A furious mum has blasted Ryanair over its “ridiculous” response to concerns about how her daughter's nut allergy was handled on a recent flight.
Ciara Mullan was travelling back from a holiday in Tenerife on Thursday, July 21 with daughter Abbie and the rest of her family.
Ciara said she made sure to alert the airline to her 17-year-old daughter Abbie's serious airborne allergy to nuts and coconut before the flight to Dublin.
On boarding the flight, the cabin manager "couldn't have done more" to help the family and put their mind at ease, Ciara explained. But the situation turned sour following an encounter with another member of the cabin crew and later a customer service agent.
Ciara, from Co Down in Northern Ireland, said it was only by chance that she spotted a meal containing nuts was about to be served on the flight, and when she confronted the crew member serving it she was shocked at their response, the Irish Mirror reports.
Ciara said: "We normally wait until last to board as we know then people will have been listening to the announcements, so when we boarded the flight the cabin manager took note of her allergies and he did two announcements before take off, he was brilliant.
"It was only by pure chance, the chicken curry was sitting on the trolley and I could see it from where I was sitting. When she got closer, I told another cabin crew member my daughter has airborne allergies, I said they couldn't sell the curry as she can't be near nuts or coconuts. It clearly stated on the front of the box it had coconut milk in it.
"She said they could sell it, as people would go hungry on the four-hour flight. But I said it was life or death, if my daughter takes an anaphylactic reaction. She said, 'it'll be fine'.
"I went up and spoke to the cabin manager and he literally bolted down the plane, and told her they couldn't sell the curry. The other cabin crew member then said 'it's OK, we can just sell it at the back of the plane'. He took her to the side and spoke to her, then apologised."
Ciara said she reached out to Ryanair on Twitter after the incident to highlight the issue, as "it's clear some of the cabin crew don't have the training". But she was shocked by the "ridiculous" response she received to her direct messages.
In the messages Ciara explained the situation to the customer services team. The response she received from staff member Rubén said: "I think is understandable that a phone [sic] plane is not going to be affected by one passenger's allergies. I'm sorry but I'm with the crew here."
After explaining that the cabin manager agreed with her, Ciara asked Rubén if he'd like to amend his response before he replied saying: "Sorry, I don't have a different answer. Feel free to set a complaint if you wish."
A disgruntled Ciara replied saying before he responds in a "foolish matter," the staff member should educate himself on the dangers of airborne allergy and anaphylactic shock. In response, he said: "I'm literate enough to know what an anaphylactic shock is, that's why I assume a passenger eating whatever thing with coconut 15 rows behind you is not likely to affect your daughter.
"Don't take it wrong, I'm still sorry for the bad experience, but since you were a little hard on me, well, response deserved at least. Said that I'm not responding anything further, sorry. Again, sorry for the inconvenience."
Ciara said: "I wanted to highlight the issue to Ryanair and the response I got from them was ridiculous.
"Abbie has had reactions in the past, once in the back of the car just because a bun had been sitting beside another that had coconut, there was no coconut in that bun, it had just happened to be sitting beside it.
"If he just came back and said thanks for letting him know, apologising and saying they would look into it and even potential training.
But to come back with those responses was just horrendous."
A Ryanair spokesperson said: "Once crew were alerted this passenger had a nut allergy, two separate PA announcements were made advising all passengers that no nut products would be sold or consumed during the flight, and no products containing nuts were sold during this flight.
"A passenger ordered a coconut curry and was advised this meal could not be served, despite their order being taken by a junior crew member.
"Ryanair applies strict procedures to ensure the safety of all our passengers on board.”
