According to this article, Ryanair banned a man for life because he opened and ate a bag of nuts after evidently repeatedly being warned not to, as a young girl traveling on the same flight suffered from a severe nut allergy.
And on the Australian Frequent Flyer forums travelers discuss:
- How were the “warnings” administered? Were they PA announcements? Was he warned directly? Was he warned in a language he understood?
- Who is really responsible here – the man who opened the bag of nuts, or the parents of the severely allergic child?
- Is being banned for life from Ryanair even considered a punishment?
I don’t want to make light of this, and I sincerely hope the little girl is ok. But I have to admit to seeing some merit in opusman’s line of reasoning:
After reading the articles and the action took by the airline, it looks like the man knew exactly what he was doing. ~boomy
What he was doing was eating nuts. ~opusman
Would I have opened the bag of nuts? Well, I’m also allergic to nuts (not as severely as the young girl) so it’s highly unlikely I would ever find myself facing this issue. But hypothetically speaking, assuming I understood the warnings, I absolutely would not open the bag.
Still, as a nut allergy sufferer, I believe it is my responsibility to protect myself in-flight – and in general. I can’t expect the world to adjust to me.
And again to quote opusman:
Eating nuts is not illegal last time I looked.
Where do you fall on the whole nut allergy issue? Would you be annoyed if you had purchased a bag of nuts to tide you over for the flight, only to learn once onboard that you aren’t allowed to eat them? Are nut allergies themselves completely blown out of proportion?
Read the thread in its entirety: Nuts on board – a serious issue!
Nut allergy disputes are usually based on ignorance. People don’t think of allergies as serious — a few hives, sneezing, what’s the big deal. The big deal is that for many the nut allergy is DEADLY. It’s a closed airway followed by death. Let’s hope that the epipen works. If the guy who ate peanuts understood this, I doubt he would’ve eaten them. If he did understand it, well Ryanair has one less sociopath flying on it.
Unless and until nuts are illegal, I see no problem with eating them, no matter how allergic someone else may be. It’s the allergic person’s responsibility to avoid them. And how is someone merely eating nuts going to cause an allergic reaction in someone else? If the person is that sensitive, then I wouldn’t get on a plane at all – how many nuts are hidden in the seats? How many are ground into the floor?
I’d file suit against Ryanair for violation of my Human Rights.
@Brian, I agree that it’s a big deal and that most people if made aware wouldn’t knowingly put someone else’s life in danger. Having said that, my thinking is more in line with Paul’s. When someone has that sensitive and severe an allergy, they (or their parents) need to take responsibility. Otherwise, where does it stop? If someone were deathly allergic to cotton would everyone on the flight be required to discard their clothing that contained cotton prior to boarding?
Forget the ban. This man can actually be held liable for any injury experienced by the girl. Knowing that she is allergic and being specifically warned would place him on notice that the girl could be injured by his actions. A court would ask whether a reasonable person, KNOWING that the girl could be injured, would nonetheless ignore the warning and eat nuts anyways. It would be a different story if he didn’t know and his eating of the nuts cause her harm.