When a British woman felt her life could be in danger she opened her wallet and spent so much that all was left with was… peanuts.
Travel hacks are one of holidaying’s best developments in recent memory. From hacks that will help you travel for free, get a free lunch, or the more unethical hack for beating ‘recline rage’, all of them are interesting but some are more successful than others. This week, however, a British woman had to think on her feet to invent a pretty expensive travel hack that might have just saved her life… even if she had to sacrifice all her remaining holiday cash in the process.
As reported by Insider, Leah Williams — a 27-year-old airline passenger with a severe nut allergy — took drastic if understandable measures to ensure her safety during a recent flight with Eurowings. Williams, who is prone to anaphylactic shock, purchased 48 packs of peanuts on her flight from Düsseldorf to London’s Heathrow in a bid to prevent anyone else from opening them during the journey and subsequently putting her life at risk.
WATCH: Here’s a slightly more frugal travel hack you can try.
The incident stemmed from a previous flight where Williams experienced an allergic reaction after a fellow passenger opened a pack of peanuts while sitting nearby. On her outbound flight from London to Düsseldorf earlier that day, the cabin crew were understanding and refrained from serving nuts, making an announcement to the cabin about her allergy. However, things took a turn for the worse on her return flight to London…
When Williams requested the cabin crew to make a similar announcement about her severe nut allergy, she was met with resistance. A flight attendant dismissed her request, citing the airline’s policy which apparently prevents them from making such announcements. Feeling powerless but determined to protect herself, after Williams discovered that the airline would be selling peanuts on the flight, she decided to purchase every pack available on the plane…
“I said: ‘I’ll buy them all so you can’t serve them. I don’t care how much it is. If you’re not willing to help me, this is the only thing I can do.”
Leah Williams
Flight attendants promptly counted out all forty-eight packs of peanuts, which totalled €168 (~$300 AUD). In a too-little-too-late attempt to accommodate her needs, the crew placed the purchased peanuts in a plastic bag at the front of the cabin. Despite Williams’s admirable efforts, many airlines can’t entirely prevent passengers from bringing their own nuts on board, making it difficult to avoid the allergen entirely.
To their credit, Eurowings mentions on its website that it cannot guarantee a peanut-free environment on board due to passengers bringing nuts of their own. This hasn’t stopped Williams from sending multiple emails and making several phone calls to complain about what happened and seek a refund for the nuts. Though she is yet to hear back, her primary objective in speaking out is to persuade Eurowings to revise their policy, rather than make her money back.
In a bold and costly move, Leah Williams turned her arch nemesis into her guardian angel, proving that sometimes you have to shell out to protect yourself…