I read a study from American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, which said there is “no evidence” that peanut dust becomes airborne. However, I have read several news articles about people with severe nut and peanut allergies having bad reactions:
https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/co-down-mum-could-died-23332855
In another case, a 14 year old girl had a reaction that caused her to lose consciousness after a passenger kept eating nuts next to her:
I know that in science, a lack of evidence of something happening under controlled conditions doesn’t mean that something isn’t possible or doesn’t happen. For a long time, there was also no evidence that germs existed. Blaming the reactions on “hysteria” seems like ableism to me, similar to how people used to blame ME/CFS on “laziness”. With the peanut allergy on flights, I’m not sure there’s an ethical way to properly test this.
I developed a severe peanut allergy when I was 10. I’m 35 now. I went into anaphylaxis from eating two milk chocolate m&m’s that had traces of peanut. I developed this allergy shortly after my last ever flight. I’ve never eaten actual peanuts.
I have family in New Zealand, which is very far away from me. I haven’t visited them ever since I was 10. Is flying too risky for me? I’m going to be flying over the ocean most of the flight, and all my Epi Pens do is give me an extra 20 or so minutes to get to the hospital.
You should seek advice from a doctor, or perhaps a community for people with allergies.
I’ve noticed that many flights hand out pretzels instead of nuts. Perhaps there is a way to find out which airlines and witch flights do this.
Finding a flight that doesn’t serve peanuts might improve the probability of avoiding an allergic reaction, but a passenger could easily board the flight with their own peanuts. According to OP, the epi pens only give them 20 mins to get to a hospital, which is not within reach when flying over the Pacific Ocean. It might not even be within reach when flying over land considering landing procedures for an airliner.