Air Travel

Question:

andersre  wrote <snip> >(But you’ll still have people bringing >their own food on board, especially for long flights, so you’re never going to >eliminate the problem.)

   Good post, but that raises an interesting point.  When a movie theater or ballpark, etc, stops allowing people to bring their own food, that’s when the REAL revenue starts coming in, from concession sales!  So both the airlines and the peanut-free lawmakers will love this new regulation.    Personally, I’d like to have a screaming-baby-free zone, but that’s another issue entirely. — Kunarion

Response:

Believe me, I don’t want your baby or anyone else’s in my hands or anywhere near me on an airplane.  Or anywhere else for that matter. >Hands off of my baby >Rob >    Personally, I’d like to have a screaming-baby-free zone, but that’s > another issue entirely. > — Kunarion

– Jason Gill "Power without morality is disaster. Morality without power is useless." L.E. Modesitt, Jr. _The Paradigms of Power_

Response:

>Personally, I’d like to have a screaming-baby-free zone, but that’s >another issue entirely. >– Kunarion

The problem with regulations like this is where do we stop?  I have very bad asthma and strong scents, perfume and after-shave, etc., have on occasion caused an asthma attack (which can be just as devastating as allergies).  Do we ban people from wearing the fragances?  I would love it, but I doubt I could get a regulation banning them.  How about from movie theaters, sports arenas, all public areas? My point is that there are too many health-related problems for us to start imposing regulations to control them.  How about self-responsibility?  If I have an allergy to peanuts and ask my neighbor to refrain from eating them, I bet he/she would.  Why do we have to have laws governing every aspect of our lives?   Linda

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Hands off of my baby Rob – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->    Personally, I’d like to have a screaming-baby-free zone, but that’s > another issue entirely. > — Kunarion

Response:

appear as if it was written: >It seems like a prime example of government foolishness.  However, as the >father of a 8 year old boy that is very allergic to peanuts and because of >his allergy he carries a hypo of epinepherine with him at all times,  I do >not agree with the functionality of peanut free zones.   >I do not think one can be selective as to which people can have peanuts >depending on row or seat.  How are the attendants expected to handle the >close quarters and logistics of the peanut haves and have-nots.  For some >allergic people, very small amounts, peanuts crumbs or even the smell can >cause reactions. (for those of you that don’t know what kind of reactions a >person can have, they range from mild itching around the mouth and throat, >to anaphylactic shock where the person’s blood preasure falls and their >throat can close completly cutting off air and the rest is obvious)  Ask >around, you will discover that peanut is one of the most common allergies >found in kids, it’s certainly far from rare.

Peanut crumbs are a problem?  Read on… >I agree with those airlines that today will gladly switch the snacks to >something else other than peanuts upon request.  Quality airlines provide a >different selection, without peanuts, on that specific flight.  This >attitude serves all well, those with allergies,  those that have to choose >who is served peanuts, and who are not, and those that perhaps see others >with peanuts and would like to have peanuts but are restricted due to thier >location.   >I would like to see more airlines offer peanut-restricted filght options >rather than it become a government mandate for peanut-free zones.

But how do you handle peanuts that got on the plane, got crumbled, and then didn’t get sterilized before the alleged peanut-free flight… >Ira

Malc.

Response:

Seems like utter foolishness to me.  If someone is so violently allergic to peanuts that he could go into anaphylactic shock by simply breathing peanut fumes, he would be quite foolish indeed to take a seat in a small metal tube in which peanuts are being dispensed liberally, even if they aren’t being dispensed within three feet of where he’s sitting.  What, for example, is to prevent a four-year-old from snarfing a package of peanuts, and then, mouth still full, toddle off to the loo, exhaling deadly clouds of peanut fumes throughout the cabin?  Or, seeing how tightly they pack rows of seating in aircraft these days, what happens when some overzealous peanut lover accidentally gets a peanut lodged in his trachea, and some alert neighbor administers the old Heimlich manoeuvre, launching the lethal legume a league alee, right into the hapless lap of a peanut-allergic individual? The only way such individuals can be certain of avoiding peanut exposure and subsequent death is to fly only when there will be no peanuts on the flight at all, or by not flying in the first place.  I’d just as soon have a packet of pretzels, or buttermints, or M&Ms, or even saltines, than the peanuts anyway, but I wonder if there aren’t going to be as many sufferers of pretzel allergy seeking governmental redress as there are sufferers of peanut allergy.  Bottom line:  It’s not a federal issue.  Let the allergic band together and exercise the power of their pocketbooks to influence snackage offerings on passenger flights. Or let the alirlines stop serving "food" altogether, and concentrate on getting pax from Point A to Point B.  (But you’ll still have people bringing their own food on board, especially for long flights, so you’re never going to eliminate the problem.)

