Woman feared sister would die on Aer Lingus flight following allergic reaction

Rebecca (left) and her sister Alessandra .

A Canadian woman has said she feared for her sister's life when she suffered from an allergic reaction on board an Aer Lingus flight.

Alessandra West was travelling from Toronto to Paris when her sister Rebecca suffered a reaction to the food served on board the plane, which they understood to be nut-free.

Rebecca became ill on the flight after consuming the in-flight meal. Her sister says that consuming starch-heavy foods can often mitigate her symptoms but the on-board staff were unable to provide her with extra portions of food until other passengers had been catered for.

Ms West told the Irish Examiner that she believes the issue would still be ignored had she not made her experience public, sharing her story in a series of videos online.

She contacted the airline upon landing at their destination, though stated that it was not until her video started to go viral some weeks later that Aer Lingus got in touch.

She was informed by the airline that no incident report was filed for their flight, meaning there was no record of the reaction and her sister’s illness on board.

“I made my safety concerns about Aer Lingus public because I felt like it was the only thing I could do,” Ms West said.

“My sister has been dealing with her allergies for her whole life, so as an adult she knows how to assess them.” 

Rebecca carried an allergy kit with her which would usually contain a form of safe carbohydrate to help alleviate reaction symptoms.

However, on this occasion, Rebecca was not carrying her own food.

This kit contains several Epi-pens, though Ms West explained that these "are only meant to buy you time to get to a medical facility”.

It is still advised to contact emergency services after administering epinephrine, as its effects can wear off within minutes.

"If her reaction worsened, there is a very good chance that this story would have ended very differently,” Ms West said.

Nut-free

Speaking in a TikTok video she uploaded some weeks after the incident, which has since been viewed over 1.5 million times, she said they were told that Aer Lingus is “a nut-free airline”.

“I said ‘all nuts?’ and he said ‘all nuts’. To me that means a person with a nut allergy is safe to eat the meal.” 

On Aer Lingus’ website, it states: “While we don’t serve peanuts or derivatives as part of snacks or meals, there may be trace elements of unspecified peanut ingredients (including peanut oils) in meals and snacks.

“Regrettably, we cannot offer a special meal that is nut/peanut-free."

It’s added that the airline “strongly encourages customers with allergies to take all necessary medical precautions to prepare for the possibility of exposure”.

Ms West said that “within 20 seconds” of Rebecca eating the meal, “she started to swell”. She added that it “was so immediate that [the steward] was right here in our aisle”.

She then began to explain to the steward that her sister required an extra bread roll to help absorb the reaction, and to stop it “from getting to a life-threatening level” but they were told other passengers had to be served food too.

Rebecca (left) was violently ill for the remainder of the flight to Paris.

Ms West said she feared that she would have to “watch [my] sister die” as she became ill.

“There was a point where I was like ‘this is the end’.” 

Rebecca ate her and her sister's rolls but was still violently ill for the duration of the flight. It took two hours for the swelling to decrease after inducing vomiting and taking Benadryl.

Speaking out in a video shared on TikTok, Ms West said she feared for how other people with allergies would be looked after, calling for "education and training" for public-facing staff.

Ms West claims that it wasn’t until five weeks after their flight that Aer Lingus got in touch to say they were looking into the incident.

Seven weeks after the incident, they told Ms West that no incident report was filed on that flight but that an investigation was taking place.

An Aer Lingus spokesperson told the Irish Examiner: “It is our policy not to serve meals on board with peanuts or peanut derivatives.

“We are investigating the circumstances surrounding an incident which occurred on one of our Toronto flights in April.

“We have been corresponding directly with the passenger concerned and will make further contact when we have completed our investigation.”