A woman once spent several times the cost of her plane ticket in order to buy all of the peanuts on board her flight, and she had a very good reason for it.
Leah Williams has a severe nut allergy and before boarding her flight from Dusseldorf to London claims she asked crew if they could avoid serving peanuts on the plane.
Staff allegedly turned down her request, and she then decided she'd instead have to buy all 48 bags of peanuts that were on the flight to avoid others opening them.
Advert
The young woman feared that there would be cross-contamination if the peanuts were given to other passengers.
The design firm worker was left massively out of pocket after forking out an unpalatable £3 per packet - nearly £150 in total.
Even more frustratingly, her cheap flight had only cost her £50 before shelling out for the nuts.
“The stewards looked at me blankly like I was crazy and said, ‘But there is a lot, we’ll have to count them all.’ I said, ‘Please do count them and I will pay for them all, seeing as you have left me with no choice’,” she told The Mirror.
She added: “Eurowings should be ashamed of how they handled this situation and for the way they made me feel.”
While the young woman was looking for a refund, Eurowings has given a statement about the incident.
Spokesperson Anke Carola Walter told LADbible: “We are very sorry that the flight with us did not go as smoothly as planned and we regret any inconvenience this has caused Leah Williams.
“One thing in advance: Leah Williams was not forced to buy all packages of peanuts on board - on the contrary, our purser tried to offer her an alternative solution by informing all passengers sitting around her about Leah’s allergy.”
The statement added: “She agreed at first but then decided to still buy all the packages.”
It continued, arguing that the airline was unable to remove all potential allergens from its flights: “Eurowings operates more than 600 flights a day, carrying more than 80,000 passengers daily. As there are many causes for allergies and intolerances, it is not possible to exclude the possibility of their presence on board a plane.
“In general, meals and snacks are served during Eurowings flights. In addition, passengers are also allowed to bring their own food on board. For this reason, Eurowings is unable to guarantee that the aircraft is free of foodstuffs that may trigger an allergic reaction, such as peanuts.
“Furthermore, due to its construction (shape, air conditioning system, ventilation, etc.), it is not possible to prevent an accumulation of peanut/nut traces (e.g. residues from an earlier flight) despite regular and thorough cleaning of the aircraft."
However, Eurowings did state that the technology onboard could reduce some allergens onboard.
It added: “However, the HEPA (high efficiency particulate air filter) filters used on board can help passengers suffering from cat hair and house-dust allergies, for example.
“The filtration system circulates the cabin air, which is then supplemented with outside air."
The lengthy statement also added that staff were prepared for medical emergencies, should the worst-case scenario occur.
It continued: “Our medically trained cabin crew always has access to medication to provide emergency medical care in the event of an intolerance or allergic shock on board."
It added: “We do recommend also carrying any necessary medication (allergy medication, EpiPen) in the hand baggage should passengers suffer from any allergies.
“A strong allergy sufferer should always be prepared for such an eventuality and has at least one, most of the time even two pens with anti-allergic with him/her as a preventive measure and usually informs our crews accordingly.”
Katherine Sidnell