Flying with nut allergies: What to do to ensure a safe flight

06.11.2023 - 21:03 / thepointsguy.com / Spirit Airlines / U.S.Airlines

Flying with food allergies can be a harrowing experience. In addition to the planning and preparation before your flight, you may also encounter rude or dismissive behavior from fellow passengers and airline staff. This exact situation happened to Lianne Mandelbaum with her own child, prompting her to take up the mantle of education and advocacy for food-allergic flyers through her nonprofit, The No Nut Traveler.

After returning home from her own negative experience, Mandelbaum searched online and found many stories similar to hers. The rest is, as they say, history. Her website started as a safe space where other travelers could share their experiences, but it has grown into something with the power to affect change across the airline industry.

TPG spoke with Mandelbaum, who is also an airline correspondent for Allergic Living, to learn what travelers with food allergies can do to protect themselves when they fly, and also how she is pushing for change in the airline industry.

You can't control other passengers or airline employees, but there are steps you can take before you fly to ensure a safe flight and be your own safety advocate. These are the most important tips Mandelbaum shared with TPG:

Food allergy policies vary from airline to airline

Although most airlines no longer serve peanuts during their complimentary inflight service, some still serve tree nuts and also serve meals and snacks with peanuts and tree nuts available for purchase. On top of that, airlines cannot control what other passengers eat during a flight.

That doesn't mean passengers with food allergies must entirely fend for themselves when they fly. Most airlines have policies to protect passengers with food allergies. However, they vary wildly and are not always well-known or understood by airline staff.

For example, American Airlines, United, Spirit Airlines, JetBlue and others state in their allergy policies that they will provide a "buffer zone" around a passenger with a nut allergy. This means they will request the passengers sitting in the rows in front of and behind the passenger not to consume nuts during the flight. They cannot demand that passengers not consume nuts, but they can make the other passengers aware and ask them to comply with the request.

If you make Delta aware that you have a peanut allergy before your flight (by filling out an Accessibility Service Request form or calling Delta at 404-209-3434), they will refrain from serving peanuts or peanut products during your flight, instead offering non-peanut snacks to everyone onboard.

You can view the food allergy policies for all major U.S. airlines on the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) website.

In addition, the DOT's Air Carrier Access Act prohibits