Woman with severe allergy ‘left with no choice’ but to buy every packet of peanuts on flight

A woman with a severe nut allergy bought every single packet of peanuts on a Eurowingsflight after she claims cabin crew “ignored” her request not to serve them.

Leah Williams, 27, said she spent £144 buying up all 48 packets of nuts onboard, costing almost three times the price of the £50 airfare she’d paid to travel from London to Dusseldorf.

Ms Williams asked flight attendants to alert other passengers to her allergy and request that they not buy or consume any nuts onboard, she told The Mirror, but crew allegedly refused.

In response, the design firm worker from Hampshire says she asked to buy every packet of nuts they had and bagged them up.

“The stewards looked at me blankly like I was crazy and said, ‘But there is a lot, we’ll have to count them all.’ I said, ‘Please do count them and I will pay for them all, seeing as you have left me with no choice,’” she said.

“Eurowings should be ashamed of how they handled this situation and for the way they made me feel.”

Ms Williams said she is requesting a refund for the nuts she purchased from the airline.

A Eurowings spokesperson told The Independent: “We are very sorry that the flight with us did not go as smoothly as planned and we regret any inconvenience this has caused Leah Williams. One thing in advance: Leah Williams was not forced to buy all packages of peanuts on board – on the contrary, our purser tried to offer her an alternative solution by informing all passengers sitting around her about Leah’s allergy. She agreed at first but then decided to still buy all the packages.”

The airline says it is “unable to guarantee that the aircraft is free of foodstuffs that may trigger an allergic reaction, such as peanuts”, because passengers are allowed to bring their own food onboard.

“As there are many causes for allergies and intolerances, it is not possible to exclude the possibility of their presence on board a plane,” the spokesperson added. “Furthermore, due to its construction (shape, air conditioning system, ventilation, etc.), it is not possible to prevent an accumulation of peanut/nut traces (e.g. residues from an earlier flight) despite regular and thorough cleaning of the aircraft.”

Passengers with allergies are advised by Eurowings to bring any medication they might need in their hand luggage, such as allergy medication and EpiPens,…