A new ThreadTripping study reveals astounding evidence that March and April are the worst months for peanut allergy sufferers.

The evidence? This thread on FlyerTalk in which flyers describe various in-flight peanut announcements. It is a truly amazing thread in that it started in March 2013, went strong for several days, then went quiet until CMK10 posted to it again in April 2014 – and no one blasted him for bumping an old thread!

Then again, the discussion is so lively perhaps no one even noticed the 12-month gap in posts.

Among the related issues being discussed are:

Can an airline require passengers who have boarded with nuts not to open their own snacks?

I was on a Southwest flight onetime when they announced a peanut allergy and asked passenger who had any products containing peanuts not to open them. I don’t know if they could have done anything to a passenger that would have opened a product containing peanuts or not. ~ILovetheReds

How many people really have a life-threatening nut allergy?

The literature seems to suggest that the frequency of individuals claiming to be susceptable to areosolized peanuts is far greater than the estimates of the prevalence of this type of extremely rare reaction to non ingested allergens. ~deltalirious

Which is the worst airline to fly on if you have a severe nut allergy?

HA is the worst culprit of nut-heavy dishes. In F, almost all of their meals are with macadamia nuts or coconuts. ~Oakshadow

How big must the nut-free zone be?

On one, everyone was requested not to open or consume any peanut products they might have brought on board and on another flight, there was a peanut free zone declared of about a half dozen rows. ~MSPeconomist

Actually had this peanut allergy issue once flying out of MCO. But it was weird, they held back the peanuts in Y but not in F. I don’t know how much that curtain provides a buffer — and I don’t know where the alergic pax was sitting — but DL seemed satisfied that it would not be an issue. ~Sez_Who

And of course the topic of compensation has been raised, though in a somewhat different manner than usual:

Happened this morning SRQ-ATL as well. Jerk in the row in front of me (after he pushed me out of the way to board in Zone 1 because he’s an FO and important!) was composing his complaint/request for compensation email en route. ~Taz