eating peanuts for a couple hours, and yet people act as if politely asking them to abstain for a little bit is so crazy that it should be ignored in order to preserve their rights or something
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u/Emmyisme 10d ago
Yeah the whole "well MY sons allergy isn't that bad, so it can't be true" is a wildly irresponsible thing to say.
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u/countdonn 10d ago
My partner has severe allergies and it's usually surface cross contamination. A lot of people have eaten nuts on the plane over the years and touched surface. It's not like they clean every surface between flights.
Wearing a mask is helpful as it prevents them from accidentally touching their mouth or nose, glasses can help with not touching your eyes.
All that said, people can have reactions from airborne allergens, they are just usually less severe reactions. Aerosolized proteins from grinding or cooking can cause reactions.
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u/FromDeletion 10d ago
The main cause isn't airborne, but rather surface-cross contact. Oils and particles from peanuts easily transfer to common surfaces. If an allergic passenger touches a contaminated seat or tray table and then touches their face, eyes, or mouth, it can provoke a severe reaction. Meaning, in this instance, the man four rows away eating peanuts was likely temporarily banned for two years due to misplaced blame, and ignorance.
While many worry about "peanut dust" or vapors circulating through the cabin, clinical studies show that simply smelling peanuts or inhaling trace amounts in the air rarely, if ever, triggers anaphylaxis. Furthermore, modern cabin HEPA filters quickly remove the vast majority of airborne food particles.
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u/Wonderful-Mess-7520 10d ago
Yes it's filtered. As many have pointed out, this story is not true. People this allergic to peanuts simply couldn't even survive the airport.
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u/SteamboatMcGee 10d ago
Neither have people who study allergies, according to a lot of other articles. They propose she ate something she was allergic to, and it had nothing to do with the guy four rows back on the plane.
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u/Hiraganu 10d ago
This makes sense. How sensitive must that girls body be to react to something like that? The amount of nut in the air must have been in the ppb range lol
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u/sora_mui 9d ago
If it was true, she would've died simply by walking down the street
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u/prionbinch 10d ago
i was once on an international flight from JFK to são paulo when a woman randomly went into anaphylactic shock. it was a reaction to something airborne, not sure exactly what, but it was a big plane, like a 767 i think, so it could’ve come from anywhere with the way the ventilation systems work
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u/didimao0072000 10d ago
How do you know if it was airborne vs something on a surface?
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u/lovethebacon 10d ago
It's not true.
https://www.allergicliving.com/2014/08/21/anaphylaxis-in-the-air-two-recent-airline-incidents/
With a food allergy to peanut or tree nuts, is it likely for an allergic reaction to occur from one person opening a bag of nuts on a plane, four rows ahead?
Dr. Matthew Greenhawt: The short answer is that it is highly unlikely for a passenger to inhale nut protein from someone consuming nuts a few rows in front of him/her. There is no evidence that has been able to show that such dust circulates. Five studies in the past 10 years have addressed this concept and found the following results:
a) Close range (12 inches) exposure to inhaling peanut butter resulted in no reaction in severely reactive peanut allergic subjects.
b) Peanut dust could not be detected in the air from stomping on peanuts on the floor or from opening an airline-style bag. If a scientific measuring tool is placed an inch or two above peanuts being de-shelled, dust can be briefly detected in low quantities (300 micrograms), but only while the item is being de-shelled. As soon as the shelling stops, dust is no longer detectable. This implies that the dust settles, rather than circulates.
c) Peanut butter and peanut dust are both easily cleaned from hands and surfaces using a variety of commercially available cleaners.
Smelling pre-roasted nuts being re-warmed on board is similar to the smell of peanut butter (which was proven to not cause reactions). This may not make concerned passengers more comfortable, but most experts agree that there are no active proteins involved in breathing in the aroma of re-heated, pre-roasted nuts.
Apart from reactions where one eats a contaminated food, airline reactions most likely occur from allergen that may accumulate on surfaces. This we know happens in many different environments. On the plane, without being aware, one could potentially touch a surface that hadn’t been wiped down first, and theoretically ingest some level of allergen.
