An airline kicked a family off the plane after they made their own no-peanut announcement when the crew refused to
- A family was removed from a flight over an incident regarding a peanut allergy.
- The cabin crew refused to ask passengers not to eat nuts, so the family made its own announcement.
A family was kicked off a flight for orchestrating an announcement over one member's peanut allergy, according to multiple reports.
Georgie Palmer was flying with her husband and two daughters from London to Dalaman, Turkey, with SunExpress on May 21 when the dispute broke out, MailOnline reported.
Palmer's daughter Rosie has a severe peanut allergy that could result in a fatal anaphylactic reaction, she told the outlet.
But airline staff refused to make an announcement asking other passengers not to eat peanuts. According to an Instagram post seen by MailOnline, Palmer took matters into her own hands.
"We gently asked the passengers at the front of the plane to share our request," she wrote. "Row by row, as swift as a carefully crafted toppling domino trail, all the passengers turned back to kindly ask the row behind to please not eat nuts on the flight."She added that none of the passengers minded.But, she told the outlet, it enraged the pilot. She said he began to yell at them and ultimately ordered them to leave. As a result, she said, the family spent about $6,400 booking alternative flights and hotels.In a statement to the Mail, a spokesperson for SunExpress said the airline did not make announcements like this as it "cannot guarantee an allergen-free environment on our flights."Passengers have to notify the airline of special requirements 48 hours in advance, the spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement. They said Palmer didn't do that.Palmer, in response, told the BBC that she had tried to make contact but could not reach anyone.The airline also told the Mail that Palmer's husband, Nick Sollom, was "aggressive" to the crew and "tried to gain access to the cockpit."Palmer told the BBC that claim was "absolute nonsense."Speaking with the Mail, Sollom said that he knocked on the cockpit door to discuss the situation with the pilot but denied being aggressive.In response to these denials, the airline's spokesperson told BI that it "stands by what it has said about this."The incident highlights the amount of planning frequent flyers with allergies need to undertake, with only a handful of major airlines — including British Airways, Air Canada, Southwest, Delta, and JetBlue — making accommodations like this a standard part of their policies.An advocate for people with serious allergies said SunExpress was at fault.Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, a cofounder of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, said in a Facebook post that SunExpress should "immediately" revisit its policies.
"Food allergies are an illness not a lifestyle choice, and the experience of this family on board a plane is shocking and unacceptable," he said.
"Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident," he added.
It's true — SunExpress is far from the only airline that has refused to make an allergy announcement, which could be lifesaving.
Passengers of United and Lufthansa have described unpleasant encounters over the issue.
In August, one passenger with allergies resorted to spending $185 to buy her flight's entire peanut supply.