Hm. No "nut-free" meals on offer.
Can we please all make a pact not to bring any sort of nut products onto a plane for munching? Can we also promise not to select nut products as our "free snack" when offered? I do not smoke on the plane, which is a matter of your health and safety, as well as the comfort of all those on board. Well, you sitting there munching on your yummy salted peanuts or - even better - pistachios and hazelnuts is a health hazard for me.
Sure, I can pop reactine and drink a lot of high-caffeine beverages in an attempt to stave off what could possibly be a full-scale reaction, but this is not particularly comfortable for me. Nor is it, I imagine, particularly comfortable for those around me. And one thing that people may not be aware of is this: an allergy such as one to nuts gets worse with each and every contact.
So every flight I am on, where my fellow passengers are happily popping nuts, is one step closer to a full blown, red face, swollen membranes, anaphylactic-shock reaction. Yes, I carry an epi-pen, and yes I carry reactine. Reactine is effective - sometimes - against minor reactions. An epi-pen is effective for about fifteen minutes depending on the severity of the reaction.
I ask you, when we are 35,000 feet in the air, are you going to be able to get me to a hospital within 15 minutes, so that I can be put on an epinephrine and benadryl drip, and possibly a ventilator as well?
Unfortunately, I think a fair number of those who do not have nut allergies - similarly, shellfish and bee sting allergies - don't quite grasp the severity of the situation. Allow me to make it plain for you:
I will die.
I won't have several months or years of hanging on in the hospital, hooked up to a respirator. My kidneys will not slowly start to shut down. Within seconds, my tongue and throat will start to swell shut. My lungs will swell to the point where I can not draw a breath. Within minutes, I will be in a great deal of pain. Reason and rational thought will be gone within about five minutes.
Depending on the type of nut - ground, legume, tree, etc - I may or may not be vomiting. See, because I am one of the lucky folks who are allergic to em all. It's not just legumes (peanuts) for me, and there are a few different reactions that I am lucky enough to experience!
And though those who are allergic to bee stings actually need to be STUNG for the reaction to take place, those of us who are allergic to nuts and/or shellfish don't actually have to eat the offending food. For many of us, the smell is enough to provoke a mild-to-severe reaction. Couple that with the possibility of a random passenger cross-contaminating any of the public areas (ie - washroom door handles, arm rests, seats, etc) that we may actually have physical contact with and you have, essentially, a flying death-mobile.
It would be devastating for the airlines to require an in-flight death by anaphylaxis to consider banning all open nut products on their flights. There will be lawsuits, and enough ill-will and finger-pointing to go around. It's bad enough that - on a trans-Atlantic flight - we get to eat fruit platters, and that's it. And sometimes, depending on the airline, we get a nice big, open bowl of mixed nuts as a dessert.
There are no "nut-free" meals offered.
Rather than letting it get to the point where lawsuits are flung around, be proactive. Recognize that a vegan will not die at 35,000 feet if there is cheese offered in their meal. I respect the vegan lifestyle, but it is, in fact, a lifestyle. No less important than my particular allergy, but considerably less life-threatening.
At a restaurant, I can let the server know of my allergy and the kitchen will accomodate as much as possible. There is no attention like this on an airplane. My life is, quite literally, in the hands of the crew and the hands of my fellow passengers.
Though you might disagree, I kind of think my life is precious. If you could treat it with a little care, I'd appreciate it.
Thank you,
~Me
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