Airline Leaves Allergic Couple Grounded and Humiliated Despite their Best Efforts

A Scottish couple who both suffer from severe tree nut allergies claimed they were forced to disembark a KLM flight after the airline’s staff refused to stop distributing nut-containing snacks and declined to make a passenger announcement. Pretoria Drever and her fiancé, Rhonan Kelly, had booked the £700 ($925) roundtrip from Edinburgh to Amsterdam to celebrate Rhonan’s 25th birthday and their recent engagement. Both have a life-threatening allergy to nuts and peanuts, and Drever’s is airborne, meaning airborne particles in the circulated cabin air could trigger a dangerous reaction.

Drever reported that she had responsibly notified the airline of their condition via an online form and arrived at Edinburgh Airport two hours early specifically to alert ground staff. However, after boarding the aircraft, the couple’s request for staff to cease distributing the products or to issue an advisory announcement was denied. This refusal led to a heated confrontation where a staff member was reportedly heard saying, “we’re handing out food because people paid for a service and we’re not going to take that away from them,” referring to a complimentary snack that had been changed to a banana loaf topped with almonds.

The airline’s refusal to modify its service or issue a safety warning presented the couple with a difficult choice: stay on the flight and risk severe anaphylactic shock mid-air, or leave the plane and miss their celebratory trip. Rhonan Kelly ultimately determined the risk was too great, stating, “I honestly believe if we took off on that flight and they served the nuts they’d have taken an emergency landing in London or we’d have probably died on the flight.”

During the tense exchange, the crew allegedly suggested that the couple could remain on board as epinephrine auto-injectors were available. Kelly dismissed this as an inadequate solution given the lack of immediate medical assistance at cruising altitude, pointing out that “an EpiPen is only meant to put adrenaline [epinephrine] in your body until an ambulance comes so that’s not the answer when you’re in the sky.” Feeling powerless and unsupported by the airline representatives, who cited instructions from KLM Amsterdam to proceed with the service, Kelly recounted the overwhelming sense of defeat: “I was angry but it was very embarrassing. I felt as if I was backed into a corner because no matter what we said or did, we knew we weren’t going to win.”

The couple chose to exit the aircraft, resulting in the immediate cancellation of their two-night holiday and profound emotional distress. The ordeal left them feeling victimized and humiliated. Kelly said, “I’ve never felt so discriminated against in all my life,” while Drever shared a similar feeling of degradation, stating, “It was humiliating getting off the plane and as if we were less than everyone else… It made me feel rubbish and unwanted.”

The pair are now seeking a refund and have vowed never to use the airline again, citing a fear of flying that has been exacerbated by the experience. They also expressed a passionate desire for wider industry policy reform, with Kelly asserting a strong belief in the need for total prohibition: “In this day and age, nuts should be banned altogether on planes. How many deaths does it take?”

In an official statement responding to the incident, a KLM spokesman expressed regret, acknowledging, “We understand how serious nut allergies can be and how distressing this situation must have been for them.” While noting they can make an onboard announcement to request cooperation from fellow passengers, the airline maintained its policy limitations, stressing they “cannot control or prohibit other passengers from consuming products that may contain nuts during the flight” and ultimately “unfortunately cannot guarantee a nut-free environment on board.”

Here is a video of the couple’s interaction with KLM flight crew: