Ep 10: Lianne Mandelbaum of NoNutTraveler.com Air Travel Advocate and Food Allergies Are No Joke | Food Allergy Talk

On this episode of Food Allergy Talk, I welcome our special guest, Lianne Mandelbaum of No Nut Traveler dot Com. In 2013, following a negative travel experience with her family, Lianne founded No Nut Traveler dot Com – an advocacy website for food allergic flyers. Her goal is to increase awareness of the seriousness of life-threatening food allergies with an emphasis on air travel. Her writing has been featured in Huffington Post, The Mighty, KevinMD, and she is the Airline Correspondent for Allergic Living Magazine. Additionally, her tips for flying with a food allergy were featured in a piece for the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research at Stanford. Lianne was the recipient of the FARE 2013 Leadership Award, and the 2017 Fare Vision Award. On this episode we discuss: Lianne's son Joshua's first anaphylactic experience. How managing Joshua's allergies has changed over the years, including most recently as he competes traveling with his tennis team. Her own bad flight experience that led to creating and founding, The No Nut Traveler. Tips for those flying or traveling with food allergies. What should you do if you experience your rights being violated while flying for travel. As consumers we have certain rights, and in 2017 Lianne's advocacy let to the DOT recognizing food allergy as a disability, and giving passengers with food allergy the right to pre-board to clean their seating area. Read about the DOT's decision here: https://www.allergicliving.com/2019/05/21/dot-decision-on-airline-food-allergy-policy-why-its-a-win-and-a-loss/ From the article on Allergic Living's website, by Lianne: “Second,” says Vargas, “it gives passengers who need pre-boarding because of their food allergies an authoritative statement from DOT that airlines must afford them this right.” The need to stock epinephrine on flights, as an advocacy venture and the opportunity for the food allergy community to make their voices heard for change. Highly recommended airline for traveling with food allergy. Never eat food on a flight AKA airplane food, it's dangerous as are buffet's, bakery foods etc., and you are even further away from emergency medical care. Food allergy is NO JOKE. Bullying, joking, disregarding on TV, in movies, on social media, at school. Advocate for those that have no voice or are afraid to make their voice heard. Normalize seeking counseling for child, adult, or caretake for anxiety and other things that are difficult to overcome regarding food allergies and mental health. Referenced in this podcast episode: How to File a Complaint: http://nonuttraveler.com/file-a-complaint Lianne's website, The No Nut Traveler: http://nonuttraveler.com Share Your Bad Flight Experience: http://nonuttraveler.com/share-your-story Contact Your Legislator: http://nonuttraveler.com/contact-your-legislator Example of a Disposable Seat Cover: https://www.amazon.com/Protective-Airplane-Disposable-Reusable-Armrest/dp/B08J89VW3V/ Listen online anytime: https://foodallergypi.com/the-food-allergy-talk-podcast/ or on any podcast player. Read My Articles on WebMD: https://blogs.webmd.com/food-allergies/lisa-horne The Everything Nut Allergy Cookbook: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Lisa-Horne/190009636 The Food Allergy Talk Podcast: https://foodallergypi.com/the-food-allergy-talk-podcast/ Food Allergy P.I. Blog: https://foodallergypi.com X: @foodallergypi & @fatalkpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foodallergypi/ and https://www.instagram.com/foodallergytalk/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@foodallergypi Email: [email protected]