A horrified woman claims she was kicked off a connecting flight and left stranded 2,000 miles from home - because she was allergic to nuts. Jewellery designer Hanna Olsen was on her way from Manchester to a holiday in Cape Town with Turkish Airlines with a two-hour stopover in Istanbul when she asked to read the ingredients list for the inflight meals as she had a mild nut allergy.
But she says things took an unexpected bad turn despite having no issues on her first leg of the trip reports The Mirror.
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Hanna told The Mirror she always checks the ingredients on everything she eats, as although her allergy is not life-threatening, it can cause her to be sick, become really itchy and uncomfortable, which is not how she wanted to spend her 10-hour flight.
She said: "I asked for an ingredients list for the meals they were serving, as I had on the flight from Manchester.
"My allergy is mild; it is not airborne. I wasn't asking them not to serve nuts or for it to affect anyone else on the flight, I simply wanted to know so I could decide that what I was eating was safe for me."
Hanna, from south London, alleges the crew came over and told her that if she had an allergy and wanted to stay on the plane she would have to sign to agree that the airline was not responsible if anything happened.
"I was given a blank piece of A4 paper to sign. They said I had to sign the form to say that I take responsibility if something happens. It was a blank bit of paper, not a form.
Hanna says she agreed to sign but the crew came back about 10 minutes later saying the pilot was now refusing to take her.
"I got really upset, it was embarrassing and dehumanising. I was crying and other passengers were getting annoyed as the flight was delayed."
Hanna says she was taken off the plane and left stranded in Istanbul for 24 hours, paying out of her own pocket for an airport hotel room.
She says she was abandoned 2,000 miles from home, alone and was desperately trying to get another flight.
She claims Turkish Airlines wanted to charge her £700 to rebook her the next day, and made her sign a second piece of blank A4 paper to confirm the company would not be held responsible.
After lots of arguing, Hanna said she was eventually rebooked at no cost, but she will never make a crew aware of her allergy again, for fear of being stranded abroad again.
She said: "I've had this allergy since I was born, but this has made me really nervous.
"I can't help having an allergy, their reaction was ridiculous.
"I'm never going to tell crews again about my allergy as this has been very traumatising.
"I only ate a bread roll on the 10-and-a-half-hour flight, as I was scared."
Lianne Mandelbaum, an allergy campaigner who has called for changes to air travel for those with allergies, after her own negative story with her son almost 10 years ago, spoke about Hanna's case.
She told the Mirror: "In 2022, no one should be subject to scorn or outright hostility over a legitimate medical condition.
"As founder of No Nut Traveler, a nonprofit working to improve the safety and quality of life both in the air and on the ground for individuals with food allergies, this incident is just one of many testimonials that I have collected which indicates that food allergies are often not understood or supported.
"People with heart conditions are far more likely to have a medical issue on a flight.
"Yet no one is suggesting screening people over a certain age or weight be screened before they get on a plane due to increased risk of potential heart problems.
"It is utterly unacceptable to use personal medical information to deny a passenger with a food allergy the ability to travel by air.
"We disclose this information so that we can take reasonable precautions to mitigate the risk of an in-flight reaction."
A Turkish Airlines spokeswoman said: "We discussed the issue with our Customer Relations Dept.
"And we have been informed that our passenger had already created a personal feedback through our feedback form.
"Following this, our authorised units evaluated the case in all aspects as per our investigation policy, and took all necessary actions, and informed our passenger due to the conclusion."
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