A woman has sounded the alarm about how airlines deal with passengers with allergies after an anxiety-ridden flight.
Laura Kukic suffers from a severe airborne nut allergy and can suffer a major anaphylactic reaction even if someone nearby is eating them.
Despite alerting staff on a Qantas flight from Brisbane to Singapore on July 28, she told 7NEWS.com.au very little was done to help her avoid a potentially deadly reaction.
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“They said they didn’t serve nuts and then, probably about an hour into the flight, I could smell nuts,” Kukic said.
“I alerted one of the cabin crew staff and he basically said it was almonds and they had already been handed out (and) there’s nothing they could do.
“They also don’t do announcements, so other passengers around you can be eating nuts and they don’t tell them to refrain.”
She added meals available on the flight didn’t list any potential allergens, meaning she had little to eat for the more than eight-hour flight.
A woman has pushed for airlines to adopt more strict allergy protocols as she’s grown ‘paranoid’ on long-haul flights due to her peanut allergy. Credit: Patrick Sison/AP
Kukic said she put on a face mask and was only able to eat “apples and packets of crisps” and arrived “feeling unwell” after feeling anxious for the entire flight.
But she said while she’s had issues with previous flights on Qantas and Emirates, there have been times when Qantas crews have been helpful.
“They were really good on one of the Qantas flights on my way back from England back to Australia,” she said.
She has called for airlines to be more consistent in providing care to people with allergies.
“I’ve got to the point now I’m actually really anxious because I don’t know what response I’m going to be met with,” Kukic said.
“Sometimes they can be super helpful, sometimes they’re just not … and I feel like that’s a real gap that needs to be filled.”
She said felt ‘uneasy’ after an eight-hour Qantas flight as she couldn’t eat anything other than apples while nuts were handed out to nearby passengers. Credit: AAP
Among her requests is for airlines to either announce a passenger has an allergy or to inform those nearby to avoid eating foods they’re sensitive to.
“I don’t want to keep going through this,” she said.
“Hopefully I can see if I can make a change because I wouldn’t want anyone else to feel like that on a flight.
“I was sat there with a mask on feeling so paranoid.”
While Qantas’ gluten intolerant meal, fruit platter and child meal are nut-free, it urges passengers with allergies to bring their own food that doesn’t require chilling or reheating inflight.
The airline’s allergy guidelines follow protocols laid out by Maintenance Event Decision Aid (MEDA), which help airlines manage the risk of severe allergic reactions during travel.
However, those protocols are unable to provide a nut-free cabin or guarantee an allergy-free environment on board.
The airline also apologised to Kukic for the staff’s handling of the situation.
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