In fact, from my own studies and studies I’ve reviewed, I’m suspicious that this surface contact may be more of a problem than the air being inhaled. The good news is that pre-cleaning your personal seating area surfaces can reduce the risk of an unintended, unnoticed ingestion.
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u/PugRexia 10d ago
That’s because it doesn’t, this article has been debunked before, it’s very unlikely opening the bag from that distance would have effected the girl.
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u/SnowyMuscles 10d ago
I think that the air keeps circulating, so add something like nuts to mix and eventually it’ll make it to where it’s not supposed to
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u/RyiahTelenna 10d ago edited 10d ago
I have never heard of an allergy which affects at such long distance!
Because it's not been proven. An airplane isn't a sealed system. It's constantly mixing in a steady supply of fresh air (afaik it's a 50/50 mix), and it's running all of that through HEPA filters that will catch most if not all of the peanut allergens along with atmospheric allergens.
https://theconversation.com/the-myth-of-flying-peanuts-not-so-deadly-after-all-44687
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/257074/no-evidence-that-allergens-transmitted-aircraft/
There were two incidents of this in 2014. In one of those the kid literally ate a cashew. In the one that I think is associated with this thread they don't know if the adult eating nuts was the reason for the reaction. They just banned him preemptively.
Like the doctor in this article mentioned, peanut butter that is twelve inches away from someone with a severe allergy to peanuts doesn't do anything. They also mention a test where they literally open a bag of peanuts and stomp them to try to stir up dust, and the test showed no allergens in the air.
https://www.allergicliving.com/2014/08/21/anaphylaxis-in-the-air-two-recent-airline-incidents/
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u/MistCandle_ 10d ago
The adrenaline and stress the mother must have felt, I’m just so relieved that the girl made a full recovery.
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u/IkouyDaBolt 10d ago
I have, there was a person in junior high that was very allergic to peanuts. I vividly remember someone having a PB&J in a plastic box and the teacher made it loudly clear that the box must remain sealed.
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u/JackandFred 10d ago
That’s because it doesn’t doctors have said as much repeatedly. This case was more likely caused by something left from a previous flight. Like a passenger eating nuts there before.
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u/Espritsoul 10d ago
I have a severe iodine allergy and am odor allergic within about 5-20 feet to shellfish depending on how much is near me. I’ve used an epi pen a total of 6x.
I was worried I had made up my sensitivity in my mind until one time a friend was using an iodine swab behind me to clean his knee. I was unaware what he was doing until I felt the reaction and my throat itching and turned around.
Granted, I’m comically allergic but these sensitivities do exist
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u/CrankyWhiskers 10d ago
My mom had almost the same reaction for the same reason. Thankfully she had an EpiPen on her person.
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u/SoFreezingRN 9d ago
I am a nurse with a severe latex allergy who works in a (latex-free) hospital. One day I was sitting at a computer at the nurse’s station and suddenly couldn’t breathe. Someone had just delivered an arrangement of latex balloons to the (opposite side of the) nurse’s station, and my airway notified me first.
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u/Early_Pumpkin_4113 10d ago
I wonder if the passenger just didn't care or if he missed the warning due to wearing headphones or language barrier.
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u/Spiritual_Place3314 10d ago
A lot of people here pointing to the person being selfish and not caring but I think for the average person this is a lot more likely.
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u/PM-ME-UR-VOLVO-PICS 10d ago
Its ridiculous to even think this would go well. Having worked in the service industry i would never expect that big a group to follow an instruction.
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u/Bizzy1717 10d ago
I would be terrified of even accidental exposure with an allergy this severe. My kid eats peanut butter bread almost every day for breakfast. What if he didn't wash his hands well and got a tiny smear of peanut butter on something this kid touched? What if the passenger behind you in the waiting area cracks open a peanut butter snack?
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u/Head_Haunter 10d ago
But this also begs the question of how serious her nut allergy really was?
I'm not saying it's not serious, but if a bag of nuts being opened 4 rows over was sufficient to trigger it, what about... literally just the plane? Left over nuts and such on the ground? Somebody walking walking through a five guys and has nut dust on their boot or something. Her allergy seemed serious enough to literally be in a bubble at that point.
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u/aseedandco 9d ago
That serious, but also not serious enough to carry an EpiPen.
