Consumer Rights Bill

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley Excerpts

Wednesday 5th November 2014 Grand Committee

Moved by

[Baroness Kennedy of Cradley]

105E: After Clause 86, insert the following new Clause—
“Airline passengers: allergies
(1) When a consumer enters into a service contract under Part 1 of this Act to travel with an airline, the airline must give the consumer an opportunity to state whether they have any allergies about which the airline should be aware.
(2) If the consumer states that they do have an allergy, the airline must take reasonable appropriate steps to avoid the consumer having an allergic reaction while travelling with the airline.”

[Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Lab)]

My Lords, many of us are nervous of flying; imagine how nervous of flying you would be if you had an allergy caused by something as common as nuts and you knew that your allergy was so severe that any contact with the allergen would cause you a life-threatening reaction. Although you have done everything that you could to keep yourself safe on the flight—you have your Epipen, your medication and your letter from your GP, and you are even carrying your own food—the airline you are travelling with does nothing to try to reduce your risk of having an allergic reaction. Why? I cite British Airways as an example because it is our flag-carrying airline. It states that that it cannot guarantee an allergen-free environment. Because it cannot guarantee an allergen-free flight, it does little to help to reduce its passengers’ risk.

There are no guarantees for any of us when we travel by road, rail or air, but that does not stop Governments or other authorities putting in place measures to keep us as safe as possible. I know that when British Airways were asked by a passenger with a severe nut allergy to stop giving out nuts on his flight, it refused and therefore directly increased his risk of a life-threatening reaction.

A few weeks ago, the media reported that the father of a young girl with a severe nut allergy felt bullied into leaving a British Airways flight after it had refused to make an in-flight announcement about his daughter’s allergy. In-flight announcements cannot guarantee an allergen-free flight but they can be part of a package of measures to reduce the risk. What was highlighted by that father’s story and by my experience is that there is confusion about the British Airways policy to deal with passengers at risk of severe allergic reactions. At first, they told the father that they would make an in-flight announcement but, once they were on board, the cabin crew refused.

On 16 August this year, British Airways staff told me that passengers,

“can mention to the cabin crew about a nut allergy and the crew can make an announcement on board the flight”.

However, 10 days later they said they were wrong to give that advice and withdrew it. British Airways states on its website:

“We use the recommendations of the International Air Transport Association … for allergen sensitive passengers to make sure your flight is as comfortable as we can make it”.

The problem is that the IATA recommendations say very little. As far as I can see, they only refer to meeting the general standards in terms of first aid kits and cabin crew first aid training. There is no mention of any of the practical operational steps that some airlines carry out, such as in-flight announcements. The policy and practice around how an airline supports a passenger with a severe allergy is therefore completely up to that airline. This policy vacuum leads to a lack of action on the part of some, and confusion for the many airline passengers and staff.

This is despite the huge and growing number of children and adults affected by allergies. According to the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, allergies affect more than 100 million people in Europe. One out of every three children has an allergy, and it expects allergies to affect more than 50% of all Europeans in 10 years’ time. We know that for those at greatest risk, the tiniest trace of a food allergen can trigger severe symptoms and, in some cases, fatal or near-fatal symptoms. According to the Food Standards Agency, in the UK about 10 people die every year from food-induced anaphylaxis. Allergies and fear of a severe allergic reaction affect the daily lives of millions of children and adults. It is a growing problem that deserves some attention, especially when a person with a severe allergy is in a closed environment like a plane, where escape is impossible and the medical help you need is not available because you are trapped 35,000 feet in the air. Thankfully, anaphylactic shock on a plane due to an allergy is rare, but it does happen.

Noble Lords may have read over the summer about the case of the little girl, aged four, who went into anaphylactic shock and lost consciousness on a plane due to a severe allergic reaction to nuts. She was saved thanks to an ambulance worker on board who responded to the cabin crew call for medically trained passengers. In this case, Ryanair did make an in-flight announcement—in fact, it was reported to have made three in-flight announcements—but one passenger ignored the warnings, and his actions caused the girl a severe life-threatening reaction.

The two media reports that I have mentioned highlight a number of important issues: the risk of a life-threatening allergic reaction is possible and not as rare as we may think; airlines’ policies vary to a great extent; there is confusion among airline staff on the policy positions held by that airline; and there is a significant lack of passenger awareness of the risks posed to some passengers from allergic reactions, which means that in-flight announcements alone are not a complete solution.

I recognise that no airline can guarantee an allergen-free flight, but the amendment I have tabled today does not ask airlines to give a guarantee; it asks them to take reasonable steps to decrease the risk to flyers with severe allergies when the airline has been informed that an at-risk passenger is aboard. It asks the airlines to help create as safe an environment as possible, and would lead to the development of a set of recommended guidelines that airlines operating in the UK would adopt to help reduce the risk to allergen-sensitive passengers. This would protect not only the at-risk passenger but the airline and all the other passengers on board.

