No peanuts on Qantas!

Thanks so much for letting us know. Im an aussie travelling back to Australia next week with my 2 year old PA daughter. I've been really nervous about the flight and its great to know they've finally pulled their heads out of you know where and gotten rid of the peanuts. Im taking food for my daughter to eat on the flight - when you mentioned the "may contain" warning on the food, do you mean that the hot meals actually come with a sticker or something that says this ? Im pregnant and am avoiding all nut products and any may contains as well. Maybe I need to be bringing food for me too ?

Hi Geoff, great news. We are expat Aussies who travel home every year and have had so many run in with Qantas over the whole nut issue it is ridiculous. I ring everytime but everytime we arrive, they say they have received no notification, have threatened not to let us board aircraft, sign waivers and all the usual stuff. Lately we have flown back with Singapore who are just brilliant. Just wondering did Qantas inform you that they have stopped serving nuts or do you think it was just an off chance that they did not. I flew to Aus. by myself late 2004 and the flight I was on did not serve nuts but when I asked hostie the reply was well we usually do, just luck of the draw. Would be interested if you have heard anything else.

I would be interested to know that too. We're flying next week and they just made me sign the waiver forms etc. They keep telling me over and over that they dont serve peanuts but that they serve a trail mix that has other nuts in it. They also keep telling me that the child meal "may contain traces of nuts" - that makes me so mad I cant even talk to them about it anymore, they just dont get it. The only reason we're flying with them is because we could fly on miles and therefore save alot of money - I wish we could have afforded to just buy the tickets and fly with another airline.

Hi Geoff,
I just rang Qantas Office in Singapore and was told that Qantas no longer serve peanuts as a snack ON ANY FLIGHT!!!!!! They of course cannot guarantee a peanut free flight (i.e. cross contamination etc) which is fine. The girl knew exactly what I was talking about, which is a complete turnaround from their usual attitude. Wonder what happened to get them to change their view? Any ideas?? Though I suppose that would have to pull out all stops to compete with Singapore Airlines which are absolutely brilliant with inflight service and their understanding of allergy.

I flew with Singapore this month to Japan and back (just brilliant) and did the domestic flights in Australia with Qantas. I didn't even bother telling them (Qantas) in advance about my PA daughter as it was only a 40 minute flight ( I just wiped the seats myself and when I refused a muffin for her, the stewardess offered her Minties and said they do nothing special for people with PA), but on the Sydney to Canberra they served bags of mixed nuts (no peanuts in them). When I refused them for my daughter, they offered her an apple.
We almost always fly Virgin Blue domestically. They pre-board her, wipe the seats and make an announcement - they even offer to stop sale of any products with tree nuts. She flew to Adelaide tonight with my partner and he said they could not have been more helpful.
I will always fly Virgin Blue and Singapore when possible. When I was booking the flight and made enquiries many months ago, Qantas didn't want to know about PA - they seemed almost disinterested.
If they have changed - Great news!
Ellie

Thanks for the info on Qantas & Singapore.
Ellieasha - watch those minties....
It's ironic that minties are (or were) one of the most popular candies in NZ and OZ where anyone over the age of 40 has a mouthful of fillings and crowns. Minties were designed to stick to fillings and pull them out. I don't go near them anymore!
By the way FYI, one of the reasons that New Zealanders have had such horrible teeth is because much of the drinking water was 'catchment'.....rainwater caught on the roofs and collected in water tanks...lacking in minerals, etc. The water was also not flouridated.
When I'm back in NZ I always notice the young kids have nice teeth, unlike their parents and grandparents.

Well things are apparently back to normal with Qantas. Rang the Singapore office to day, as we are flying out on Sat. night just to reinform them about DS allergy and that we would be carrying epi-pens. Got an extremely rude girl, who said that Qantas can serve nuts if they feel like it, we would be travelling at out own risk. I informed her of my previous conversation with Qantas Singapore a couple of months ago when planning our annual trip home and of their statement on their website that Qantas does not serve any peanut snack. She responded that she had never heard of this so I asked her to check with superior and call me back. She called back a couple of hours, same attitude and same thing, can and will serve peanuts if they want to. I tried explaining that I understand about "peanutfree" flights (near impossible) but was only interested if they were going to hand out packets of peanuts. She had no idea what I was talking about. It will be the last time we fly Qantas, their attitude just stinks! We were only flying with them this time as they fly direct into Cairns thus saving us an 8 hour+ layover in Brisbane, which is not a great start to a holiday with 3 small children