What Are Your Thoughts On This?

[Redhelen72]

Girl, 14, with nut allergy nearly died on flight after man ate peanuts

Was he in the wrong?
Is it survival of the fittest or should her parents not put her at risk by sticking her in a tin capsule?

[Redhelen72]

I am on an plane ZM how am I supposed to get those foods?
Eggs go off
Avocados go off (and the best said about the fat content the better)
Turkey roll ups go off!
Also depending on the country I am travelling to - those will not be allowed into it!

[Arksided]

On a flight coming back from Amsterdam (Many moons ago) we were served sandwiches, even though a short flight diverted from Leeds/Bradford airport don't they do that anymore?

[Redhelen72]

None that I have been on Arkie - a few years ago Belfast city to London City we got nuts and a coke but can't see that now

[choux]

Perhaps, Redhelen, you should always fly in the company of some of the membership here - no shortage of nuts whatsoever.

[Arksided]

The Dutch do it in style then ;-) I can't remember what airline we travelled on though.

[Redhelen72]

Lol choux

[choux]

;)

[Ellipsis]

> I am on an plane ZM how am I supposed to get those foods?

So your argument is that because you might die on a plane if you don't eat, you should be allowed onto the plane with any food you like, stopping somebody who could die if you do eat that food on the plane from taking the plane. Is that it? Interesting ethical dilemma ...

I note that nobody answered the question about what this girl is supposed to do about schooling, and what her schoolmates are supposed to do if she goes to school.

[Redhelen72]

I never said I would die!!

[New Judge]

//I note that nobody answered the question about what this girl is supposed to do about schooling, and what her schoolmates are supposed to do if she goes to school.//

She should wear a properly fitting FFP3 facemask whilst in school (and, by the sounds of it, anywhere else where she cannot be sure peanut allergens are entirely absent). It then doesn't matter what her school mates do.

[Ellipsis]

Oh, OK. So your argument is that because you might become unwell on a plane if you don't eat, you should be allowed onto the plane with any food you like, stopping somebody who could die if you do eat that food on the plane from taking the plane. Is that it?

[gness]

In my many years of teaching, NJ we encouraged our pupils to take care of each other and that what school mates did in the company of others actually mattered. It worked very well. Our pupils were happy to be caring of each other and it taught them how to behave well in the wider world.

But I have said before what my opinion of you is so I wouldn't expect you to understand or comply with that.

[Redhelen72]

Actually I said if I knew in advance I would find try and find an alternative but it was difficult whilst on a plane of I have an issue.
I was taken ill at the airport this weekend but luckily plenty of places to get pure protein.
I have passed out in the past and been rushed to hospital.

[Ellipsis]

I think perhaps New Judge is either quite young or has led a bit of a charmed life, where neither he nor anybody he cares for has had any problems that would give him an ounce of sympathy for what others have to go through. If this was actually NJ's daughter or granddaughter, for example, I wonder if his attitude would be the same by the time she reached 14 years old.

[gness]

Just what crossed my mind too about NJ, Ellipsis.

[New Judge]

//Our pupils were happy to be caring of each other and it taught them how to behave well in the wider world.//

Of course they were. But you’re missing my point. A person such as the child in the aircraft cannot rely on decent behaviour from all those around them all of the time. If you can tell me, hand on heart, that all – absolutely all - of your former pupils were as loving and caring as you taught them to be all of the time, I would be very surprised (and they would be a very unusual group of children). As well as that, not all schools, and not all teachers are as successful as you obviously were in instilling those qualities in their charges. In short, with the best will in the world, there will be “wrong ‘uns” out and about (as the OP’s story shows). That’s why a level of personal (or parental) responsibility is required.

// I think perhaps New Judge is either quite young or has led a bit of a charmed life,…//

I’m neither. This is not about sympathy. It’s about pragmatism. The last question posed was what should the girl and her classmates do in school. Bearing in mind the above, she or her parents need to take responsibility for her safety and not rely on everybody else around her behaving responsibly. Hence my suggestion.

//If this was actually NJ's daughter or granddaughter, for example, I wonder if his attitude would be the same by the time she reached 14 years old.//

It would be precisely the same. I would instil in her that she cannot depend on those around her behaving well enough all of the time to avoid her problem. To be anything otherwise would be irresponsible. Throughout this thread there has been a Utopian (but naïve) aura of “We’ll explain to everybody how to behave well and it will all be OK.” Well sometimes they don’t, and then it won’t.

[Ellipsis]

> I’m neither.

Really? You have experience of something comparable to this? What happened?

[New Judge]

Thankfully I have no experience of anything like this. But it doesn't mean I cannot explain how I would proceed if I had.

[William51]

The passenger who carried on eating nuts despite the health emergency was selfish beyond belief, the airline should sanction him perhaps with a ban.

[barry1010]

I've given this more thought and put the blame entirely on the parents. Yes, the man was a selfish buffoon but the parents were irresponsible knowingly putting their daughter in danger taking an unnecessary flight.
They could have been seated next to a family who had stuffed themselves full of peanut butter sandwiches and peanut ice-cream whilst waiting for their flight to be called. The previous occupant of the girl's seat could have been eating peanuts during the flight, the cleaning is not rigorous.

There are other ways to take a holiday - you don't have to go on a plane.