AFF Member in Mid-Air Medical Emergency

[bossreggie]

Last night on my QF143 flight from AKL - MEL I had a severe allergic reaction to nuts, which were in my meal. I had asked the FA if nuts were present and I was told no.

My reaction was so severe that a Dr on board advised the pilot that a diversion to SYD was warranted. I lost consciousness and was given my epipen & placed on oxygen whilst we made our emergency descent into Sydney.

I don't really remember much, but this afternoon I was told that an ambulance met the plane and I was offloaded on the tarmac and taken to St George Hospital.

The original flight was terminated in Sydney and all other pax were offloaded and stayed overnight before being flown home at 7.30 this morning.

Does anyone have any suggestions of how I should address this with QF?? I think I should write to them and I think an explanation from them is the least I should get.

 

[Skoogle]

Just curious, what was the meal?

Is your aim to provide feedback on incorrect advice regarding the meal, or thanking them for the emergency landing?

 

[moa999]

Skoogle, imho not appropriate, although hoping it is tongue in cheek

bossreggie, I would be expecting Qantas to be proactively contacting you with sincere apologies

Hope you are feeling better

 

[markis10]

Did you have a request in for a special meal, most QF meals have written on them "may contain nuts, eggs," etc etc which seems to be a disclaimer, and crew should be aware of this on serving.

Sorry to hear of your experience, I am sure QF will be in further contact with you, at least to cover your personal effects being reclaimed.

 

[anat0l]

Skoogle, imho not appropriate, although hoping it is tongue in cheek

Umm....how?

The problems are genuine: the FA should have had an idea what was in the meal and allergen information, even if it was simply read the cover on the meal! If it says "traces of nuts" or "contains nuts" then that is exactly what should be interpreted (unless QF have this stock standard disclaimer on all their meals). Traces or otherwise, it doesn't mean the meal actually contains nuts.

AFAICT there are no economy meals I can think of that have any nuts directly. Traces is a whole different thing, but since I am not allergic to them I hardly pay attention to the allergen information.

It is worth noting though that meal times in J can increase the traces of nuts in the cabin, i.e. pre-meal snacks is either olives or nuts (almonds and cashews), I'm sure the Thai duck curry must have some nuts in it somewhere (or traces), the biscotti served with the ice cream must have nuts and I'll put a good bet that the cheese plate must have a trace of nuts somewhere (even if the water crackers supplied are processed on the same equipment as nuts). Now in J things get quite complicated because there are no covers on meals to tell you about allergen information, and I'll sooner win the lottery before I can think that the crew are aware of any allergen information in all the food served in J (unless it is contained in their meal information booklets).

As for the emergency landing thing, maybe not thanking them, although credit to the crew listening to the doctor to enable a quick response and diversion to SYD to allow the OP to get to a hospital ASAP. I don't know how good Jetconnect (or QF) are with such situations, but it's comforting to know that in medical situations like this they are ready.

I would expect QF to be in contact with the OP as well as the OP coming back to QF with a stiff response w.r.t. allergen meals etc.. In saying that, I remember several signs and notices everywhere that say that QF cannot ensure that all their environments are completely nut or nut-trace free (there is a whole big "whilst" clause that I can't remember). Not overly comforting for the OP....

bossreggie, I hope you're feeling much better.

 

[kiwi2768]

I thought it was for this very reason that airlines now serve pretzels instead of nuts.

I've noticed that all the QF meals seem to have "may contain egg, dairy, nuts, soy, gluten..." routinely stamped on the lid. I'd say this is to absolve them of any responsibility in cases where a person may have an allergic reaction.

There doesn't seem to be anything in the "meal requests" section on their website to do with meals without nuts.

Hope you have made a full recovery bossreggie.

 

[markis10]

There doesn't seem to be anything in the "meal requests" section on their website to do with meals without nuts.

Hope you have made a full recovery bossreggie.

There is the option but you need to speak to somebody at the time of reservation to make the request, QF changed their online capabilities a while back:

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/open-discussion/changes-to-special-meals-18950.html

Nut policy and more info here:

Fly - Specific Needs - Inflight Assistance

 

[BAM1748]

Not a nice experience.

