Airline Peanut
Allergy Policy, Compared
"Airline peanut allergy policy" gets searched more than any other flight-allergy question, for good reason: the answer is different at every airline, changes without notice, and is often buried three clicks deep on a carrier's accessibility page. Below is what 19 major airlines across North America, Europe, and Asia actually say they'll do, in one place.
North America
| Airline | Peanuts as a snack? | What actually happens if you declare the allergy |
|---|---|---|
| United | No pre-packaged peanuts | Buffer zone available on request; mandatory by law on flights to/from Canada once requested. No guarantee otherwise, and trace peanut may still appear in other food items. |
| Delta | Stopped fleet-wide on request | File an Accessibility Service Request in advance and Delta will pull peanuts from that flight's service, substituting a non-peanut snack for everyone. Pre-boarding to wipe your seat is allowed on request. |
| American | Not served, but tree nuts are | American's own policy states it will not create a buffer zone or ask other passengers to avoid nut products. Pre-boarding to wipe your seat has been allowed since 2018. |
| Southwest | No peanuts; added pistachios Jan 2026 | Standard pretzel/cookie snacks don't contain nuts, but Extra Legroom rows now carry pistachios. No buffer zone or nut-free guarantee offered. |
| Alaska | Peanut-free snack service | Generally rated accommodating by allergy advocacy groups, but the airline does not formally guarantee a buffer zone. |
| JetBlue | Not served | Offers a buffer zone (typically one row in front and behind your seat) where nuts won't be served or opened. No cabin-wide PA announcement. |
| Frontier / Spirit / Allegiant | Varies; often sold for purchase | Budget carriers generally offer the least formal accommodation. Frontier and Allegiant explicitly say they cannot guarantee an allergen-free environment and don't commit to withholding specific snacks. |
Europe
| Airline | Peanuts as a snack? | What actually happens if you declare the allergy |
|---|---|---|
| British Airways | Not served or used as an ingredient | Still serves tree nuts (walnuts, cashews). Will suspend nut sales cabin-wide and make an announcement on request; pre-boarding is allowed if you show your epinephrine auto-injector at the gate. |
| easyJet | Not sold onboard at all | easyJet stopped selling any nut products fleet-wide. Select "I have a nut allergy" during booking, or notify gate staff on the day, and crew will ask nearby passengers not to eat their own nut snacks. |
| Ryanair | Sold, unless notified | No advance-notice system. Tell the cabin crew when you board; they'll make a PA announcement and stop selling nut products for the rest of that flight. Consistently rated well by allergy-travel reviewers for how reliably this actually happens. |
Build a multilingual allergy card before your flight, so a gate agent or a flight attendant who doesn't share your language still understands the allergy immediately.
Build My Allergy Card →Asia-Pacific and the Middle East
| Airline | Peanuts as a snack? | What actually happens if you declare the allergy |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore Airlines | Not as a loose snack | Signature dishes like satay and nasi lemak do contain peanuts, and other nuts (cashews, almonds) are served. A non-strict Nut-Free Meal (NFMLA) can be pre-ordered 48 hours ahead but is not a strict guarantee. |
| Cathay Pacific | Served; no nut-free meal offered | Cathay's own policy states it cannot provide a peanut- or tree-nut-safe meal at all. Severe allergy passengers are asked to submit a physician's statement 72 hours ahead and are advised to bring their own food. |
| Thai Airways | Served; no restriction on request | Thai Airways states it cannot guarantee a peanut-free environment due to cross-contamination in its catering network, and will not stop distributing nuts to other passengers even when notified in advance. |
| ANA (All Nippon Airways) | Being phased out fleet-wide | ANA is actively removing peanuts from its Group-operated menus (other tree nuts remain). Offers a formal allergy buffer zone on request, plus 8-allergen and 28-allergen-free meals on international routes. Still no guarantee of a peanut-free cabin. |
| Japan Airlines (JAL) | Peanut-free meal available | One of the few carriers offering a fully peanut-free meal, orderable roughly 49 hours ahead, plus a special seat-cleaning request with about 96 hours' notice. Cross-contact during manufacturing is still possible. |
