My cousins have severe nut allergies, and even taking all the necessary precautions, reactions still occur fairly frequently because of carelessness on the part of other people. It’s a hard condition to manage simply because nuts and nut oils are everywhere. One of my cousins works for playstation and has to travel from the u.k. to Australia, America, and other far flung destinations several times a year. She would lose her job if she couldn’t fly. She always has her EpiPen on her, like we always have insulin, and she’s not shy about stating her needs, as most of us are. She couldn’t do more than she does to keep herself safe, but sometimes we need understanding from others.
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DO NOT LET IT GO! Millioms of diabetics are counting on you. I am so SICK of this kind of treatment. Go to the press; scream bloody murder. This is not okay.
Dibetics still die and this is why.What is wrong with the world? Things will not get
better if we don’t make some noise. Come on people.
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Yes i agree , what is your plan to correct this?
Your reply made me lol. Thanks.
They took your carryon luggage and didn’t allow you time to remove the medical supplies that you need to stay alive? Yes, you need to complain to Delta that their actions of separating you from your life-saving medical supplies without giving you the option to remove them from the larger carry on bag could have cost you your life, and very nearly put you into hospital. They need to realize that arbitrarily grabbing baggage without giving you the option to get what you need out of it is not acceptable. My pump runs with a lithium battery and so I also carry an extra battery in my emergency diabetes kit. If yours does as well, you could include in your complaint that they loaded your extra lithium battery into the baggage hold in violation of their own baggage security restrictions because they did not give you a chance to remove it along with your medically necessary supplies. They need to be more sensitive to those of us with medical requirements. If you had gone unconscious from ketoacidosis during the flight they would have had to do an emergency landing - and the cause would have been their precipitous action of separating you from your medical supplies and not giving you the opportunity to remove what you needed first. Definitely file a letter of complaint!
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I agree with Catie - no way my insurance will pay for pens plus insulin as a back up. I always fill a syringe with a certain amount of insulin and carry that with my glucometer which is always in my purse as an emergency back up. I would love to have a pen available, but I don’t even have a prescription for anything other than fast acting insulin.
Catie- I am so sorry this happened to you. A similar situation happened to me at the gate with threats that the airline would take all carry-ons as passengers boarded. I panicked, went to a vendor and got a plastic bag to repack and sort my meds right at the the gate. I now know the secret to avoid this in the future. Check the website for the airline in advance and look for their policy about a medical carryon. If you pack a carryon bag with only medical supplies and declare the medical bag in advance at check in or at the gate, the airlines are much more likely to be cooperative.
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Many airlines allow each person to have two items with them.
A Personal Item.
A Carry-on bag.
It is worth being very aware of what the specific airliner policy is regarding these and how the policy may treat them differently.
The Personal Item is allowed to be substantially larger then one might expect. This could simply be a purse that does not have much room. Or this might be a larger item such as a backpack (potentially with a purse inside along with other things). I find a full size backpack with multiple compartments works quite well for the personal item.
United Airlines policy for a Personal item is 9" x 10" x 17" and it must be able to slide on the floor to fit completely under the seat in front of you.
United Airlines policy for a Carry-on Bag is 9" x 14" x 22" (45 max linear inches combined) and it must be able to fit into the overhead bin.
Delta policy is similar although not exactly the same as United. Note that Delta policy states that flights of 50 seats or less are only allowed the single Personal Item and all Carry-on bags will be gate checked.
It an airplane is unexpectedly tight on space, the airline may request the Carry-on Bags be gate checked however it is less likely for the airline to also request the Personal Item to be gate checked.
Although I am not a frequent traveler, when I have flown (myself and one other) we put all expected supply needs for 2 days along with carbs, food, drink, etc… into two Personal Items with each of us carrying one. Other supplies expected to be needed for the duration of the trip (past 2 days) go into the two (one each) Carry-on Bags. We do not pack any supplies into the checked luggage but rather put clothing and such into checked luggage.
