Airline Allergy Policies

My name is Andrea, and I currently live in Newfoundland, Canada. I am a student at the College of the North Atlantic, and I was chosen along with 15 other students in Canada to participate in a study abroad program about advocacy and inclusion in England where I will complete my workterm. I will be flying with Air Canada, and my date of departure is May 15, 2009. I will be there for 6 weeks. I have severe life threatening allergies to all fish, including shellfish. Fish and shellfish is one of the 5 most common allergies in the world.

If I come into contact with fish or shellfish (such as the smell of it) I go into anaphylactic shock. My throat closes over, and I suffocate. I do carry a Twinject (which is like an Epi-Pen, but has two doses of Epinephrine instead of one) but the Twinject is only a dose of adrenaline, used to keep a person alive long enough to get to the nearest hospital.

My problem is, Air Canada will not offer the option to remove fish from their flights, although they have already removed all peanut products from all classes of all flights.

This is a quote from their website:

"Air Canada has phased out peanuts from all packaged bar snacks onboard our aircraft in all classes of service. Air Canada will additionally not stop the planned service of food to which a passenger may be allergic as this would be unfair to other passengers."

In my opinion, I believe it is utterly and brutally ignorant and unfair to remove peanuts but not even offer the option to remove fish. I would think that the Air Canada owners and operators would be more educated and knowledgeable about food allergies seeing how they deal with customers and food service on and daily basis. People will not die if they do not get to eat fish on a flight from Toronto to London, but I may die if they do eat fish on the flight.

This is why I consider anaphylaxis a disability, and it is sad to see the amount of ignorance and disrespect towards someone who cannot control their allergies. I hope that I can be an advocate for others suffering with the disrespect felt from Air Canada or any other airline and their lack of accommodation, and also educate the public on this subject.

My hope for the near future is that Air Canada be more accommodating, and offer the option to remove foods that passengers have severe allergies to without hassle.

Please sign this petition to get Air Canada to offer the option to remove food allergens from their flights.

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