The family of a four-year-old girl who suffers from a nut allergy said they were removed from a plane because the carrier was ‘not a nut-free airline.’
The Irish family were travelling on a United Airlines flight to New Jersey with their four-year-old daughter on August 5 when the girl went into anaphylactic shock.
A doctor on board the flight rushed to her aid and gave her a shot of adrenaline as the flight returned to Dublin to give her hospital treatment.
The incident comes after another four-year-old girl stopped breathing on a plane after another passenger opened a packet of nuts – despite a warning given out by staff.
Fae Platten was revived with an emergency injection and Ryanair banned the male passenger from flying with the carrier for two years.
In the latest incident, the Irish family were not allowed to remain on their return flight as staff were reported to be unable to ban nuts.
The child’s mother, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Irish Independent the girl was eating some nuts served during their outbound flight and never had a reaction before.
They eventually made it to the US on a rescheduled flight from Newark Airport after she received treatment in Dublin. On their return journey they asked the airline to not serve nuts as a safety precaution.
The mother told the Irish Independent: “But that seemed to be a big issue because this was part of the United service and they said they didn't advertise themselves as a 'nut-free airline'.
A spokesman for United Airlines said "For operational reasons, we cannot remove any onboard products based on individual customer requests."
