The pilot was against it: a 12-year-old girl with a peanut allergy was thrown off the plane (3 photos)

The Sollom family lost almost £5,000 after they had to book with another airline at the last minute and rearrange their accommodation. The girl was very worried about being taken off the flight.





Nick Sollom, 48, from the UK, said his wife and two children were kicked off a SunExpress flight after he asked the crew to take his 12-year-old daughter's allergies into account during the three-and-a-half-hour flight to Turkey.

A girl and her family were kicked off a plane at Gatwick Airport in London, England, after the captain refused to ask passengers not to eat nuts for her safety. The father said they lost almost £5,000 after having to book with another airline at the last minute and rearrange their accommodation.

"It's just incredible that this could happen in 2024. Just amazing," he said.



The incident occurred on Tuesday evening, May 21, as the family tried to board a SunExpress flight on the southwest coast of Turkey. However, the plane's captain refused to accept 12-year-old Rosie, who is allergic to peanuts, on board. The girl should not be near nuts if she experiences an allergic reaction known as anaphylactic shock. Anaphylaxis is a possible cause of death in between 20 and 40 people a year, according to the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

The plane crew didn't care

Sollom said the family's problems began when he booked a plane ticket and couldn't find a way to notify the airline of Rosie's allergy.



Upon arrival at the airport, the man said the SunExpress check-in counter told him to report the matter to flight attendants. The company's website said: "Once you are on board, please inform our flight attendant of your allergies."

But flight attendants didn't think much of it, according to Nick Sollom, when he asked to make an announcement to ask other passengers not to eat nuts.

"They just said the captain refused to do it. And he won't make any announcements. It's not his rules or the company's rules," he said.

The captain locked himself in the cockpit and gave orders through the flight attendants. Then Mr. Sollom decided that they would tell the passengers about it themselves, and his wife Georgie addressed the first two rows. However, word had already spread thanks to a couple sitting behind them who began telling people what was happening. The girl's father noted that everyone was very kind, but then the captain realized that the message had been conveyed in a different way.

"He just said, 'Okay, let's take our bags off, throw them away.' I think there was tension in the booth because we weren't seated. They just said we had to get out," Nick added.

The publication notes that Rosie is still experiencing the humiliation of being taken off the flight and taken out of the terminal.