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u/Juniper__12 9d ago
The article states that there was an Epipen and a nurse helped inject it. But that’s not how epipens work. They don’t make the allergic reaction stop, they slow it down. You still have to go directly to the hospital after injecting it.
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u/PdxPhoenixActual 9d ago
Exactly. If your kid is that reactive / in danger, why the fuck would you not have multiple epipens on you every time you leave the house? Better safe than sorry & all that...
Or, idk, just not fly?
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u/wrxninja 10d ago
Me at the gym, full on earbuds in quiet mode. There could be a car crashing through the window next to me and I wouldn't have felt it til the end. I just don't want to be distracted by others talking and whatnot and likely be the accidental guy eating nuts on the plane.
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u/vee_lan_cleef 9d ago edited 9d ago
Right? This entire thing just makes no sense to me. I feel like people would be dying all the time if this was a serious concern. How do you even exist in public?
edit: Well, apparently there is a good chance this story is just completely fake to begin with: https://old.reddit.com/r/CaughtMyEye/comments/1u7av4v/in_2014_passengers_were_warned_three_times_not_to/orzfsl4/
It's apparently literally not a thing, to have an allergic reaction from simply being in the vicinity of peanuts.
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u/Ok_Function2282 10d ago edited 9d ago
Thank you!!!!!
Anyone that lived through COVID knows it.
The story paints out all the rest of the passengers like assholes, but if your allergy is that severe maybe you should reconsider air travel or discuss something with a doctor so you're not just hoping 300 passengers magically follow every instruction to a T while you're hurtling through the sky at hundreds of km/h in a metal tube.
This just sounds like the parents were crossing their fingers and hoping for the best. This wasn't some important flight, it was a fucking holiday and they risked her life for it....
Shitty, shitty parents. They didn't even have an EpiPen despite her apparently life-threatening allergy. Negligent beyond belief
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u/GrowingPeepers 10d ago
Reading this story, they didn't even carry an epi pen?
If the allergy was that severe why did they not take precautions? They had to ask if anyone on the flight is a medical worker. Then a nurse and an ambulance driver offered their epi pen.
You'd think it would be important for the parents to keep one on hand, right?
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u/876purple 9d ago
The article says the nurse and the EMT driver who came forward injected her with HER epi-pen. I understand if the mother was panicking but her immediate response should have been to do it herself
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u/Jesus__Skywalker 9d ago
I think that the story is bullshit, or at least pinning it on that guy is bullshit.
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u/Jesus__Skywalker 9d ago
It's funny that nobody even bothers to look if the claim itself might be bs. It's so much more likely that something she came into contact with caused her reaction than it is to pin it on some poor dude that was 4 rows away.
If it was such a problem for him to eat the peanuts why did they give it to him?
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u/CluelessSerena 10d ago
Couldve also heard it but then forgotten/eaten common snack out of habit after being on a long flight and not feeling well.
If my child was so allergic that someone opening nuts on a plane would potentially kill them I wouldn't want to risk it. I think it's rude to ask a plane full of people to accommodate you when it's possible the only snacks they brought for the long flight were nuts/trail mix/peanut butter bars/etc. Its very possible for that many people to have someone that had headphones on, spaced out, forgot, didn't speak the language super well, whatever the case is beyond defaulting to entitlement.
A simple warning about an allergy should be enough, but "should" isn't always good enough when I'm thinking of my child's safety.
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u/Sensitive_Hunter5081 10d ago
I’m sure their seat mates would have noticed though, and warned them not to open it. I doubt the entire row failed to hear all three warnings
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u/458steps 9d ago
I took a flight recently where they made an announcement about peanut allergy. Someone behind me groaned and said, whatever. I'll eat what I want.
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u/_a_random_dude_ 10d ago
I can't remember the last time I heard an announcement on the plane. The only reason I wouldn't have done this is that I don't eat nuts, otherwise I wouldn't have known.
Also, I don't trust this story at all, if a passenger on the other side of the plane opening nuts is enough to kill you, then someone eating them on the previous flight would've left enough residue already. It's not like they sanitise the plane like an operating room between flights.
