CNN has the wrong idea about what they’re serving on Northwest Airlines flights

by Annie Scott on


Oh, Zain Verjee. It’s not your fault. We all make mistakes. Even sometimes twice in one report.

It doesn’t help that the headline at the bottom there says “Nuts On Northwest Flights.” Not those kind of nuts, CNN!

Transcript:

“Well, peanuts are now on Northwest Airlines’ snack menu, and travelers with allergies are flooding the carrier with complaints about the change. Northwest began serving penis — peanuts this month as its merger partner, Atlanta based Delta Airlines has done for years. Georgia is the top penis — pre — pre — peanut-producing state in the country …”

We know. This is shameless. It’s an honest mistake … but this is what the internet is for. Otherwise, you might have seen that on CNN and never known if anyone else did.

This is almost as funny as the time she was choking on Skittles on-air (after the jump).

CNN’s Zain Verjee chokes on Skittles:


P.S. Keep it up, Georgia!

Click the pictures to learn about other women causing pr-pr-problems —



Passengers protest peanuts, prefer pretzels

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Blame Northwest. Or, blame the merger with Delta. Either way, peanuts are back, and some passengers are pissed.

On February 1, Northwest began dishing out peanuts on flights, which Delta has been doing since dirt was new. The timing isn’t all that hot, given a national salmonella outbreak involving Peanut Corporation of America. And then there are the people who are allergic to peanuts … they’re also far from thrilled with the change.

A commenter on the Star Tribune website (local to Minneapolis, where NWA is headquartered) wrote, “Northwest is really out of touch with its customers and the reality of allergies to peanuts.” Another chimed in, “What’s wrong with pretzels?”

Indeed, what is wrong with pretzels?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3 million people in the United States are allergic to peanuts (or tree nuts). Food allergies cause 30,000 cases of anaphylaxis, 2,000 hospitalizations and 150 deaths every year. On its own, this sucks. On a plane, it’s worse than sitting next to a fat person.

Delta is doing what it can to prevent an in-flight disaster, creating a “buffer zone” of three rows in front of and behind a peanut-allergic person’s seat. And, the airline is advising “cabin service to board additional nonpeanut snacks.” So, flight attendants who are busy with such trivial matters as keeping order on the plane and tending to broader safety issues will have to keep track of the “peanut zone,” as well.

[Via CNN]

What strange things have been found on planes?


Have food allergies, will travel

by Iva Skoch on

Traveling with food allergies must be hard.

Even in many countries in Europe, menus simply don’t list all the ingredients used in meals. My Canadian friend went into an allergic shock in Prague because of his nuts allergy. He figured eating a sandwich would be safe. Of course, they didn’t mention the sandwich had pesto in it. And pesto contains pine nuts…

And that’s Prague, which is now fairly Westernized. Imagine what it must be like to travel in Asia, where not only do they use peanuts a lot more but it is much harder to read the menus and find people who speak English well enough.

This ABC article talks about traveling with allergies. It is about the challenges of a traveler with serious food allergies, who presents a card to the waiter noting his allergies to peanuts and peas, written in the native tongue. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t. Some waiters even say that they have “never heard of such allergies.”

I found it really interesting to read, although I don’t have any allergies. How do you deal with food allergies when traveling?