There’s something that’s important for everyone to know — allergies are serious. And the failure to tend to specific allergies can lead to deadly consequences. Singer Dua Lipa tried to make that point loud and clear after blasting United Airlines on Twitter for not taking her sister’s nut allergy seriously.
If you’re not familiar with Dua Lipa, she got her start all thanks to YouTube. Years back, after the 22-year-old from London started uploading videos of her singing covers, music executives took an interest. She released her first single in 2015.
Lipa is also fiercely protective of her family. When she boarded a flight with her sister, 17-year-old Rina, she reportedly told the flight attendant that Rina was severely allergic to nuts. While this information was good for him to know, he reportedly didn’t respond as kindly or as helpfully as Lipa would have hoped.
Her July 25th tweet stated that the flight attendant told her that “we’re not a nut free airline, so if she has an epi pen she might have to use that, as we can’t not serve other passengers in your section nuts.”
The response struck Lipa the wrong way, and she followed up with, “Is it just me or is that kinda mental???”
Her initial tweet was retweeted over 4,000 times. It’s important for people like Lipa to openly state how hard it is for those with severe allergies to live day to day.
Still, some fans think that Lipa expected too much, especially since she told the attendant about the allergy while already on board.
Meh, your sister's allergy is not everyone else's problem. I'm truly sorry she is allergic to peanuts, because they're tasty. However, that said, I want my peanuts. Don't blame the airline here, it's not their problem either.
— EvilOmniscience (@EvilOmniscience) July 25, 2018
Other fans let her know that other airlines have tried to accommodate their passengers with nut allergies when they were given time to know a change had to be made in their snack lineup. And if they didn’t pull nuts entirely, they announced the allergy and warned others to be cautious.
on my last flight the captain read out on the PA that somebody in seat __ was allergic to nuts & that passengers in that area to be considerate & cautious;; i think that’s the best thing an airline can do
— maybe: ben (@benjaunceyy) July 26, 2018
I was on a jetblue flight on New Years Eve and we didn't take off because someone refused to stop eating peanuts near a person who was allergic. We went back to the terminal where security got involved and made some people switch seats.
— Div (@Contemptress_) July 25, 2018
As of right now, Southwest Airlines has decided to stop serving nuts starting on August 1st to avoid issues such as Lipa’s. Perhaps other airlines will start a similar policy. Even though nuts are tasty, all of us can live without them for a few hours. Especially if avoiding them can make another passenger’s flight more comfortable.
