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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)
submitted 3 years ago* by to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world
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‘Eurowings should be ashamed of how they handled this situation,’ says passenger

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[–] 23 points 3 years ago (4 children)

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.

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  • [–] 10 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    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

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  • [–] 7 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    No, they are not.

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  • [–] 15 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 child)

    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

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago

    As in, removing 99,97% of particles over 0.3 micron in size.

    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.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago

    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

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    I would hope the air is filtered before recirculating.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (2 children)

    That seems extremely stupid when airplanes are already major disease vectors, especially after covid.

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