Weekly Link Roundup: Travel With Allergies, Money Saving Tips, and More
Family Sues Airline For Endangering Child
There have been a slew of articles this week about a family who is suing American Airlines because, they claim the airline endangered their son who has a severe peanut allergy. Most of the commentary I've read about this story has been negative and focused on the amount of the award. My opinion differs. While I'm not a fan of big lawsuits, and I generally don't think that they are the most effective way to effect social change (and this one is a stretch since the child did not have a severe reaction onboard the flight), I do think American Airlines is in the wrong here.
American Airlines written policy is that they do not serve peanuts on their flights, and the family was repeatedly assured that nuts would not be served on their flight. No airline can guarantee a nut free flight, but some do go the extra mile in serving non-nut snacks or setting up nut free zones around an allergic child.
Once on board, with the airplane doors closed, the plan changed, and nuts were served in first class and sold to passengers in coach. The flight attendants not only refused to set up a peanut-free zone around the child (whose allergies are so severe that airborne peanut dust could trigger a reaction), but according to the Newsday, they "badgered her about her request, saying to honor it would discriminate against other passengers."
According to WCSH6 News, the parents say that if they are successful in their suit, they will donate the entire judgment to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network.
Airline policy aside, I cannot imagine anything so heartless as to endanger a four year old child over someone's "right" to eat a peanut snack instead of, for example, pretzels. I have been researching tips and ideas for parents traveling with allergic children, and I've gotten lots of wonderful input from parents who travel with children who have severe allergies. I'm looking forward to putting all that insight into one place in an article I will publish next week.
Packing Medical Records
Parenthacks has a great suggestion that would work well for travel: Store Kids Medical Information on USB Drive. While our kids don't have allergies (and all the extra medical information that entails) we do carry a printed emergency contact list with us when we travel. I store it in an inexpensive clear waterproof "envelope" I picked up in REI's kayak department.
Money Saving Tips
Travelodge UK has a limited selection of rooms for £19 per night. As you'd imagine, lots of restrictions apply, but if you are looking for a bargain in the UK, it's definitely worth checking out. (By way of EuropeAlaCarte)
Worried about high ticket prices at the big amusement parks? Smart Money has some great ideas for Saving Money on Amusement Park Admissions
Travel Tips
Travel Savvy Mom has a funny and useful round up of 10 Family Travel Tips You Can Actually Use
Decorating With Maps
Design Mom has some great ideas for Decorating With World Maps. I cannot wait for her followup post, but there are already some great ideas in this post and in the comments.
Thank You:
Wandalust featured DeliciousBaby as their top Family Travel Blog
Sheila at Family Travel did a lovely feature of our articles on Nursing and Pumping When You Travel, and Parenthacks and Mama Knows Breast also linked to the series.
4 comments |
Posted on June 8, 2008 |
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jamie on June 9, 2008 at 8:14 a.m.
Thanks so much for the link Debbie!
Re: nut allergies. When my youngest was 2, he broke out in mystery hives after eating half a PB&J sandwich. Testing ultimately revealed no allergies, but took awhile. So we got to walk a mile in somebody else's nut-free shoes (transatlantic flights, epi-pens and all).
That experience, and cruising the anaphylaxis bulletin boards, taught me TRUE empathy.
We may never get through to adults or airlines, but we should all teach our children what it's like to live with a life-threatening allergy. We could do it in schools (remember that crazy Health Ed "egg baby" project that was supposed to teach us not to reproduce in high school? Like that).
Personally, I could live without the peanuts. If it kept just one child safe, I could live without a lot more than that.
Julie on June 9, 2008 at 9:13 a.m.
I am an ER nurse, and see first-hand the life-threatening consequences of allergies. Over the weekend I flew with SouthWest and was really surprised to receive peanuts in every flight that was after breakfast. This can be a major problem because of the frequency that peanuts cause life-threatening reactions...especially in such an enclosed space! I called their customer relations department and they said that their policy is for people with peanut allergies to mention it when reserving their tickets & a note will be made to alert flight staff of this so that peanuts will not be provided on the flight.
Marshall on June 10, 2008 at 12:49 a.m.
Here's a site I've found useful for eating/drinking deals, especially if you're traveling. The local search makes it easy to find things without knowing the area (for example, you can search for restaurants around your hotel).
http://www.metroseeq.com
MetroSeeq takes the API from Google Maps, sorts local listings by category (i.e., Japanese Restaurants, Indian Restaurants), and overlays promotions from a variety of promotions services, including Entertainment.com, Restaurant.com and Passport Unlimited.
Debbie on June 10, 2008 at 2:22 p.m.
@ Jamie I'm with you. When we traveled in developing countries (where the school system barely functions) we realized how important the messages that kids receive in school are for turning around opinions and raising awareness at home... I think that a lot of the awareness today about physical disabilities stems from activities in the school where kids get to try out wheel chairs, etc.
To some extent, the fact that kids with allergies are in the schools today helps. My son's class doesn't happen to be peanut free, but I walk past classrooms every day with a sign posted on the door & on days when the school eats together I have to pack him a nut free lunch... which certainly raised my awareness of this issue.
@ Julie
The feedback I've seen from the moms I've interviewed is that Southwest is one of the more allergy friendly airlines.
While they do serve peanuts on most flights they have a reputation for being very sensitive and helpful once a passenger informs them of an allergy.