Two weeks ago my husband and I took a long flight down to Aruba, and I was really shocked to find that Delta is still serving peanuts on their flights. As soon as I entered the plane my lips started tingling, and sure enough at snack time out come the peanuts! This just strikes me as pretty reckless in the age of so many children being diagnosed with severe peanut allergies. Without ever having eaten peanuts may I ask a stupid question...are they
that good that you would risk someone else's life to enjoy them on your flight?
With this in my mind I thought I'd look up the official stance on Peanuts from a few of the top airlines...so here they are. I added the bold to emphasize parts I found laughable...
From the American Airlines website:
American recognizes that some passengers are allergic to peanuts. Although we do not serve peanuts, we do serve other nut products and there may be trace elements of unspecified peanut ingredients, including peanut oils, in meal and snacks. We make no provisions to be peanut-free. Additionally, other customers may bring peanuts on board. Therefore, we cannot guarantee customers will not be exposed to peanuts during flight and strongly encourage customers to take all necessary medical precautions to prepare for the possibility of exposure.
While this is the official stance from Delta's website:
When you notify us that you have a peanut allergy, we'll create a buffer zone of three rows in front of and three rows behind your seat. We'll also advise cabin service to board extra pretzels, which will allow our flight attendants to serve only pretzels within this area.
Gate agents will be notified in case you'd like to pre-board and cleanse the immediate seating area. We'll do everything we can, but unfortunately we still can't guarantee that the flight will be completely peanut-free.
United's stance:
Peanut information
United does not serve peanuts as snacks or use peanuts or peanut oils in foods served on our flights. However, we do serve vendor products manufactured in facilities that also produce items containing peanuts or peanut oils, and we do have snack mixes that contain other tree nuts, such as almonds and pistachios. Since we cannot prevent customers from bringing onboard their own peanuts or food items containing peanut products, we cannot guarantee a nut-free environment.
And finally Jet Blue:
JetBlue does not serve peanuts and has no immediate plans to serve peanuts; however, we cannot guarantee that our aircraft or snacks will be 100% free of peanuts, peanut material or peanut products.
"Tree nuts" such as almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts, etc. may be served on JetBlue flights.
There is a possibility that some food items served come from facilities that also manufacture products that may contain peanuts, peanut material or peanut products.
We cannot prevent other customers from bringing their own peanuts or peanut products onboard and consuming these items inflight. However, we ask that you inform the head Inflight crewmember upon boarding the aircraft of your severe nut allergy. Upon request, an Inflight crewmember will make an announcement asking all customers to refrain from eating or opening nut products.
JetBlue will offer a full refund to customers for whom these conditions make it
impossible to travel.
