I’m allergic to strawberries — an airline ‘discriminated’ against me anyway
This trip got off to a berry bad start.
Chloe Fitzpatrick, 24, claims she was “discriminated” against on a 3-hour Jet2 flight in August because the airline refused to stop selling daiquiris, rose wine, and fruit pastilles — despite her severe airborne strawberry allergy.
“If I had a reaction, I’d go into anaphylactic shock, and my airways would start closing, and [I] could die,” Fitzpatrick told Kennedy News and Media.
“I couldn’t even go to the toilets on the flight because I could have been surrounded by strawberry products that could make me seriously ill or could have killed me,” she added.
Fitzpatrick, who was setting off for a four-day girls trip with her 27-year-old sister, Lucy, claimed she told the cabin crew about the allergy when she boarded the Ibiza-bound plane in Manchester.
She said she has been proceeding this way on planes for two decades — but this time ran into a jam.
Jet2 told Kennedy News that its terms of service ask that anyone with a severe allergy share it at booking.
The airline claimed it is not able to remove products on such short notice, and another passenger could carry on an item that includes the customer’s allergens.
“We also make it clear that if we are made aware of a severe allergy, and the customer is not carrying their required medication, they may be refused travel,” a Jet2 spokesperson said.
“We are sorry to hear of Ms. Fitzpatrick’s experience, however we took the necessary steps to address the situation, given the lack of notice, and provided Ms. Fitzpatrick with the opportunity to make an informed decision regarding her safety before continuing on with the flight.”
Flight attendants made an announcement about her allergy before takeoff and told passengers not to consume strawberry-flavored treats.
The airline still sold them, though not in the row in front or behind Fitzpatrick.
She said her allergy is so severe that strawberry protein particles in the air can send her into anaphylactic shock, which can be life-threatening if she does not receive immediate medical attention.
“Every day is a calculated risk when you have an airborne allergy, but [the incident] just made me feel discriminated against,” Fitzpatrick told Kennedy News.
“We said we would buy all the strawberry products on the flight when we knew they [Jet2] weren’t going to cease the sales, and they refused this,” she continued.
Fitzpatrick claimed airline officials delayed takeoff by 45 minutes, as the manager and pilot discussed whether she was able to fly.
She was assessed by phone by a “patronizing” medic, who reportedly told her to get an allergy test — Fitzpatrick said she has had the allergy since she was 6 months old.
During the Aug. 18 flight, the dance teacher was equipped with two EpiPens, sat under a ventilator, and received a mask, but said she feels the airline still “put [her] life in danger,” as it didn’t cease the sale of strawberry products.
She claimed that the previous time she flew with Jet2, the airline agreed to stop selling the products.
Once they made it to Ibiza, her sister reportedly called the airline three days before the return flight to inform of Fitzpatrick’s allergies, but the airline said it was not willing to cease the sale on the plane.
The pair decided to fork over $600 to get a flight home on Ryanair.
“I should have been enjoying my holiday, but instead I was stressing about how to get home,” Fitzpatrick said.
Once they got home, Fitzpatrick said she reached out to Jet2 about the incident and didn’t receive a response for two weeks.
She also said she hasn’t yet received any apology or compensation from the airline.
Now, Fitzpatrick claims that she, her friends, and her family will never fly Jet2 again, especially because she feels like there’s no way to have a “safe flight” going forward.
“Other allergies are taken more seriously. There is not enough exposure to other airborne allergies. There are more than just nut airborne allergies. It is not something that I would make up,” she explained.
“It has given me future anxiety in case other airlines are the same and has given me future anxiety about flying.”
