A UK Cypriot  abroad has been left hundreds of pounds out of pocket after an airline left her stranded in Cyprus because of her nut allergy.

Furious Helen Kotonias told air stewards she was at “high-risk” of going into anaphylactic shock from inhaling airborne particles from peanuts after being told the plane was not nut-free.

But instead of stopping passengers from eating peanuts on board, Helen was escorted off her Aegean Airlines flight home and told to book another flight home.

The 35-year-old told The Sun Online: “It was my first time flying with them.”I checked their policy online, which says they don’t sell nuts.

“I was trying to reason with them because I didn’t want to be a difficult passenger and losing your temper and arguing doesn’t get you the results you want.

“I was feeling really nervous and panicky.

“If people eat nuts around me I could die. It sounds dramatic but that’s the worse case scenario.

“I told them they were putting me in great danger but they refused to ask passengers not to eat nuts and instead told me to leave the plane.”

Helen developed a nut allergy in her 30s when she had a reaction at the London Paralympics in 2012.

Ever since she has been wary of travelling abroad – and claims to always check airline’s policy around serving nuts.

Helen flew out to Cyprus through Blue Air Romanian last Sunday where she was spending time recuperating after a recent illness.

But it was on her return home to London Luton from Lanarca Airport that Helen was forced to leave her flight after staff refused to ban nuts from the plane.

Although Aegean Airlines says it does not serve peanuts on flights, it comes with a warning that passengers can still bring them on board.

Helen is now having to splash out on a return flight home after Aegean Airlines allegedly said they would not give her her money back.

She added: “I was in shock, that they were willing to go through all that hassle for the sake of not serving peanuts.

“People were tutting and saying they felt sorry for me.

“Now Aegean say they will only rearrange my flight home, instead of giving me a refund which is pointless because I cannot fly with them again.”

“That’s something that makes me feel reassured that the procedure is in place and they do notify people.

“There is nothing currently to stop people bringing on products which contain nuts onto the aircraft to eat.

“That’s when I was informed they don’t tell the whole plane – just the row I’m sitting in and two rows in front.

“They said first class passengers would be served nuts.”

The events manager is now calling for consistency across of airlines when it comes to nut allergies.

She said she fully supports The Sun’s campaign to ban nuts on ALL flights after a former producer of This Morning was left brain injured after a single bite of chicken containing nuts while on holiday.

Helen added: “In my previous experience, passengers around me have always been very supportive.

“They don’t want anyone to die on a flight.

“I fully support The Sun’s campaign banning all nuts from future flights.”

The Sun Online has contacted Aegean Airlines for a comment, but they are yet to respond.
On the airline’s website it says: “Allergies or food intolerances have a wide variety of causes, which cannot be completely eliminated even on board an aircraft.

“We would like you to know that we do not serve peanuts on our flights.

“However, we cannot guarantee that the food served on board is completely free of peanuts or peanut products or that passengers do not bring products containing peanuts on board with them.”

Source The Sun

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4344938/brit-woman-stuck-cyprus-nut-allergy-aegean-airlines