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Woman with severe allergy ‘left with no choice’ but to buy every packet of peanuts on flight
(www.independent.co.uk)
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this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
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Peanuts are not ubiquitous in public. Being near several people eating them in a fairly enclosed space is very different than walking through and airport and someone 25 feet away has a bag of peanuts.
The air within an airplane cabin is recirculated every five or ten minutes. A real severe peanut allergy would be triggered by anyone on the plane eating peanuts.
are planes cleansed that thoroughly between flights? I assume one would have to worry about who was eating what in the area from a previous flight with an allergy that severe
No, they are not.
The majority of airplanes are equipped with HEPA filters. As in, removing 99,97% of particles over 0.3 micron in size. The unfiltered air is fed in from the outside. It's pretty clean and not a consideration for allergens like peanut particles.
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/how-clean-is-the-air-on-your-airplane-coronavirus-cvd
HEPA filters remove 99.97% of particles that are 0.3 micron in size. (That is the size of particles they're tested with, as it's the most difficult to filter.) They remove over 99.97% of particles larger or smaller than 0.3 microns.
They are vacuumed and trash removed but they aren't wiped down from top to bottom
Living with allergies such as a severe peanut allergy is all about mitigating risk
In most open areas you can be cautious about what you touch and who you stand near to. In enclosed spaces such as airplanes, the risk is substantial and mitigating it requires as close to an absence of peanuts as possible
And peanuts are special in how easily they trigger severe reactions. Of all my son's allergies, peanuts are the one that scare us
I would hope the air is filtered before recirculating.
It's sort of is. But mostly they just mix it with a bit of outside air bumped up to pressure and release the difference, but it's not really filtered, except in the sense that over time it will be filtered because the contaminated air will eventually all leave.
I'm sure they have filters like cars have filters but they're not going to remove micro particles.
When did they remove HEPA filters from modern aircraft?
That seems extremely stupid when airplanes are already major disease vectors, especially after covid.
Most aircraft have HEPA filters. This was pretty regularly discussed during covid.
Aircraft ironically actually had cleaner air back when they allowed smoking, because they then actually did have to filter the air.
That just sounds like utter bullshit mate
Air in a pressurised plane isn't recirculated, it's replaced with new air from outside.
It is recirculated and fresh air is mixed with it.
I assume they filter it in some way, but okay.
Yeah I had that thought too but if this were the case, would you take a life threatening risk that no one else on the plane has peanuts? Wouldn't you drive instead? Or take a means of public transportation where they don't regularly sell your allergen?
That's not necessarily feasible. Maybe she has a schedule? Doesn't have a car? Doesn't have a license?
Also, some reactions are uncomfortable but not deadly. I have an anaphylactic allergy to tree nuts, as in, all true nuts (as peanuts are a legume, i'm fine with them). However, I've never had an anaphylactic reaction, though I was prescribed an EpiPen and told it could become worse with no warning. I get oral itchiness, stinging lips and mouth, heartburn, acid reflux, and diarrhea from actually eating nuts. I'm not sure what it is like for people who are sensitive to the airborne level. It might just resemb le environmental allergies like sneezing, red eyes and so forth. And if you do have to use an EpiPen, it's painful to inject and then you have to go to the hospital afterwards. Not certain death, again, but uncomfortable and inconvenient.