I guess asking "are there nuts in this?" or "I've got an allergy and must not eat nuts, are there any in this?" could get two different responses if asked in a casual fashion. Doesn't help poor bossreggie though.

Hope they notified your family as to where you ended up and

I remember 25 or 30 years back my father collapsed on an Ansett flight and they diverted to Adelaide and with the ambo waiting wisked him away to a hospital, no one from Ansett knew where he went only the paramedics who were at the wheel literally. Back before electronic communication and mobile phones, we did not know about it until my father phoned us "a bit out of it" from a pay phone which got cut off when the money ran out. We still didn't have any idea which city he was even.

Ansett did respond to our call for help and immeadiately and sent an Adelaide staff member out to all the places he could have been taken to trying to locate him and make sure he was being looked after, trouble was is was getting up to 7 hours later and he'd got jack of the hospital and as he came good he decided to relocate himself to the Hyatt to be closer to the cricket that day at the Adelaide Oval. The Ansett staff member did manage to track him down to the Hotel in conjunction with the hospital staff who took a note of where he was heading.

Strange but true. As I said, I hope with improved communications family or friend was notified immediately.

Matt

 

[anat0l]

Hope they notified your family as to where you ended up and

...

Strange but true. As I said, I hope with improved communications family or friend was notified immeadiately.

Do airlines have enough information to contact family members? (Apart from possibly "connecting the dots" with other FFP members who may be in the same family as the afflicted member)

AFAICT there is no information to be supplied with tickets w.r.t. next of kin or emergency contacts. I guess Medicare or health insurance information might be a try. Or the afflicted's mobile phone and looking for key contacts (not a kosher thing to do).

 

[BAM1748]

Do airlines have enough information to contact family members? (Apart from possibly "connecting the dots" with other FFP members who may be in the same family as the afflicted member)

AFAICT there is no information to be supplied with tickets w.r.t. next of kin or emergency contacts. I guess Medicare or health insurance information might be a try. Or the afflicted's mobile phone and looking for key contacts (not a kosher thing to do).

If you have a known medical problem I think people these days put a note with details in their wallet. So apart from anything the medic looking at you has a chance of working out quickly what the problem might be.

But it's a personal thing of course, otherwise good point yes, looking at the booking details could take a while, if you're a FF then presumably they can look you up for a work or home number.

Matt

 

[Mrmaxwell]

To the OP...how sensitive is your allergy to nuts? I know some people are able to handle traces while others cannot consume any trace whatsoever!

In this day and age even with no FA training whatsoever if a PAX asked me if a meal contained nuts I would double check before giving any kind answer and by default advise all meals contain traces!

 

[chrisb]

Not a nice experience.

I guess asking "are there nuts in this?" or "I've got an allergy and must not eat nuts, are there any in this?" could get two different responses if asked in a casual fashion. Doesn't help poor bossreggie though.

I would suggest that any question about nuts should trigger a a cautious response from anyone trained to handle food. It's a fairly well known issue.

Also, i notice that in J they remove the alfoil lid from food, which is where the warnings are usually printed.

If it were me, i'd probably write to QF thanking them for diverting and seeking medical attention, but also telling them your story regarding the food so that they can ensure staff are better trained.

 

[milehighclub]

A FA should never tell you what isn't in a meal - because we have no idea

We read off the menu like you do, so we have no idea what is in the sauces, toppings etc so the FA should of said - "Sorry, but I cannot guarantee that this meal does not contain traces of nuts"

Hope you are feeling better, and that QF will be proactive in contacting you so you can explain what happened.

 

[Keith009]

Yikes sorry to hear about your experience bossreggie. I hope you're on the mend now. Having had a similarly severe allegic reaction before, I would never wish it upon even my worst enemy, let alone have it happen midair!!