Many airlines are already taking action. For example, some airlines have removed peanut snacks altogether. Others will remove nut-based snacks when notified in advance. Some airlines have introduced a buffer zone—seats around the passenger with an allergy, which they keep as allergen-free as possible. Some airlines allow passengers to pre-board so they can wipe down the seating area. Some advise customers when the aircraft is cleaned, so that passengers can book travel when the aircraft is at its cleanest. Some, as I have stated, make in-flight announcements to ask passengers to stop eating nuts. Because airline meals pose a particular risk for allergy sufferers, some airlines do more by letting passengers know what the meals are in advance—for example, at the time of booking. If some airlines can take steps to mitigate the risks to their passengers, why cannot they all? I think that they can, and should. The amendment asks them to do that.

I hope that the Government will agree and support the amendment, and that they will facilitate a discussion with the Civil Aviation Authority, the International Air Transport Association and any other appropriate authority to develop coherent guidelines on this important matter. I beg to move.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My Lords, I, too, am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy, for raising this issue and for tabling the amendment. I am delighted to be able to welcome the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, who I have known for some years, to his maiden contribution at the Dispatch Box, and thank him for bringing his expertise and family experience to this important debate on this very important subject. He is most welcome to our deliberations.

I am very sympathetic to the intention of the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy, which seeks to relieve the suffering of those with allergies. As she said, allergic reactions can be very distressing to those who experience them, not least in the confines of an aircraft cabin, where it can be particularly scary. I know that no carrier would wish that to occur on its services. I am also grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, for sharing her experience on another troubling issue, deep vein thrombosis, and her knowledge of travel filters and air exchanges, which are an important technological part of the debate that we are having today.

I assure the Committee that industry practice is for carriers to request passengers to pre-notify prior to travel if they have any medical conditions, including allergies, and that most passengers do so. Most airlines will then take all reasonable measures to prevent passengers from having an allergic reaction while on board the aircraft. I know that, where given prior notice—and that is an important duty for us as passengers—airlines take steps, such as broadcasting requests to passengers not to eat nuts.

For some allergies, a carrier is unlikely to be able to guarantee an environment totally free of the trigger substance. For example, an aircraft may have been used by another carrier only hours previously, other passengers may bring their own food with them which can contain a trigger substance, or a passenger may be accompanied by an assistance dog, which may be a source of allergic reaction for some people.

I note that the amendment is specific both to airlines and to allergies. While I appreciate that there is a distinction, which the noble Lord has explained, the amendment would place a duty on airlines that is not placed on operators of any other modes of transport such as trains, ships, buses or taxis, or the airport operator responsible for the airport environment. However, there may well be steps that operators in those modes could take to reduce the risk of a person with an allergy having an attack during their journey. Furthermore, there may well be conditions other than allergies where an operator could take reasonable steps to reduce the risk of an attack during the journey—for example, photosensitive epilepsy. Moreover, the majority of airlines already do what the amendment would create a duty for them to do.

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for bringing this issue to our debate, but I do not think that we can justify the addition of this regulation to the Bill. I will ensure that the remarks made on the subject today are conveyed to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport, and that the points that have been made are considered. I shall also ask the department to pass the comments to British Airways because of the examples that she cited. I know from my own extensive experience of travelling that the company always seems very keen to provide a good service. As the noble Lord said, good management systems make a very big difference in these sorts of cases.

I was interested in the good practice outlined by the noble Baroness and, as I said, in the experiences of my noble friend Lady Wilcox, and in the international developments that have been mentioned, which I was not aware of. I also commend to the Committee the advice that the charity Anaphylaxis Action gives on its website to those with allergies when they travel by air. That advice includes stating their needs to carriers, discussing their proposed flight with their GP or specialist and, if concerned, taking their own food and medication, such as antihistamines or an adrenaline auto-injector, when they fly. In the circumstances, I ask the noble Baroness to withdraw the amendment.

[Baroness Kennedy of Cradley]

I thank all noble Lords who have spoken today, particularly the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, for her intervention. I was very interested to hear about the fast air exchange; I shall take her advice and look it up. I do not see that the fast air exchange helped the little girl aged four who became affected by a passenger who ate nuts a few rows behind her, but it could be that that is not a technical solution that is available to all airlines. I will certainly go and investigate that. Presumably, that is one of the reasons why buffer zones have been created by many airlines, such as Delta Airlines, to create a space where the passenger can sit and feel risk-free from their allergy.

I thank my noble friend Lord Mendelsohn for his contribution and his list of questions, which the Minister did not address. Actually, I was quite disappointed with the Minister’s reply. She said that most airlines do this. Most airlines do but not all of them, and that is the central point of my amendment. We need to ensure that there is a level playing field across the airlines in relation to security. There is good practice but there is also bad practice; there are good initiatives but there are also no initiatives; actions are taken but there is also a refusal to take action.