I read a study from American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, which said there is “no evidence” that peanut dust becomes airborne. However, I have read several news articles about people with severe nut and peanut allergies having bad reactions:

https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/co-down-mum-could-died-23332855

In another case, a 14 year old girl had a reaction that caused her to lose consciousness after a passenger kept eating nuts next to her:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10893187/Call-airline-peanut-ban-girl-14-collapses-mid-flight.html

I know that in science, a lack of evidence of something happening under controlled conditions doesn’t mean that something isn’t possible or doesn’t happen. For a long time, there was also no evidence that germs existed. Blaming the reactions on “hysteria” seems like ableism to me, similar to how people used to blame ME/CFS on “laziness”. With the peanut allergy on flights, I’m not sure there’s an ethical way to properly test this.

I developed a severe peanut allergy when I was 10. I’m 35 now. I went into anaphylaxis from eating two milk chocolate m&m’s that had traces of peanut. I developed this allergy shortly after my last ever flight. I’ve never eaten actual peanuts.

I have family in New Zealand, which is very far away from me. I haven’t visited them ever since I was 10. Is flying too risky for me? I’m going to be flying over the ocean most of the flight, and all my Epi Pens do is give me an extra 20 or so minutes to get to the hospital.

  • folekaule@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago
    1. This is not medical advice
    2. Ask your doctor
    3. Talk to the airline. They can at least tell you if they carry peanuts on their flights. And you should inform them if you go, to make sure the crew knows
    4. On overnight flights they often serve one or two full meals. I don’t recall being served peanuts on one, but it’s possible some of their meal options include nuts
    • bokster@lemmy.sdf.org
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      13 hours ago

      Very much this. Talk to the airline as well. This falls under ‘special needs requests’.

      I’ve already flown flights where the cabin crew announced “We have a patient with severe peanut allergy on the flight. We will not be handing out any peanuts and we kindly ask all passengers to refrain from opening any they may have brought on board.”