Love Island star Jack Fowler has slammed Qatar Airways after suffering from a major, potentially life-threatening, allergic reaction during a flight.
Jack, who appeared on Season 4 of Love Island UK, recently took to Instagram to share that he repeatedly told Qatar flight attendants that he was “extremely allergic to nuts” and yet, was served nuts twice during his flight.
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The first time, Jack was given “pastries with nuts on it” but “thankfully” spotted the nuts and therefore, didn’t eat them.
However, Jack was later served ice cream and it was only after eating some of it, that he noticed there were crushed pistachio nuts mixed into it.
“Immediately knew something was wrong and spat it out. But I also felt my throat close up and tongue swell,” Jack wrote on Instagram.
“The [pilot] had contacted different countries to divert to to get me treated. Luckily because I reacted so [quick] we didn’t need to… But I can not begin to tell you how scary that was. I told you five times I’m allergic. You gave me nuts twice. I literally could’ve died. The next person might not be so lucky.”
Initially, Jack only shared his experience with the pastries and wrote that while the situation could’ve turned deadly, his flight attendant was apologetic and shouldn’t be penalised.
“But this is the kind of situation [that] could’ve gone soooo [sic] bad. Me eating a nut in the air despite me even taking an epipen, would have caused me to have a serious shock & quite possibly die.”
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“We would have had to divert and land in order for me to get treated in time… @qatarairways If you do somehow find out the airhost, do not penalise him. We spoke, I educated him and we move[d] on. He’s been 10/10 before & after,” Jack wrote.
But then Jack posted again, after he was served (and ate some of) the ice cream and wrote, “To be given nuts TWICE is such a massive failure from @qatarairways.”
“Within seconds I couldn’t [breathe] properly after eating the crushed pistachio nuts beneath my vanilla ice cream. My throat closed and my tongue felt like it was swelling. I was told the vanilla ice cream was my safest option. It wasn’t. @qatarairways you have failed in so many ways.”
A Qatar Airways spokesperson has said in response, “Passenger health and safety is of paramount importance to Qatar Airways and we require all passengers with severe food allergies to notify the airline no less than 48 hours in advance of flying with a completed medical information form (MEDIF) as instructed on our website.”
“The airline will work with the passenger to reduce the risk of contamination but as flights are public, an allergen-free environment is not guaranteed. We are aware of an issue concerning a passenger who had a reaction to nuts on board and are investigating the incident.”
