Flying first time with severe peanut alergic child

[Bubbie Girl]

We will be flying for the first time with Son along who has a severe peanut/nut allergy. We are flying United and our flight is at 6 am and coming home 4:30 pm. What are some precautions to take and have you felt safe and had good experiences??? I am nervous about this!!! I will have his epis with me. Takes 2 days to drive and 2 hours to fly so that is one reason we decided to fly this time. Plus we have 7 in our family and cant all fit in 1 car/van for that long of a trip with 2 little boys!!!

[cajundisneyfreak]

Definitely let the airline know.I was on a flight where the stewardess came on the loud speaker and announced that they had a child on board with severe peanut allergies.She asked that no one open anything on the plane that contained peanuts and that they of course would not be serving peanuts. They served pretzels instead. Safe travels !! Hope ya'll have a magical vacation.

[MNNHFLTX]

Definitely let the airline know.I was on a flight where the stewardess came on the loud speaker and announced that they had a child on board with severe peanut allergies.She asked that no one open anything on the plane that contained peanuts and that they of course would not be serving peanuts. They served pretzels instead. Safe travels !! Hope ya'll have a magical vacation.

I always wondered about this, especially as the air is recirculated during the flight. If a plane has a large number of people on it, how can they possibly ensure that no one will open anything containing peanuts? Especially if that was the one snack a person had brought on board to eat during a flight? It's too bad that airlines have gotten away from providing free snacks to passengers, as I'm sure it would give them greater control over potential food allergens.

To the original poster--I have a good friend whose sons have peanut allergies and she gets permission from the airline to board the plane first and wipe down the seats and tray tables in the immediate vicinity that they will be sitting. I have also heard that sitting in the front of the plane is preferrable. If the airline refuses to announce the request at the beginning of the flight I certainly wouldn't hesitate to politely ask the people in the rows around you to avoid opening products with peanuts. I know I wouldn't mind if asked. I don't think they have ever had an incident where she's had to use the Epipen, but I don't think they've flown more than a couple of times.

[Mickey'sGirl]

I have severe tree nut allergies. In addition to the good advice above, I recommend giving him as strong a dose of Benedryl as he can take prior to taking off. That way the antihistamines are already in his system in case of an issue.

[CanadaLovesDisney]

We have the same issue and we have been told to take the first flight out in the morning because that is when the plane is the cleanest. HOWEVER we have probably never been able to take the first flight out and our nut allergy family member has been fine. She has SEVERE nut/seed allergies like you have described and even the smell of peanut butter makes her sick. She has NEVER had a problem on a flight and we have flown countless times. We typically fly delta which will now not serve peanuts if you let them know ahead of time and remind them again at check in and to the head flight attendant. They will also do a buffer zone so perhaps the airline you have picked will do the same? We also bring a 3M mask JUST incase. But I dont believe this is something you really have to worry about! As suggested above I would bring benedryl and the epipens. (My sister carries two). We were just as scared as you are the first few times!

[Middle of the Map]

Definitely let the airline know.I was on a flight where the stewardess came on the loud speaker and announced that they had a child on board with severe peanut allergies.She asked that no one open anything on the plane that contained peanuts and that they of course would not be serving peanuts. They served pretzels instead. Safe travels !! Hope ya'll have a magical vacation.

This happened when I was on a flight, but they had already passed out the peanuts before they made the announcement. We were flabbergasted because we had already opened and were eating our peanuts, as were others in our row. Thankfully, there was no emergency situation.

I hope they come up with a safe treatment for this type of serious allergy. Good Luck...