| Korean Air | Removed fleet-wide | Korean Air pulled peanut snacks and peanut ingredients from its meals fleet-wide after a widely reported incident. Onboard medical kits carry epinephrine in vial form. |
| Emirates | Served on all flights | Emirates is direct about this: it serves nuts as a snack or meal ingredient across its network and recommends allergic passengers bring their own food, since it will not restrict other passengers. |
| Qatar Airways | Served; no special accommodation | Requires a signed liability waiver and a Medical Information Form 48 hours ahead for severe allergies, but doesn't describe a specific nut-withdrawal or buffer-zone accommodation. Bring your own food. |
| Turkish Airlines | Served, unless notified | Will prepare an allergen-free menu for a declared peanut or hazelnut allergy if notified at least 48 hours ahead through its own sales channels. |
What a "buffer zone" actually means
A buffer zone is a request the airline makes to passengers seated near you, usually the row you're in plus one row in front and behind, and sometimes the row across the aisle, asking them not to eat products containing your declared allergen for the duration of the flight. It is enforced by a flight attendant's announcement and social pressure, not by any inspection of other passengers' bags. Airlines are explicit about this limitation in their own policy language: a buffer zone reduces the chance a stranger opens a bag of peanuts three feet from you, and does nothing about a wrapper someone opened two rows back before the announcement, or trace residue left on a tray table from the previous flight.
One exception worth knowing: on flights to and from Canada, an allergy buffer zone is a legal requirement once a passenger with a documented severe allergy requests one, under Canadian air passenger rights rules. Every other buffer zone in this comparison is a voluntary courtesy policy that the airline can and does describe differently from carrier to carrier.
Special meal codes and what they don't cover
International carriers generally use a shared set of IATA special meal codes, requestable through booking management. GFML (gluten-free) and VGML (vegan) are widely available and reasonably reliable for their specific exclusions. AVML (Asian vegetarian) is common but frequently contains peanuts or tree nuts, so it is not a safe substitute for a nut allergy despite sounding plant-based. There is no universal "nut-free" or "allergy-free" IATA code recognized across the industry. The handful of carriers above that offer a dedicated peanut-free or multi-allergen-free meal, such as JAL and ANA, have built their own program on top of the standard code list, which is why availability and lead time vary so much between airlines.
Even a correctly labeled special meal is prepared in a shared catering kitchen alongside meals that do contain the allergen. Treat every airline meal, special or standard, as a bonus rather than your primary safety plan, and bring enough of your own sealed food to cover the full itinerary.
Frequently asked questions
Which airlines have the best peanut allergy policies?
No airline can guarantee a peanut-free flight, but some go further than others. Carriers that stop selling nut products cabin-wide once notified, such as easyJet and Ryanair, or that offer a genuinely peanut-free meal, such as JAL, tend to perform better in practice than airlines that only offer a narrow buffer zone or decline to accommodate at all. What matters most is what a specific carrier will actually do on your specific route, since policy can differ between domestic and international sectors and between codeshare partners.
What is an airline allergy buffer zone?
A courtesy request asking passengers seated near you not to eat your declared allergen during the flight, typically the row you're in plus one row front and back. It's enforced by announcement and social pressure, not inspection. It's a legal requirement on flights to and from Canada once requested; elsewhere it's a voluntary policy that varies by airline.
Can I ask an airline not to serve peanuts on my flight?
Yes, and several major carriers will comply for their own catered snacks and meals with advance notice, typically 48 hours. No airline can stop other passengers from bringing their own peanut products on board and eating them.
Do any airlines offer a fully peanut-free meal?
A small number, including Japan Airlines, offer a meal formulated without peanuts as an orderable special meal. Most "nut-free" meal options elsewhere, including Singapore Airlines' non-strict nut-free meal, are still prepared in a kitchen that handles nuts, so they reduce but don't eliminate cross-contact risk.