Allergy campaigner and entrepreneur Julianne Ponan MBE has taken part in a private documentary by a fellow campaigner to expose the hypocrisy around allergies within the airline industry.
Julianne is one of three people affected by severe allergies and anaphylaxis interviewed by fellow sufferer Libby Evans, producer of the seven-minute film ‘Airborne Allergies: Life On the Line’.
Libby, who lives in Devon and is studying for a BA in Multimedia Journalism at the University of Bournemouth, made the documentary to show the challenges that many people with serious allergies face when flying around the world – she’s one of them. Libby, like Julianne, has a severe nut allergy and always has to consider what she’s eating, buying and what is being eaten by those around her.
She said: “One particularly challenging experience was a flight to Shanghai. Despite contacting the airline beforehand about my severe peanut allergy and informing both the ground crew and cabin crew, no announcement was made to passengers.
“To my horror, over 500 bags of peanuts were handed out during the flight. The sound of rustling packets being opened around me was overwhelming and terrifying. Thankfully, I was traveling with my friend and her family, and her dad quickly stepped up to help. He stood up, explained the situation to passengers, and personally began collecting the peanut packets from people around the cabin. The airline, which I won’t name, offered me a surgical mask as their only solution.”
The reason, sufferers like Libby are terrified is that allergens can trigger a reaction through various means of transmission. Allergens can be consumed, transmitted through the air or through touch or, most commonly, they can linger on surfaces.
Julianne Ponan, who lives in Surrey, is known for her advocacy for people living with allergies and received an MBE for her work in raising awareness among children, schools and in general. Julianne also has anaphylaxis so any allergic reaction could very quickly impact her airway, causing her throat to swell. Many people have died from anaphylaxis. She’s allergic to all nuts, sesame seeds, chickpeas and many other allergens. Although it’s not thought that traces of nuts, including peanuts, travel via air, they do stay on surfaces and can be transmitted by touch, however slight.
She said: “I took part in Libby’s film as I support what she’s trying to do. It’s important for the general public to understand that allergies are on the rise globally and that flying, for someone with allergies, can be terrifying because you don’t know which allergens might be on a plane – in the air, or on surfaces. It’s ridiculous that the airline industry as a whole does not deal with this issue positively for the good everyone.”
In Libby’s film, Julianne shares an experience where she flew to Dubai on an Emirates flight for a business event with no issues and the cabin crew announced that there was a passenger onboard with a severe nut allergy. When she came to take the flight home – on the same airline – she was told that she could not fly and they would not make an announcement.
“How was I going to get home? I had to take the chance and sign away my rights by agreeing to travel at my own risk. No refund was offered to me, no alternative suggestion. This kind of experience is humiliating and degrading around something I cannot help,” she said.
According to the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) there is no policy around allergies for the airline industry. Airlines are not required by law to ban allergens from flights, it’s up to each individual airline to develop its own policy. It’s also not the law that airlines have to carry auto-injectors which allow someone having an allergic reaction to have an immediate shot of adrenalin.
Julianne is already aware of this confusing state of affairs and she’s doing something about it. She’s worked with several airlines around their allergy policy and is currently a member of the Product Ambassador Panel for the 2025 World Travel Catering and Onboard Services Expo (WTCE) and she’s also their Special Diets Ambassador. She will be talking about the issue at their next event in Hamburg in 2025.
“I want to work with airlines to understand that this is an important issue which needs to be understood and addressed. Most reasonable people don’t mind not eating nuts on a flight if someone nearby can actually die from coming into contact with them,” Julianne said.
Also in the film is BBC weather presenter Georgie Palmer who was kicked off a flight last year with her family when she made an announcement to other passengers about her young daughter’s nut allergy – after the cabin crew refused to do so. The captain said he could not take her on board and made claims that her partner was aggressive – a claim which the family strongly deny.
Libby said: “I hope my film goes some way towards raising awareness and educating people around what it means to have serious allergies. I do not avoid nuts because it’s a dietary choice, I have to avoid them to stay alive. It’s a disease not a diet.”
Libby’s film has been published on her YouTube channel https://bit.ly/49PQrfx