A British woman has accused Turkish Airlines of stranding her 2,000 miles from home after kicking her off a flight due to her nut allergy.
Hanna Olsen, a jewellery designer from London, says she was flying from Manchester to Cape Town with Turkey’s flag carrier, with a connection in Istanbul, when the incident happened.
Despite having no problems on the first leg of her trip, Ms Olsen says that when she reached Istanbul and boarded her second flight to South Africa, an issue arose when she asked flight attendants about the food they would be serving.
“I asked for an ingredients list for the meals they were serving, as I had on the flight from Manchester,” she told The Mirror.
“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.”
She explained to reporters that, though her nut allergy is not life-threatening, she can feel sick and itchy for hours if she accidentally ingests nuts.
Ms Olsen claims staff began to panic at this point.
“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,” she said.
“I told them I don’t have to eat anything if it’s going to be a issue.”
Although she agreed to sign a statement, Ms Olsen says staff then came back 10 minutes later and said the captain was refusing to transport her on the flight. She claims she was removed from the flight in Istanbul for this reason.
“I got really upset, it was embarrassing and dehumanising.” she said. “I was crying and other passengers were getting annoyed as the flight was delayed.”
She found herself stranded in Istanbul for 24 hours, where she claims she paid for a night’s hotel accommodation herself.
Before Turkish Airlines would allow her on a subsequent flight to her destination, she says, they told her she would have to pay £700 for the replacement seat, and again asked her to sign a handwritten statement on a piece of paper.
Ms Olsen was eventually allowed to travel without paying an additional fee, but says she would never feel comfortable declaring her allergy again in case the situation escalated in a similar way.
“I’ve had this allergy since I was born, but this has made me really nervous,” she says.
“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.”
Ms Olsen posted a photo of the “signed statement” to her social media channels. Handwritten in blue biro on a folded piece of paper, it says her name, the date of her flight and attests “if someone next to me eats peanuts, I will not be affected by it” as well as stating that “cross-contamination is fine”.
In the caption, she says she was made to sign it at 5.22am, two hours after being removed from her flight to Cape Town.
In June, a British family accused Turkish Airlines of similar treatment when their six-year-old daughter’s peanut allergy was declared.
Meanwhile in September 2019, a Toronto-based passenger also flagged an incident with Turkish Airlines, where she says the carrier denied her boarding and forced her to pay almost £1,500 for new flights, because she told them she had a nut allergy.
Allergy awareness campaigner Lianne Mandelbaum gave a statement in support, saying: “In 2022, no one should be subject to scorn or outright hostility over a legitimate medical condition.
“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.”
The Independent has approached Turkish Airlines for comment.
