- Georgie Palmer was trying to travel on the SunExpress to Turkey on Tuesday
- But the captain kicked the family out because of her daughter’s peanut allergy
- They were forced to spend an additional £5,000 booking additional travel arrangements
A “angry little” captain kicked a BBC weatherman and her family off a plane after she asked passengers not to eat peanuts because of her daughter’s allergy.
Georgie Palmer, 49, her husband Nick Sollom, 48, and daughters Rosie, 12, and Annie, 14, were ordered off a SunExpress flight from London Gatwick to Dalaman, Turkey, on Tuesday after she told the crew Rosie had an anaphylactic allergy for peanuts.
It comes after Ms Palmer said staff refused to make a standard announcement asking passengers not to eat peanuts as they “updated” their allergy policy.
Instead, she politely asked the passengers around her not to consume any peanuts and pass on the message, which they happily did.
But he says it infuriated the captain, who demanded they leave before takeoff.
She said: ‘The way they treated us was disgusting. The captain decided that due to my daughter’s allergy, he did not want to fly with her on board.
“When he found out I was talking to other passengers, he shouted at me from the cockpit. He was so angry, the next thing I knew we were being told to get off the plane.
“It’s really beautiful how every passenger on that plane was so wonderful, but no one who worked on that plane showed an iota of compassion.”
“For the past 12 years we have been trying to educate people about allergies and the use of epi-pens. It’s a volatile allergen, and even if Rosie hadn’t come into direct contact with peanuts, if someone on board had eaten one, she could have died.
Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, OBE, co-founder of The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, a UK food allergy charity, said: “Food allergies are a disease, not a lifestyle, and this family’s experience on board the plane is shocking and unacceptable. .
“The airline should immediately review the way they deal with customers with food allergies and make their policy clear on their website.
“Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. We often hear from families with food allergies who tell us their horror stories about air travel. This is worrying because the world is becoming more allergic.”
Nadim added: “The latest figures from the Food Standards Agency show that there are now 2.4 million adults in the UK with a diagnosed food allergy, in addition to the large number of children with food allergies. Airlines need to recognize that people with food allergies are their customers and take measures to ensure everyone can travel safely.”
Meanwhile, the family took an EasyJet flight to the holiday resort the next day and said the crew happily made several announcements asking passengers not to open packets of peanuts on board.
But the family were forced to spend a further £5,000 booking extra flights, an airport hotel and other costs.
Mrs Palmer said: “Rosie is in a terrible state. It ruined her vacation.
“We don’t leave all the time, maybe once a year and we’ve never had any problems with other airlines.
“If we had known the policy we would never have booked with them but we went through the website with a fine tooth comb and nothing.
“There was no way to tell the airlines in advance, so how many people with peanut allergies will be flying SunExpress this summer without knowing the policy.
“It’s been three days and we haven’t heard anything from SunExpress. Our policy says the captain has the right to remove people without cause.’
In an Instagram post, Ms Palmer added: “We gently asked the passengers at the front of the plane to share our request and row by row, as quickly as a carefully crafted upside down domino trail, all passengers turned to make a kind request. row after row, please don’t eat nuts in flight.
“It was calm, serious and with a tremendous sense of solidarity and empathy.
“There’s no beef with simple questions like these. People got it! Hand holding, tears and emotion from passengers as we were hoofed off the plane after an angry little captain yelled at us from the cockpit.’
A SunExpress spokesman said: “We take the safety of our passengers very seriously. Shortly after boarding our flight from London Gatwick, a passenger became concerned that one of his family group had a severe peanut allergy and requested that other passengers be notified.
“We refrain from such announcements because, like many other airlines, we cannot guarantee an allergen-free environment on our flights or prevent other passengers from bringing food containing allergens on board.
“Due to the passenger’s insistence to others on board that they should not consume nuts, the captain decided it would be safest for the family not to travel on our flight.
“When this was explained to the passenger, he displayed aggressive behavior towards our crew members and attempted to gain access to the cockpit.”
“To ensure the safety of our crew and passengers on board, we cannot tolerate aggressive and unruly behavior on our flights.
“Furthermore, our website states that passengers must notify us 48 hours in advance of any special care required by a medical condition, and no such notification was received from passengers in this case.
“However, we are fully aware that this was a distressing situation for the family and we are taking the incident as an opportunity to review the information provided during our booking process to ensure more effective solutions for travelers with allergies.”
In response, Mr Sollom said that while he was “upset” at the decision to end the family holiday before it had started, “I was in no way aggressive towards any of the crew”.
He added that after being told they were to be unloaded, he asked the captain to speak and knocked twice on the cockpit door before exiting the plane.
This is not the first time a passenger has been kicked off a flight due to a peanut allergy.
Last year, a British Airways passenger was left feeling “absolutely devastated” and “physically ill” after she and her family were “pulled” off a flight – because her son has a severe nut allergy and there was nut food on board.
Alice Smith, 43, spent days talking to BA about making sure her cabin was nut-free on the August 24 flight from London Heathrow to Dubai.
Yet when BA staff discovered that cashew food had been delivered to the food galley, Smith claims they decided to remove her group from the flight instead of the nut bowl. Smith – who has vowed never to fly BA again – appeared alongside her husband, 50, her two grandparents, aged 73 and 74, and her two children, aged 14 and 18.
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They were not placed on the next flight to Dubai until the following day. On their replacement flight, Smith, her husband and their sons were reassigned to economy seats despite having paid to sit in premium economy, which BA markets as World Traveler Plus. However, Smith’s elderly parents were upgraded from premium economy class to business class.
As a result of the debacle, the family lost an entire day of their 10-day trip to Dubai, which – along with their flights – was booked through BA Holidays.
As compensation, they were given an extra day added to their “free” trip.
The vacation was special for the family because it was Smith’s elderly father’s first trip after he underwent a heart bypass. Smith was recommended BA Holidays by a friend and spent £15,500 on the package break, paying extra on premium economy tickets to ensure her father was comfortable.
Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, died in 2016 after suffering anaphylactic shock caused by sesame seeds in a Pret a Manger baguette she bought at Heathrow before catching a flight to Nice.
Her death ushered in a new food safety law known as “Natasha’s Law,” which requires full labeling of ingredients and allergens on all food produced on the premises and packaged for direct sale.