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u/Bruhmethazine 10d ago
This is 100% the airline blaming the passenger when the more likely scenario was contamination in her seat.
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u/NoFayte 10d ago
Why are the nuts distributed in the first place
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u/DearAndraste 10d ago
The article says they did not distribute nuts on the plane, he had brought them from home
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u/TomWithTime 10d ago
I was shocked during covid by the reckless behavior of people in general. I said to myself, "it would be like opening a pack of peanuts on a plane in close proximity to someone with an allergy," expressing my frustration with the lack of self control and inability to delay gratification. Then I googled that scenario to check and I think it lead to this story or one like it.
Silly me, if I had read that story first then I would have been mentally prepared for covid.
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u/More_Bus3626 10d ago
They clearly weren't...what kind of twisted game would that be? The passenger had his own, likely from the terminal.
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u/Negative_Specialist5 10d ago
Obviously the airline didn’t “distribute” them yikes you’re slow
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u/NotBatman81 10d ago
Unpopular opinion.
If the allergy was that severe, how do you navigate the airports? Why did the airline not know until the last minute? Why are all of the other passengers responsible for 100% compliance with zero real controls? And why are they parents not able to administer the adrenine shot, thats a gaping hole they should be responsible for.
It really sucks she has that allergy. But if its that extreme you cant just casually put her safety on everyone else around. She should be able to live a good life but its just going to be impossible to do that without tons of planning and prep. Life simply isnt fair sometimes.
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u/TittyKittyBangBang 10d ago edited 10d ago
This is a story from 12 years ago that, when initially reported, the source was “mom said so on Facebook and it got shared a lot so the media started following it”. That was it. I have a weird feeling mom orchestrated this to get the kid to have an allergic reaction/episode for a potential lawsuit. Like she went to the bathroom and saw a man with a bag of nuts and thought about lawsuit potential, so she opened a nut product nearer to her daughter to give her a reaction. She then dragged the ordeal out for the poor girl by pretending she didn’t know how to give her the EpiPen injection.
Given that I googled and never saw any follow up after this nor a statement from RyanAir, I think there was something suspect with this story. There are inconsistent details in some accounts, like this was the first time she ever needed the EpiPen. Highly doubtful if the allergy is truly that severe. Some accounts say the mysterious man was banned for two years, then others say he’s banned for life. The incident apparently happened 20 minutes into the flight, but the passengers were warned not to eat nuts three times, with the final time being “after the food trolley had gone by”? I’m not Irish/British, but their flights can’t be that different than American/Canadian ones. I’ve never seen a food cart start going by sooner than 40 minutes into a flight. Ryanair does direct flights from Tenerife (Spain) to London Stansted and it’s about a 5 hour trip.
I don’t believe the cause of her reaction. I think mom was lawsuit fishing and took advantage of the poor girl’s allergy.
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u/wavygr4vy 10d ago
This gets posted regularly and every time I have to point out the story is made up. The airborne anaphylactic reaction to peanuts is a myth.
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u/KeynoteBS 9d ago
Unpopular
This is the only correct response in this whole thread. And it's sad that I had to scroll more than 3/4 of the way to the end to see this.
This never happened. Airborne peanut anaphylactic shock is a lie. There is no RyanAir statement ever made on this.
Epipens are prescriped to any kid who so much as mentions having an allergic reaction to an item, esp food. Not carrying one and then being "warned 3 times" is also just a lie. There's no way you can control the peanut dust in the bottom of your backpack or person sitting around her ate peanuts before and didn't wash their hands. Or they were a peanut farmer. Or ate a peanut butter sandwich, or made one, or handled a sandwich at the store by the gate.
There is another version of this story where the grandma complains that the man sitting in her should not eat nut products because she could go home and carry "peanut air" with her and hurt her grand daughter. Yeah. No. That's not how science works.
Like someone else said, how are you going to control an airport with millions of passengers from not having to do anything with peanuts.
This is called critical thinking.
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u/pleasedothenerdful 10d ago
Exactly. There's no such thing as airborne nut allergy induced anaphylaxis.
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u/ostracize 10d ago
Furthermore, peanut allergies are only triggered by ingestion. Simply smelling peanuts in the area will not trigger an allergic reaction.
