Sweethearts Candy Blog's

I was devastated to read about Gina Clowes's recent struggle with American Airlines regarding accommodations for her son's severe nut allergy. Gina is the founder of Allergy Moms and a devoted food allergy advocate who I met in person recently at a FAAN conference.

Gina's request to the airline was extremely reasonable. She didn't object to the serving of cashews in first class seating, but she asked them to refrain from roasting the cashews in-flight because of the increased risk of allergic reaction.

Roasting cashews in-flight? Yep, you read that right. I had no idea this was a common practice and am very glad that Gina spoke up on her blog and Facebook page to let us know.

As parents of kids with severe food allergies, (especially nut allergies since peanuts and tree nut snacks are hard to avoid on most airlines), we already do our best to ensure a reaction-free flight for our kids by being proactive: cleaning seats, bringing our own food, etc. Some airlines are willing to work with us and many of us fly without problems. Other airlines value cashews more than passengers health and rights.

The trouble is--we can't get off the plane once it's in the air. What do they want us to do? Parachute out of the plane if our child has a reaction? Obviously, what would happen instead is that the flight would need an emergency landing, everybody's travel plans are disrupted, the airline loses tons of money and goodwill. Plus, a human being--the most important issue here--may even lose their life. All because of roasted cashews. Really?????

Gina kindly offered to do a Q & A with me about the situation so I'd like to allow her to share her story in her own words:

Jenny: At what point did you become aware of American's first class nut roasting policy?

Gina: I was speaking at the FAAN conference in Anaheim a few weeks ago. On the flight home, I was overwhelmed by the smell of roasted nuts. I thought “What in the world are they doing? Are they cooking with nuts?”

I could not believe that in this day and age that any airline would roast nuts in an enclosed cabin at 30,000 feet. Airborne reactions may not be as common as other types but I know that cooking food increases the risk. Of course on an airplane, the air is recirculated as well.

I remembered that my family’s upcoming flight to Dallas was on American so I made a note to call. I remembered reading through their website and though they mention serving some nut products there was no mention of actually roasting them on board. If there had been, we would not be having this conversation because I would have never booked tickets with American.


Jenny: Can you explain to those who may not understand--why is the process of heating up nuts in-flight so dangerous to those with a tree nut allergy?

Gina: Cooking foods releases more of the particles into the air (aerosolization) This type of exposure can cause a reaction in a sensitive individuals. So this is just another type of allergic reaction. But even though it may seem benign, inhalation can cause a range of reactions from skin symptoms to respiratory symptoms to full blown anaphylaxis.

My son has had a few mild inhalation reactions. Once in a Chinese restaurant, presumable from the cooking but we were able to leave right away. I understand that to some, this may seem remarkable, but it really does happen.

Jenny: What level of American Airlines worker did you reach? They wouldn't let you talk to the supervisor of the worker who wouldn't help you, is that correct?

Gina: First, I started with a Disability services rep. He said “They do different things on different flights. Just ask the flight attendant on the day of the flight.”

Next, I sent an email. No response.

Then I sent another email stating “This is my third attempt to find out if American Airlines will accommodate my son by refraining from roasting nuts in first class on our flight...”

That’s when the second Disability rep called me. She told me to “Ask the flight attendant..”

I said “Does the flight attendant have the authority to decide whether or not to roast the nuts?” She said “Probably not.”

I asked to speak with her supervisor. It was very unpleasant. He asked me “If you went to a Seafood restaurant, would you ask them not to cook shrimp?”

I said “The purpose of a Seafood restaurant is to eat seafood. I wouldn’t take my son to a seafood restaurant. The purpose of an airline flight is to get from one place to another.”

I offered to buy every first class passenger a large bag of nuts, I offered to buy four first class tickets for my family (my mother is ill and this will be the last trip she will take to see my brother), but he said “We’re still gonna do it.”

That’s when I lost it and started to cry.

I asked for his supervisor. He gave me a name but would not transfer me. He said “She doesn’t take calls.”

Then he said something like – Now that I know the severity of your son's allergies, I'm going to need you to get a letter from your son's doctor, that says if he gets in contact with peanut or nuts, he'll be able to continue the flight!

Jenny: Is there any recourse for you now? Does DOT (or other transportation authority) have any rules that American may have violated with their treatment of you? Can you get a ticket refund if you want one?

Gina: I filed a “Complaint Concerning Accessibility of Airline Service (Passengers with Disabilities)

My son has a Section 504 plan, which means he is considered “disabled’ because of his food allergies. I don’t like the word “disability” any more than anyone else does. But my son does, at times, need some additional accommodations.

I’m by no means an expert but with a little help from my friends, my understanding is that an airline cannot refuse to provide transportation to a us simply because an accommodation may “offend, annoy, inconvenience crew members or other passengers.”

They can refuse to fly us for safety reason but would have to notify us in writing.

American Airlines posted a comment on my blog and stated that they were “looking into it.” My best case scenario would be that they would change their policy and make accommodations for allergic passengers ahead of time. Allergic children deserve access to safe air travel!



Thanks again to Gina for sharing her story and for keeping on top of airline practices so that we don't have to go through what she did. I certainly hope her situation results in a good outcome for all allergic passengers. I will keep you all posted.