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Severe nut allergies and a job that requires flying? What could go wrong?
Agree, I typically carry both of these as I mentioned above, and my personal item is a 25 or 30 L backpack that holds quite a bit. I usually have my medication in there, and put it under my seat. More non-essential items go in the other bag, that goes in the overhead bins. Sometimes I also bring a third piece of luggage that I check, depending on the length of my trip.
I’ve had the second bag taken away when space on a flight is limited (typically only on smaller planes doing shorter regional flights), but never the backpack.
It’s also worth noting that if you have a bag composed ENTIRELY of medical supplies, it does not count towards your carry-on limit. So I once travelled with a bag that was entirely pump and other medical supplies (when I was travelling for two months) and I also travel with a CPAP machine and supplies in its own bag. That would potentially mean four carry-on bags for a long trip, but two would not count on most airlines because they’re medical supplies. (Note: The medical bags must be entirely filled with medical supplies; you can’t put medical supplies in a bag that also has, say, electronics in it—unless those electronics are medical equipment—and expect to get it on as a free carry-on.) Of course, if either of these medical bags were taken from me, it would be up to me to speak up and inform the airline staff that they must stay with me.
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Interesting. I’ll have to check that out with the airlines. (Presuming I’ll fly again)
Severe diabetes and a job that requires flying? (Exercising? Driving? Eating? An erratic schedule?) What could go wrong?
Until you live with a particular condition, all you tend to imagine about it are its limitations. Once you live with it for some years, you learn that all life’s opportunities are still open to you if you make some preparations and take the right precautions.
People who do not live with a life-threatening allergy talking about it and thinking they understand it is like someone without Type 1 diabetes talking about it and thinking they understand it. Generally, if you don’t live with it or live with someone who lives with it, you have no idea what it’s like to live with.
We should all learn to hear the voices of people who DO live with these conditions that we know nothing about, and learn to listen to what they are actually saying about what life is like and about what they need. The world would be a lot more inclusive and accommodating if people listened and heard rather than assuming they know when they do not.
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Yes, do check with the airline before doing this. I always check the carry-on rules each time I fly, even if I just flew a couple weeks earlier. The medical bags must still abide by whatever weight and size restrictions the airline has. And it does depend on country, too. All airlines in North America seem to do it, but once you leave North America, it’s more hit or miss with some allowing it and some not.
The mistake Delta made was to not specifically announce to passengers to remove medical supplies. We don’t know if passenger had objected, and notified them about medical supplies, would they allow her item, or allow time to separate medical supplies. She didn’t request this.
So was it wrong that Delta did not specify what exactly would be allowed as exception, or distinction between carry on and personal item that would go under seat ?
My diabetes is not affected by people around me, so there is no comparison between a nut allergy and diabetes when it comes to choosing to fly or not.
*looks at the topic of this thread*
Well, she got a job with playstation right out of college 20 years ago, and has been promoted through hard work to a position where she represents the company and has to travel. She could quit her job, accept a demotion, or go back in time and work less hard. I know she loves her job far more than I ever will, and she works hard. Maybe she should become a hermit to make other people’s lives easier.
Honestly, she has less trouble now, flying several times a year, than she did in elementary school in the 80s when people thought it was a game to “test her” with nuts. Same as how I had a harder time in elementary school because I didn’t have full control of my medication, and the adults around me thought they knew better than me. We all know the general public has no sympathy to our conditions, and we make things work, regardless. Telling people to live a half life because you think peanuts are a part of the flying experience is exactly like people telling diabetics to stay home because seeing us test or inject offends them. It’s barely an issue for the healthy person, but its asking the sick person to give up major good things in their life to make things marginally easier for others. That’s not a good trade in my opinion.
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Climate controlled, yes. Boeing claims they keep their baggage compartment @ 7 degrees C/45 degrees F.
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I know they claim it’s safe for pets…
My dog would be freezing if the hold was actually just 45 degrees. Good lord!