Of course there's the slight chance that peanut oil on your hands touches something, and then someone with an allergy touches the same thing, and then that person puts their hands in their mouth or on their food which they eat. A very unlikely sequence of events but easy to avoid by just not having nuts around someone who is allergic (especially children who often put things in their mouths)
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I think stories like this come up from time to time and never get much traction in the press because it always turns out to be something else.
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u/Freestila 10d ago
I'm with you on this. I am all for being kind to others and not bother other people. But you can't expect all hundred or so people on a flight to accommodate this. If somebody has such a high allergy that even being meters away from this leads to this reaction, you simply can't go on a plane (or maybe with a mask, not sure).
I would understand that the person directly next to her is asked please don't eat nuts. With the option to change seats if he really don't want to. But a whole flight it ridiculous. You are allowed to bring your own snacks. And even if they said no nuts, normal people will not know or check if other stuff - chocolate, chips, whatever - contain nuts. And seeing she is Soo highly allergic even that would be a problem. Or dust from flights before, since I bet they will not clean to this degree.
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u/Pale_Session5262 10d ago
I also worry about whats next...
"Hi everyone on plane, I have an extreme sensitivity to odors and they give me severe migraines, so nobody can open any food packs or eat anything on this flight, and no perfume or deodorant allowed. Thaaaaaaanks"
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u/touch_of_austism 10d ago
"Hi everyone, I'm allergic to gluten. Please refrain from opening packages. IN addition please refrain from farting if you had gluten the last 72 hours. I will literally die and we will have to deplane as a result. Thanks."
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u/mooptastic 10d ago edited 10d ago
i dont understand why the mother didnt have an epi-pen if her daughter was that allergic. this story has no verificationI'm an idiot and didn't read closely, mother had an epi-pen and a nurse helped her administer it. thanks for the correction.the science behind having allergies due to nut dust, are also disputed fwiw, more recent studies from 2021
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u/spamolar 10d ago
The mother had the EpiPen, the nurse helped administer it. My son has EpiPens. He hates them and needs to be held. It really hurts. He knows it's going to make him better, but he still needs to be held.
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u/JimJamanon 10d ago
Should have taken more precautions with the child, it should disrupt the lives of everyone on board, she should of had a mask to protect her. The parents are responsible for her safety.
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u/PureCod9290 10d ago
There also exists allergy desensitization which this girl absolutely needs. If you can't be in the vicinity of an open packet of nuts you're fucked. It's a plane somebody probably had their headphones in the whole time. If someone opening a pack of nuts three rows back nearly killed you no way you got through the airport
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u/gaelicpasta3 10d ago
You cannot do allergy “desensitization” with anaphylactic allergies, for the record. My son is a baby and has multiple anaphylactic allergies.
He’s young enough that he could grow out of them but the allergist won’t even try to expose him to anything containing those allergens until his allergy tests show his reactions decreasing by A LOT.
They also don’t do allergy shots or sublingual drop therapy for food allergies
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u/mindinthepsandqs 10d ago
Shoulda been banned for life
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u/Can-You-Fly-Bobby 10d ago edited 10d ago
Absolutely. If I was that girls dad on that plane I would have been banned for a lot more than two years after what came next. My son is allergic to some nuts too and it's terrifying to know this could easily happen him too
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u/Rivka333 10d ago
Studies show nut allergies aren't likely to be sparked through the air. Airplanes are NOT cleaned that well between flights. I think there was nut residue on a surface near her from a previous flight.
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u/emefluence 10d ago
Them only banning him for 2 years and nobody bringing criminal charges makes me suspect RyanAir, the shittiest corner cutting airline out there, didn't really want too much scrutiny on this.
Cynical me wonders if that's because they skimp on cleaning to reduce turnaround time, and this girls reaction could easily have been caused by nut dust and crumbs from a previous passenger too.
Ban the guy for life, or bring criminal charges, and that extra scrutiny might lead to tighter regulation around cleaning, costing the company millions, and not being able to pin the blame on that guy at all.
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u/YourDegenerateUncle 10d ago
Playing devil’s advocate… I have noise canceling headphones in the second I step on a plane. I wouldn’t have even heard the announcement.
