INQUISITR.COM / Health & Lifestyle

Allegiant Air Flight Attendant Removes Family From Plane Over Son’s Peanut Allergy

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 23:00 PST, May 7, 2016

A California family feel discriminated against after they were asked to leave an Allegiant Air flight over their 1-year-old son’s severe peanut allergy.

Kyson Dana, 28, his wife Sara, 28 and their son, Theo, boarded an Allegiant Air plane at Provo Municipal Airport in Utah last Monday, heading for San Francisco.

According to the Allegiant Air website’s FAQ page, the airline “does not guarantee an allergen-free flight,” but the airline does state they will attempt to re-seat any passenger affected by an allergy to minimize the passenger’s exposure to the allergen.

Reportedly, as the family boarded the plane, Sara explained to a flight attendant that Theo had a severe peanut allergy and asked if the cabin crew could make any “small accommodations” for her son, such as not serving peanuts on the flight.

The family explained they carry an EpiPen in case of emergency and stressed that the airline would not be accountable for anything that could happen due to their son’s allergy.

Travel Pulse quotes Kyson as saying one flight attendant was “nice and helpful” and asked passengers surrounding the family to avoid eating peanuts. Another flight attendant was reportedly very rude and urged the family not to fly.

However, it was a third flight attendant who told them the pilot wanted them “removed from the plane,” and they were reportedly rushed off the plane. Their request to speak to the pilot was allegedly refused by the cabin crew.

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Reportedly, the airline offered to book another flight for the family, but according to Kyson, it was only scheduled to leave five days later. However, he did say an airport employee “felt bad” for them and reportedly “pulled some strings,” booking them onto an American Airlines flight later the same day, free of charge.

According to an email forwarded to ABC News, Allegiant Air has since sent the family an apology, reading, “On behalf of the entire Allegiant team, please allow me to offer my sincere apology for the inconveniences this incident has caused for you and your family.”

“We regret that you were denied boarding due to any misunderstanding regarding the severity of your child’s peanut allergy. I realize that medical issues can be highly challenging. We just wanted to make sure you arrived home safely.”

The airline also sent a statement to ABC News, stating that when the Dana family boarded flight 1005 of May 2, 2016, they indicated to the flight crew that their son had a severe peanut allergy.

The statement went on to read that the flight crew then contacted “a third party organization that advises Allegiant and other carriers when making decisions about the safety of passengers with potential medical issues on board an aircraft.”

The statement said that this third-party organization, which includes on-call medical doctors, then advised that the family should not fly on that specific flight. They continued by saying that Allegiant provided the family with airline tickets on another carrier and the family arrived at their destination later that night.

Despite the fact that the family did manage to fly later in the day, Dana says his family feels discriminated against after being removed from the Allegiant Air flight. He hopes their story will help to start a larger discussion on how airlines treat passengers suffering from allergies.

[Image via Brian Brodeur | Flickr | Cropped and resized | CC BY-NC 2.0]

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