Woman buys every bag of nuts available on flight to prevent any risk of exposure

A passenger with a severe nut allergy took extreme measures to ensure her safety during a flight. Picture: Pexels/Karolina Grabowska

A passenger with a severe nut allergy took extreme measures to ensure her safety during a flight. Picture: Pexels/Karolina Grabowska

Published Aug 16, 2023

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A passenger with a severe nut allergy took extreme measures to ensure her safety during a flight.

Leah Williams, a 27-year-old woman had encountered an allergic reaction in the past when a passenger opened a packet of peanuts near her seat.

Determined to avoid a similar incident, she made the decision to purchase every available peanut packet on her flight, which had triggered her allergies previously.

Williams said she spent £144 (R3k) buying up all packets of nuts onboard, costing almost three times the price of the airfare she had paid to travel from London to Dusseldorf.

She asked flight attendants to alert other passengers to her allergy and request that they not buy or consume any nuts onboard, she told “The Mirror”.

But the crew allegedly refused. Thus, Williams took matters into her own hands and bought all the peanut packets that were on the flight.

“I’ll buy them all so you can’t serve them. I don’t care how much it is. If you’re not willing to help me this is the only thing I can do,” she told the flight crew according to the reports.

“Eurowings should be ashamed of how they handled this situation and for the way they made me feel,“ Williams added. The staff later asked her if she wanted to take the packet with her, to which she refused.

A passenger with a severe nut allergy took extreme measures to ensure her safety during a flight. Picture: Jason Toevs/Pexels

A Eurowings spokesperson said they were very sorry that Williams’ flight with them did not go as smoothly as planned and they regretted any inconvenience that had caused her.

“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.

“She agreed at first but then decided to still buy all the packages… (We are) unable to guarantee that the aircraft is free of foodstuff that may trigger an allergic reaction, such as peanuts.”

The airline added that so many people had allergic reactions to various things and intolerances that it was impossible to keep all food separate.