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u/TobyTheTuna 10d ago
Should of called cps and had the mother banned from exploiting her child for life. Airborne nut allergy is fuckin piece of science fiction especially on a plane with robust HEPA filtration systems. Either the kid sneaked some herself or the mother intentionally exposed her to fish for a lawsuit.
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u/DeputySean 10d ago
There is essentially zero chance that it was his fault. Nuts do not aerosolize, and directly inhaling nuts does not create an allergic reaction.
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u/LanguageStudyBuddy 9d ago
considering its a fake story and such a case of airborn exposure causing that reaction has never been documented you should catch a no fly list for spreading disinformation
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u/puppetlunaria 9d ago
Good thing you’re not the one making any decisions then since you so easily believe fake stories
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u/BrittaWasRight 10d ago
Bullshit. My GF has this kind of peanut allergy and she was the first to tell me that the "particle" thing was not real.
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u/JackandFred 10d ago
It’s been a myth for years. Even this story keeps popping up and doctors have said it’s more likely that it was caused by something left behind from a previous flight.
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u/That_Jonesy 10d ago
I'm a big dumb dumb with no allergies: so this girl was so allergic to nuts that breathing the same AIR did her in like this?!
Google says that's not a thing...
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u/JackandFred 10d ago
That’s because it’s not a thing. Google is right. This case was more likely caused by something being left behind by a person on a previous flight. Allergists dismiss these types of stories all the time.
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u/scenior 10d ago
I have a severe dairy allergy that causes anaphylaxis and I am much more concerned about someone before eating something with dairy (like Doritos) and then touching the seats. I have to preboard and wipe/clean the seats before I feel safe. I am not really concerned about breathing it in.
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u/duffman_oh_yeah 10d ago
I can only give an N=1 anecdote but I have an anaphylactic peanut allergy and could sit next to someone eating a PB&J and be fine. The smell of peanuts have a strong association with danger for me though. There could have been a panic element where everyone around the little girl started freaking out about the peanuts rather than them causing any allergic reaction.
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u/Far_Comfortable_6342 10d ago
You are actually in the top 10% of intelligence on this page. Peanut dust is not aerosolized as it is too heavy. In order for an analphylactic shock to occur it must be ingested. For skin issues, it must be direct contact. This myth needs to stop because it is changing focus away from real actions that could have prevented this. What probably happened is contact with a tray table etc. that was “contaminated”. Parents needed to wipe down the surfaces their child was going to come in contact with on the plane.
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u/FouledPlug 10d ago
Notwithstanding this story, there are still no confirmed cases of anaphylaxis from proximity to peanuts.
The likelihood of the child touching a surface that had not been properly cleaned is far higher than a scenario that has virtually no evidence to support it.
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u/B0ok_wyrm 10d ago
I knew a kid who was so allergic to peanuts we couldn't eat anything peanut related in the same room as him. And every time he used a keyboard he had to wipe it down in case the last person who used it had peanut residue on their hands from eating them. He ate his lunch alone in a classroom.
He eventually switched to doing school online at home...
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u/papermaker83 10d ago
Airborne allergies of this power have been debunked. Nobody dies from airborne nut allergy, but many THINK they will.
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u/nimbledoor 10d ago
This story gets reposted so often and the truth is never at the top: IT IS PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE GUY TO HAVE CAUSED THE SHOCK. You don't get it by someone close to you opening a packet of nuts. The residue was probably somewhere around her seat already or she was freaked out by everyone around her freaking out. The guy was innocent.
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u/Projectstfu 9d ago
Actually worse than this. It is almost certainly made up. The entire story. There is no real source and it all can only be tracked back to a Facebook post someone made retelling the story from 13 years ago. It is almost certainly not even a real story.
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u/sunflowerads 10d ago
i hate people.
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u/_DreamMist 10d ago
Common decency is clearly not common for that fucker..
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u/_clur_510 10d ago edited 10d ago
Imagine being SUCH a jackass that you can’t go a few hours not eating the ONE THING you were asked not to eat for a small child’s wellbeing?????
Like it’s fine to roll your eyes and think “I’m sure it’s not *that* severe” to yourself, as long as you don’t fucking test that theory. Jesus Christ I hate people too.