Response:

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Response:

It seems like a prime example of government foolishness.  However, as the father of a 8 year old boy that is very allergic to peanuts and because of his allergy he carries a hypo of epinepherine with him at all times,  I do not agree with the functionality of peanut free zones.   I do not think one can be selective as to which people can have peanuts depending on row or seat.  How are the attendants expected to handle the close quarters and logistics of the peanut haves and have-nots.  For some allergic people, very small amounts, peanuts crumbs or even the smell can cause reactions. (for those of you that don’t know what kind of reactions a person can have, they range from mild itching around the mouth and throat, to anaphylactic shock where the person’s blood preasure falls and their throat can close completly cutting off air and the rest is obvious)  Ask around, you will discover that peanut is one of the most common allergies found in kids, it’s certainly far from rare. I agree with those airlines that today will gladly switch the snacks to something else other than peanuts upon request.  Quality airlines provide a different selection, without peanuts, on that specific flight.  This attitude serves all well, those with allergies,  those that have to choose who is served peanuts, and who are not, and those that perhaps see others with peanuts and would like to have peanuts but are restricted due to thier location.   I would like to see more airlines offer peanut-restricted filght options rather than it become a government mandate for peanut-free zones. Again, I support those airlines that are sensitive to their customers needs.  It just makes good business sense! If most people agree that this issue is not that important, than fine, It wouldn’t harm you not to have that tiny bag of peanuts, but on the other hand it could save the life of an allergic child or person. Ira

Response:

>I would like to see more airlines offer peanut-restricted filght options >rather than it become a government mandate for peanut-free zones.

This is the first statement that I’ve read on this thread that pretty much agrees with my views.  Why is it that the government has to step in with this issue, when the airlines themselves, without federal bureacratic meddling, can, should, and do address the matter?  First, if the threat of anaphylactic seizures is as serious as folks say it is, why and how are you going to arbitrarily block off certain rows?  And what about different aircraft sizes?  If the government says "no peanuts within three rows", it’s going to be a heck of difference in the physical size of the buffer zone between a 747 and an Embraer Brasilia.  This totally strikes me as a case of inept bureacrats cooking up some half-assed response to problem that could be better solved by the airlines themselves.  If the governent is going to do anything, I would even argue it should go all the way and ban peanuts totally on flights, at least on those where customers notify the airline of their peanut allergies. I mean, look at Southwest Airlines, THE quintessential "peanut airline", efficiently taking on the matter on its own:  simply don’t serve peanuts at all on flight segments when customers inform the airline of their peanut allergies.  End of story (I realize there are questions about the thoroughness of cleaning and "sterilization" between flights, especially w/ Southwest’s rapid-turnaround, high-frequency flights, but this is a far better solution that the "X row buffer zone" proposed by the DOT). >Again, I support those airlines that are sensitive to their customers >needs.  It just makes good business sense!

Exactly!  Again, follow Southwest’s example.  While corporations aren’t always efficient or right, I think Southwest proves that airlines are smart enough to tackle this problem by themselves. >If most people agree that this issue is not that important, than fine, It >wouldn’t harm you not to have that tiny bag of peanuts, but on the other >hand it could save the life of an allergic child or person.

As much as I dislike some of the whining by folks who are "on the side of" peanut-allergy sufferers, I myself am really sympathetic to those with genuine and life-threatening peanut allergies.  See, I have a fairly strong (but until thus far, not life-threatening) allergy to chick peas (garbanzos/gram flour), green peas, and several other types of lentls and beans.  If someone is deep-frying gram flour batter nearby (very common in my family’s native (East) Indian cooking) without proper ventillation, I will develop fairly strong bronchial and asthmatic symptoms.  A girl in Michigan actually died from an asthma attack at her friend’s home, when her friend’s mother was cooking something with chick peas.  My consuming such foods will cause extremely uncomfortable and acute itching irriations in my mouth, tongue, and throat, and can often result in vomiting.  So, unlike some skeptics in this NG, I can definitely imagine such a life-threatening allergy occuring.

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