When I first brought up my shellfish allergy to QF (my TA at the time sent them a medical SSR), they said it wasn't an allergy they catered for but made me sign some sort of waiver confirming that I am happy with their regular meal choices and releasing them of any liabilities. They weren't going to accept me for the flight otherwise. :shock: Since then I've ensured that I have a quick chat to the CSM at the start of every flight, advising of my allergy so that they can make special arrangements for me and they have been more than happy to oblige everytime, such as guaranteeing the non-shellfish option for my main if there was a heavy load and catering choices were running scarce.

 

[bossreggie]

Hey All.

I was in J and at the beginning of the meal service when I was offered a choice of Nuts or Olives I mentioned to the FA that I had an anaphylactic allergy to nuts.

Yes I AM VERY thankful to Qantas for doing the emergency landing in Sydney. I am also thankful that Qantas got me onto a flight this afternoon back to Melbourne.

HOWEVER...... I am well aware of my allergies and how to manage them. I ALSO ask EVERY time a menu is unclear. The meal I had was lamb shanks and made NO mention of nuts but I did ask the FA.

I have an ICE card in my wallet containing details of my allergies AND I also have it written on my epipen holder.

A Qantas Dr has been in contact with my partner twice and late this afternoon confirmed the meal contained "pine nuts" which was not disclosed on the menu.

 

[Keith009]

HOWEVER...... I am well aware of my allergies and how to manage them. I ALSO ask EVERY time a menu is unclear. The meal I had was lamb shanks and made NO mention of nuts but I did ask the FA.

I have an ICE card in my wallet containing details of my allergies AND I also have it written on my epipen holder.

A Qantas Dr has been in contact with my partner twice and late this afternoon confirmed the meal contained "pine nuts" which was not disclosed on the menu.

I definitely think you should send feedback to QF detailing exactly that, and hopefully staff will be adequately trained on handling food allergies in future.

 

[ejb]

Hey All.

I was in J and at the beginning of the meal service when I was offered a choice of Nuts or Olives I mentioned to the FA that I had an anaphylactic allergy to nuts.

Yes I AM VERY thankful to Qantas for doing the emergency landing in Sydney. I am also thankful that Qantas got me onto a flight this afternoon back to Melbourne.

HOWEVER...... I am well aware of my allergies and how to manage them. I ALSO ask EVERY time a menu is unclear. The meal I had was lamb shanks and made NO mention of nuts but I did ask the FA.

I have an ICE card in my wallet containing details of my allergies AND I also have it written on my epipen holder.

A Qantas Dr has been in contact with my partner twice and late this afternoon confirmed the meal contained "pine nuts" which was not disclosed on the menu.

Good to hear you are up and about after the incident.

Also glad to know that QF came through in an emergency, and keeping your partner informed shows they have good systems for handling this kind of problem.

I trust all is well now and you are returning to normal.

ejb

 

[greenfrog86]

Good to hear that the OP is ok now and that QF appear to have taken appropriate action after this happened (of course prevention is always better...)

Very lucky to have a DR on board (and for them to be conatacted for assistance, however I'm curious to know what QF staff would have done if the Doc wasn't there...

I would hope that all FAs are trained to use an Epipen given that those with severe allergic reactions would almost always have one with them and that quick response using that is critical - possibly no more so than whilst mid-flight...

Here's hoping that they plan for the future and try not to let this happen again

 

[Skoogle]

HOWEVER...... I am well aware of my allergies and how to manage them. I ALSO ask EVERY time a menu is unclear. The meal I had was lamb shanks and made NO mention of nuts but I did ask the FA.
...
A Qantas Dr has been in contact with my partner twice and late this afternoon confirmed the meal contained "pine nuts" which was not disclosed on the menu.

Pine Nuts in the Lamb Shanks. You think you would be safe. I love Lamb Shanks, but thanks to Google I just discovered that they are commonly cooked with my allergy food.

A frank letter about the dangers of food allergies may be the go. QF009 has walked down this road before.

 

[Keith009]

QF009 has walked down this road before.

Well thankfully (god forbid) I've not had an allergic reaction happened mid air. In stark contrast, I was a 5 mins' drive to the nearest hospital. Which is a heaps better situation than having an allergic reaction in the air, and one would hope that airlines would be more specific about what they put in onboard food.