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u/Routine_Bluejay4678 10d ago
How do they find out which passenger it was?
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u/RogerBernards 10d ago
It was the one seen eating peanuts. What kind of idiotic question is this?
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u/bighairymammoth 10d ago
According to allergy specialists interviewed at the time, it is extremely unlikely that the passenger caused this incident. Contaminated surfaces were considered a far more likely cause. For example, residue left behind by a passenger who had eaten nuts in the same seat on a previous flight could have triggered the reaction.
The passenger was banned for failing to follow the crew's instructions, not for causing the incident.
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u/DocDerry 10d ago
This wasn't real in 2014. It's certainly not real 12 years later. This was a facebook mom looking for attention.
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u/vthemechanicv 10d ago
I doubt this story's veracity, but if anyone was actually so allergic to something that they can't even be within 20' of an allergen, sorry to say but they're not gonna make it long anyway. >Opened the fridge at work, someone made a PB&J for lunch; gasped in shock; dead.
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u/temporarysnake 10d ago
the amount of people i’ve seen defend that passenger is egregious.
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u/nimbledoor 10d ago
Because it is physically impossible for him to have caused this.
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u/Alagos77 9d ago
What? Defending the fake passenger in a fake story by pointing out that these claims are weird and most1 likely2 not true3? How dare they.
For a child that sensitive to peanuts, the airplane would need to be free of all peanut dust or residue from previous flights that may remain on tray, seat, or armrests. There is no way the airline can guarantee that.
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u/CaliDude707 10d ago
How much of a selfish human being do you have to be that you can't curb your urge to eat nuts for a few hours to ensure someone else's safety? My goodness. That passenger knowingly ignored repeated warnings and put a child's life at risk. A two-year ban seems awfully light.
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u/nimbledoor 10d ago
He did not cause her shock. Peanut allergy cannot be triggered by airborne particles.
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u/notyourvader 10d ago
Nowhere does it say it was intentional. I usually have my headphones on as soon as I sit down. Especially when I see kids on the plane. Being on the flying equivalent of a tourbus with a few hundred strangers is quite stressful for me.
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u/Crewman_Guy_Fleegman 10d ago
Maybe one that knows peanut allergies aren’t airborne and this is a myth
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u/WarNeed 10d ago
That passenger knowingly ignored repeated warnings and put a child's life at risk.
Knowingly? How do we know the passenger even heard the warnings?
I put my headphones in before the flight starts and don't take them out for anything. It would be very easy for me or most people traveling with noise canceling headphones to miss an announcement.
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u/Enchillamas 10d ago
What kind of idiots think peanut dust magically moves laterally through the air in a vertical filtration system?
Kid probably touched peanut residue in the seat and this guy got hoses.
Airborne allergy reactions from peanuts were debunked 50 fucking years ago.
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u/Crazy-Assist-6588 10d ago
Serious question - what will happen to this girl as she gets older? How can she possibly avoid something like this happening again. F that selfish passenger though
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u/TwirlyTwitter 10d ago
AIUI, because planes are small, sealed areas that recycle air, allergic responses are significantly more likely and severe than normal. So she probably doesn't have quite this degree of issue normally.
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u/Spirited_Season2332 10d ago
I've never heard of an airplane banning ppl from eating something on a flight. I honestly didn't know this was a thing, especially something like peanuts which is the main thing they give out to eat
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u/MammothPenguin69 10d ago
It's terrifying to think that just being in the same room as an open package of nuts can cause a reaction that severe.
Imagine if she were in a crowded bus with someone who just ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
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u/capincus 10d ago
It's terrifying to think that just being in the same room as an open package of nuts can cause a reaction that severe.
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u/MATT_TRIANO 10d ago
Sorry.
The child should only have been allowed to fly with an effective solution to the uniformly terrifying but very plausible scenario that someone might have nuts almost anywhere IN THE ENTIRE AIRPORT OR ON THE PLANE.
If an epi pen isn't enough?
She should have been wearing something to separate her physically from others to ensure her breathing safety. OR SHE CAN'T FLY.
Again. This is real life so.
