Four-year-old Fae Platten from Essex lost consciousness on a plane after a selfish passenger ignored three warnings and opened a packet of nuts

A girl aged four suffered a life-threatening allergy attack at 30,000ft after an airline passenger ignored repeated warnings not to eat peanuts.

Fae Platten stopped breathing and passed out on a holiday flight after the man opened a packet of mixed nuts despite three warnings that there was a child on board with a severe allergy.

The family of the little girl, who went into anaphylactic shock, said yesterday that the ‘incredibly selfish’ passenger had put her life at risk.

She had to be revived with an anti-allergy adrenaline injection and was taken to hospital for treatment after the Ryanair plane landed at Stansted. The airline has banned the male passenger from flying with it for two years.

Fae’s family had alerted Ryanair about her severe peanut allergy and said cabin crew announced that they would not sell peanuts on board and asked passengers not to open any packets of nuts they already had.

But 20 minutes into the flight from Tenerife Fae’s parents Katy and Dean Platten said she began scratching her cheeks and complaining that her face hurt.

A man sitting four rows away had apparently ignored the warnings and opened a packet of nuts, causing Fae’s face to swell, her mouth to blister and leaving her struggling to breathe.

Although her mother rushed her to the front of the plane, the air conditioning on board meant nut particles were circulated around the flight and Fae passed out.

An ambulance worker on board responded to the cabin crew’s call for medically-trained passengers and used Fae’s adrenaline pen – which she carries at all times – to administer an injection which brought her back to consciousness.



Mrs Platten, 30, a nursery manager of West Bergholt, Essex, said: ‘I was so scared for Fae.



'There were three very clear warnings to everyone on board yet this man ignored them all.



'He was a dad with teenage children so he should have known better. He was incredibly selfish.'

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Mother Katy Platten, 30, wants to warn future air passengers that people with nut allergies can suffer even if they do not eat them. She is pictured (right) in the pool in Tenerife with Fae and sister Izzy before the incident Fae and her father Dean on the flight out to Tenerife. She went into anaphylactic shock on the return journey last week

Ryanair has said that the man who opened nuts on board will be banned for two years, as he ignored warnings

'Fae’s breathing deteriorated, her tongue was swollen and her lips were blistered.



'For a few moments Fae stopped breathing. Her airway was compromised and she went unconscious.’

Fae, her parents and her six-year-old sister Izzy were flying home last week after a family holiday in Tenerife.



Mrs Platten said the passenger was a Zimbabwean man travelling with his family and that another passenger had remonstrated with him as he was about to open the packet of nuts.

Fae was travelling with her six-year-old sister Izzy (right) when she stopped breathing on board the Ryanair flight from Tenerife

Rising toll of sufferers

He is understood to have claimed later that he did not speak good English.

Fae was taken from Stansted to hospital by ambulance and given steroids to help her recover, then kept under observation for four hours before she was allowed home. She has suffered night terrors since the drama, according to her mother.

Mrs Platten, who said that what had happened ‘will haunt me for years to come’, has launched a Facebook campaign to raise awareness of allergies and encourage airline passengers to take peanut allergy warnings seriously.

She said: ‘The airline was very good and made three clear announcements. One individual decided he would take the risk of eating a bag of nuts. By taking this risk he endangered the life of my daughter.’ Ryanair said it was ‘delighted to hear the little girl is making a good recovery’.

In Tenerife: Fae with her mother Katy during their holiday