Passenger with allergy ‘forced’ to sign waiver saying airline wouldn’t be responsible if she died

An airline passenger with a severe nut allergy was ‘forced’ to sign a waiver stating that the airline would not be held responsible if she died on board.

Abbie Tomlinson, 26, flew from London Heathrow to Vietnam on Oct. 9 via Bamboo Airways – an airline she says she would “never fly again.”

In the exemption, the doctor had to agree that the plane would not make an emergency landing if she went into anaphylactic shock.

Before the flight, she claimed she informed the crew of her allergy and “politely” asked not to serve peanuts.

But dr. Tomlinson recalled that the cabin crew “laughed in her face” and claimed they said “you can’t possibly ask people not to eat nuts.”

“They wouldn’t accept that I had a severe airborne nut allergy,” she said on Twitter.

“This isn’t something I chose to do, nor is it something I can magically fix.”

dr. Tomlinson said Heathrow staff boarded the QH24 flight to help with the “language barrier”, but the crew continued to protest that nothing could be done.

She claims they told her, “Just take your EpiPen.”

The doctor then claimed: ‘I was forced to sign a piece of paper handwritten by the airline stating that if I have anaphylaxis on board they will NOT make an emergency landing and if I fly I do so at my own risk and they are not liable if I die during the flight.’

dr. Tomlinson also claimed in her Twitter thread that she was only allowed to fly because she said she was a doctor. “In 2022 I must not be discriminated against because I have a medical problem that I was born with,” she added.

‘With an epipen you have 30 minutes, but after an anaphylaxis you have to continue in the hospital.’

dr. Tomlinson also said “something has to change,” as she said “one person on each flight” has an allergy.

Speak with The independentthe Newcastle doctor, who was traveling with her best friend Anna, said: ‘It was really scary, I didn’t take my Covid mask off the whole 14 hour flight or eat on the plane

“I would never fly with Bamboo Airlines again, to be honest I was also put off flying from Heathrow because they were so useless.”

The doctor said that although she has had trouble flying in the past, this was the first time she had been “asked to sign something” stating that the plane would not make an emergency landing.

A Bamboo Airways spokesperson said: “As a service provider, Bamboo Airways deeply regrets that the experience of passenger Abbie Tomlinson on flight QH24 Heathrow to Hanoi on October 9, 2022 was less than satisfactory.

“When we received a message from passenger Abbie Tomlinson about her severe allergy to nuts, we checked the policy and consulted with experienced partners at Heathrow Airport.

“In fact, not only the physical nuts, but other types of nuts, such as cooking oil and sauces made from nuts, etc., can also cause harm.

In addition, this was a 12-hour long-haul flight and we had to serve meals to the passengers on board to ensure their health and privileges.

“So we recommended passenger Abbie Tomlinson to reschedule with a more deliberate meal preparation to ensure her absolute health.”

The spokesperson added that Dr. Tomlinson wanted to make the flight, so “we gave her a waiver to sign, which generally applies to passengers with special health requirements.”

The airline claimed that the passenger had signed the waiver and that they had “special care” for her and “received no complaints or requests for medical attention” during the flight.

The spokesperson added: “We deeply regret that differences in culture and communication have caused passenger Abbie Tomlinson to misunderstand that our staff acted disrespectfully based on her allergy notation.”

London Heathrow has been approached for comment.

In 2016, 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died of anaphylactic shock within minutes of takeoff on a British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Nice, France.

She suffered a severe allergic reaction to sesame in a Pret baguette.

The 15-year-old knew she was allergic to milk, eggs, bananas, nuts and sesame seeds, so along with her father, Nadim, she checked the label carefully.

But the artichoke, olive, and tapenade baguette contained sesame seeds fried into the dough and were not visible or listed in the ingredients.

Despite attempts to give her adrenaline shots, she could not breathe and suffered a heart attack and later died in a French hospital on July 17, 2016.

Nadim, 56, administered two EpiPens — which delivered potentially life-saving adrenaline to his daughter as she struggled to breathe.

But they didn’t work and she went into multiple cardiac arrests.

Natasha’s parents have since campaigned for airlines to curb nuts on planes to prevent other potential tragedies involving passengers with allergies.

In June, a 14-year-old girl Poppy nearly died after suffering a life-threatening reaction on a flight from Antigua to Gatwick after another passenger continued to eat nuts despite being asked not to.

Natasha’s parents reacted to the news, saying: ‘Airplanes can be coffins for people with severe allergies – as we know all too well. And there are far too many stories where the lives of passengers are put in very real danger on flights.

“Simply put, if British Airways and other airlines can’t enforce a ban on eating nuts on airplanes, then the law needs to change.”