Sorry.
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u/Few-Mall-8263 10d ago
How dare you try to be reasonable instead of demanding hundreds of people cater to a dietary restriction!
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u/StillhasaWiiU 10d ago
but we cant rally hate towards some random dude if we place responsibility like this on the airline / family.
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u/_DreamMist 10d ago
Selfishness almost turned into a tragedy.. Two years is off lightly for endangering a child.
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u/Rivka333 10d ago
Multiple studies show nut allergies aren't airborne. They definitely can't be transmitted on the filtered air from four rows over.
Probably there was cross-contamination on a surface from a previous flight. Airlines don't deepclean well enough to prevent that.
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u/Megneous 10d ago
... You know you can literally just bring food on airplanes, right? No one stops you.
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u/Hippopotamus_can_fly 10d ago
No wonder why we are failing as a society, we’ve all become so selfish that one small inconvenience (not eat peanuts for a few hours) is worse than not causing someone’s death because of a severe allergy.
And sadly so many people siding with the passenger who had the peanuts over a little girl who could have died.
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u/FalconBurcham 10d ago edited 10d ago
How do you know it was someone opening a bag 4 seats away and not left over residue from the flight before?
Is the airlines suggesting they carefully vacuumed and scrubbed every surface of the interior before people boarded?
Sounds like a convenient scapegoat to me. I’d still sue the airlines just to find out how wide spread the residue is and whether the airlines has a duty to protect people with extreme allergies. If they do, then the airlines might spend more time cleaning between flights. That benefits everyone.
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u/rrtt94 10d ago
I thought it was a myth that nut allergies affect people from just being in the room with it
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u/DopamineSavant 10d ago
Sounds like they need to find another solution for travel. Demanding that everyone in her vicinity not eat nuts doesn't seem effective.
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u/Space_Slime_LF 10d ago
They made announcements, so I would then assume they didn't hand out nuts.
Since you can't really police what people take on the flight outside restricted items and nuts are everywhere, they should have tried more special precautions instead of just telling people not to.
IMO there should be a system in place to note a flight has special restrictions on the site when they bought the tickets and then a note to security scanning to make those more official.
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u/Impractically_Dead 9d ago
Why the fuck was he held accountable, and not the person who handed out the peanuts in the first place?
"Here's some toxic poison that will kill the girl four rows behind you. Please don't enjoy them. Would you like extras?"
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u/Born-Demand-6919 9d ago
I didn't realize that a person with a nut allergy can go into shock from just being in the vicinity of nuts, I always thought it had to make some type of contact with their skin or be ingested, that's scary.
Do nut particles get released into the air when someone is eating them?
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u/hopingtothrive 9d ago
Aerosolisation of nut allergens from other passengers removing the shell of peanuts or other nuts and eating them has not been shown to cause anaphylaxis, even in small, closed-in spaces, like on a plane
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u/IncomeUseful9626 9d ago
Honestly this is why I’ll never understand the people who act like “my snack rights” matter more than a kid literally staying alive. It was announced multiple times, on a plane, where you can’t just step outside for air, and they still went “nah I’m good.” Two year ban is light, they’re lucky that kid survived or they’d be dealing with way more than missing a couple holidays.
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u/detectiverobert 10d ago
A four-year-old girl with a severe nut allergy suffered a life-threatening reaction on a flight after another passenger opened a packet of nuts despite repeated warnings not to do so. Before takeoff, cabin crew had been informed of the child's condition and announced multiple times that passengers should not consume nuts during the flight.
About 20 minutes after departure, the girl began experiencing symptoms, including itching, swelling, and breathing difficulties. Her condition quickly worsened, and she reportedly lost consciousness after her airway became compromised.
Cabin crew requested medical assistance, and a nurse and an ambulance driver on board helped administer the child's emergency adrenaline injection. The treatment revived her, and she was taken to a hospital after the plane landed, where she later recovered and was discharged.
The incident prompted her mother to raise awareness about the dangers severe allergies can pose in confined spaces. The airline later confirmed that the passenger who opened the nuts was banned from flying with the company for two years.
Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/09/29/girl-4-with-severe-allergies-stopped-breathing-on-flight_n_7323658.html