Air Canada Ordered To Provide Nut-Free Zone

JamJam writes "Air Canada has been told to create a special 'buffer zone' on flights for people who are allergic to nuts. The Canadian Transportation Agency has ruled that passengers who have nut allergies should be considered disabled and accommodated by the airline. Air Canada has a month to come up with an appropriate section of seats where passengers with nut allergies would be seated. The ruling involved a complaint from Sophia Huyer, who has a severe nut allergy and travels frequently. Ms. Huyer once spent 40 minutes in the washroom during a flight while snacks were being served."

Comments

Real or trained response

[ehud42]

I wonder if some of the reactions that people with allergies have when exposure is very low are trained responses. Like Pavlov's dog, ring the bell and start salivating, smell peanut butter and start choking.

My only basis for this is personal experience with chemo-therapy. After just a few rounds of treatments, just DRIVING to the hospital was enough to start me throwing up. It was bizzare and extremely frustrating to be sitting in the chair getting hooked up to a saline only IV and having to hurl. No matter how hard I tried to reason with myself, I was getting sick from the drugs that were no where near my body, much less in them and taking affect yet.

My thought is that people who have had a bad experience with a real allergic reaction have very quickly and effectively trained their brain to induce the reaction response at even the smell of the allergen.

Anyone else have similar experiences / theories about the validity of 'nut-free' zones?

ps - just to be clear, I'm not suggesting the reaction isn't happening, but just curious if it real or trained. If trained, maybe people can be trained out of it and then live less intrusive lives. BTW, 15+ years later I'm basically fine - hospitals don't bother me much, however, there is still a certain ladies deo / perfume that makes me feel queesy.

Re:Peanut Hysteria is more of a psychological issu

[husker_man]

Can anybody provide any real evidence that nut allergies are triggered by the "smell" of nuts?

I can. My oldest son is extremely allergic to peanuts, almonds, and most other kinds of nuts. He has to carry an epi-pen with him wherever he goes. One day, my son's class went on a field trip to a farm. He started looking sick, and his face started to swell. Fortunately, the teacher saw it, gave him some Benadryl and he was fine for the rest of the afternoon. Turns out that the farm was near some peanut-growing farms and it was right in the midst of harvest season, so the peanut dust was in the air.

We've also had instances where my son was near some kids at school who were having a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, and my son started getting sick. Again, Benedryl was administered, and the school made sure that if someone had peanut butter in their lunches, they had to sit at least one or two seats away. Worst case, my son had to sit at a different table (although some classmates did come and sit by him).

It's not fun, dealing with allergies like this, but taking sensible precautions helps avoid a true life-or-death problem.

Re:Shrimp free zone?

[DJRumpy]

Couldn't the allergic individual just wear a face mask while they were serving?

Re:Shrimp free zone?

[horatio]

There is some iota of rationale.

No, there is not. If Ms. Huyer does not wish to adjust herself to another position in her company that requires less travel, she has plenty of alternative transportation options: car, bus, train, charter aircraft, private aircraft (she can go get her pilot's license), etc. You don't have a RIGHT to get on an airplane. What happens when someone drops a peanut on the floor and it rolls into the "buffer" zone? Is the airline going to be held responsible for not building a glass-enclosed, hermetically sealed environment?

It is not the government's job to bring down an iron fist because ONE passenger had ONE incident where she hid in the bathroom - with full and complete knowledge that on commercial flights, they serve nuts. I'm tired of the government mandated bullshit where everyone ELSE has to accommodate, bend over for, and kiss the ass of the one. Where are all of these people on airplanes that have had violent, fatal reactions to nuts? Either she's full of shit, or all of them except for her have all found ways of dealing with it.

FTFA:

She wants all nuts banned from all airlines.

I say start with her.