A UK passenger with a deadly peanut allergy thought she’d die after two airlines handed out peanuts on a 14-hour journey — despite her notifying them of her allergy in advance.
“I was petrified,” Amy Pearson, 25, told Kennedy News of the frightening incident, which occurred last month while she was flying to see her sister Molly Pearson, 24, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “I sat still the whole time. I didn’t want to touch anything and didn’t use the toilet.”
The Lincolnshire native allegedly suffers from a severe airborne nut allergy, which could cause her to go into anaphylactic shock — a life-threatening allergic reaction — if exposed. She reportedly carries an Epi-pen wherever she goes.
As a result, the geography teacher had to inform airlines of her condition before flying, claiming that most agreed not to serve nuts while she was aboard.
Pearson said that ahead of her latest flight, her travel agent informed Qatar Airways — her carrier during the first leg of the journey from the UK to Qatar — of her condition and she was given the green light to fly.
When the Brit arrived at the check-in desk, she informed them that she was the passenger with the peanut allergy.
However, the clerks on duty said “they were not aware of this” and even made her sign a waiver that stipulated that it was “not their fault” if she died, Pearson recalled.
Pearson boarded the plane and informed the flight attendants of her allergy, but they refused to stop slinging nuts on board.
“They said they [Qatar Airways] couldn’t cater to this and if I read the small print it would say this,” she said. She added that they wouldn’t honor her request to announce her condition over the intercom, claiming that they couldn’t “dictate what people could eat on board.”
At that point, Pearson said she was reduced to pleading with the people around her, who fortunately agreed to abstain from eating nuts. However, the Qatar Airways crewmembers told her “that air circulates on a plane and they [the nuts] could just be in the air,” she recounted.
“I had never been on a flight this long before so I didn’t know how I was going to react,” said Pearson, who fortunately had four Epi-pens with her.
To make matters worse, this was just the first leg of a 14-hour journey (her longest ever), the second of which was with Malaysia Airlines.
Unfortunately, just like on Qatar, crew members handed out “packets of peanuts as a complimentary snack” despite Pearson informing them of her condition.
“On their app, it said that they provide special meals so I put on that I had a nut allergy,” lamented Pearson, who was allegedly given a “COVID-style” face mask to protect her against the peanut fumes.
She said she sat still the whole time and wouldn’t touch anything or even go to the lavatory for fear of contamination.
As neither airline acquiesced to her request for a special meal, the beleaguered flyer was relegated to eating a plate of fruit — which was all she ate during the entire 14-hour trip.
Unfortunately, it turned into Groundhog Day on the return leg to the UK, where crew members assured she’d be treated better, only for them to yank her off the aircraft shortly after boarding.
“They [the airline] assured my travel agent that I would be treated much better on the return,” said Pearson. “I boarded the plane and told them I was the one with the nut allergy and they took me off the flight as they are not sure if I can fly.”
She added, “At this point, I am crying because I have just said goodbye to my sister for a year and I am now being told I am stuck in Malaysia.”
Staffers said they needed to ring headquarters to see if they could fly, and even made Pearson fill out another waiver so she could board the plane.
Upon arriving in Qatar, the pedagogue didn’t say anything to the crew, only imploring her fellow passengers to once again to abstain from eating nuts. When she reached out to the airlines to complain, she received automated responses.
Pearson, who is now back home safe in the UK, has vowed never to fly with either airline again, declaring: “It’s not fair. If I knew that they were like this I would have never flown with them.”
“I’m a geography teacher and I want to promote people to go and see the world and traveling is the best thing to do but it shouldn’t be stopped by a nut allergy,” the teacher added.
Pearson claimed she was discriminated against given that every other airline she flew with had catered to her allergy.
“[Other airlines in the past] have made an announcement to tell people to not eat nuts on board and wouldn’t serve nuts on board,” she said.
She said she’s using her incident to “raise awareness of the issue so that other people don’t have the same problem.”
Both Qatar Airways and Malaysia Airlines referred Kennedy News to their policies regarding passengers with peanut allergies.
“We do our best to accommodate passengers with special allergy needs,” Qatar writes on its site.
“However, as our flights are open to the public, we cannot guarantee an allergen-free environment.”
They stipulate that passengers “are responsible for carrying any necessary medication with them onboard” and that they “may be required to sign a waiver of liability.”
Meanwhile, the Malaysia Airlines website stipulates that the airline will not implement peanut-free or nut-free buffer zones and/or remove the service of peanut or nut snacks.
They will also not make onboard announcements refraining passengers from consuming peanuts/nuts.
“We recommend that passengers familiarise themselves with the peanut/nut allergy policy and protocols of any airline they are traveling with prior to making their booking, to ensure their needs can be accommodated,” an airline representative told Kennedy.