Southwest Airlines deprives me of peanuts, saves lives

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3-18-2008 @ 4:44PM

Sean W said...

Hi there, Justin.

Regarding your question, "Are peanut allergies so strong that one can't even be near them in confinement?" The answer... yes!

Southwest Airlines, when alerted that someone traveling onboard has a peanut allergy, will fill out a "Peanut Allergy Dust form." This alerts the flight crew to 1) go through extra cleaning of the cabins and 2) remove peanuts AND pretzels. (The pretzels are packaged at a "facility that processes peanuts and/or peanut products.")

The reasons for taking these extra precautions is that air is recirculated throughout the cabin. If there is a person in the front of the aircraft that has severe peanut allergies and a person in the back is chowing down on a bag of planters, there can be dust particles that are recirculated through the cabin. The person who is allergic can go into an anaphylactic shock, which can be life threatening, especially if they do not have any antihistamines on hand or an epi-pen (an injection "pen" containing epinephrine/adrenaline).

Hope this helps you understand why you weren't served a snack on your flight! (No peanuts, but hey... you got a wider, more comfortable, leather seat than most carriers offer!!! :))

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