Mother launches fight against United Airlines after claiming staff ignored her son’s peanut allergy on flight

The mother has issued a formal complaint with the US Department of Transportation

A mother in New Jersey claims United Airlines staff refused to accommodate her son's "life-threatening" peanut allergy during a flight the pair took.

Lianne Mandelbaum said she, her husband, and their son Josh, 17, were traveling on 13 March on a return trip home after visiting a college in Texas.

She said she notified a flight attendant that her son suffered from a severe peanut allergy, according to ABC News.

She told Good Morning America that she asked the flight attendant to alert people in the surrounding rows to be careful with their snacks.

"I went up to speak to the flight attendant and I said, 'My son has a life-threatening peanut allergy. I would appreciate it if you could just tell the surrounding rows to be careful,'" she told the program.

Ms Mandelbaum runs a food allergy advocacy nonprofit called "No Nut Traveler," and said she had made similar request before while traveling with her son. She said during their flight to Texas she made a similar request and was met with a positive response from United staffers.

"I wasn't expecting any pushback on the flight on the way home. In fact, I was approaching it with a very optimistic view and the opposite happened," she said.

She said that she was met with an icier response on her return trip, claiming a United staffer was rude to her when she made the request.

"I went to go pull up [United's] policy on my phone and she literally put her hand in my face like this and got close and she goes, 'I don't care what you're going to say or what you're going to show me. I'm telling you, this is not going to happen on this plane. So what are you going to do about it now?'", Ms Mandelbaum said. "And at that point, I really did feel threatened that she was going to kick me off."

Ms Mandelbaum said her son was embarrassed by the exchange and asked his mother to drop the subject when she returned to the seat. She purchased Wi-Fi for the trip and took to Twitter to express her frustration with the United staff after she had previously issued a tweet praising them.

United said it is "looking into this incident," according to Good Morning America.

The airline shared its allergy policy, which states that it is "committed to the safety of its customers, including customers with major food allergies," and does not serve peanuts on its flights but may serve food that could contain allergens.

It noted that it cannot guarantee an "allergen-free" environment or stop passengers from bringing food brought from the terminal onto the plane, which could include some allergens, including peanuts. However, customers can request an "allergy buffer zone" that allows them to notify other passengers "seated nearby to refrain from eating any allergen-containing products they may have brought on board."

Lianne Mandelbaum and her son Josh, whose peanut allergy became the source of a complaint she filed against United Airline with the US Department of Transportation, claiming her request for an allergen buffer was denied (Lianne Mandelbaum)

Ms Mandelbaum filed an official complaint with the US Department of Transportation against United on 20 March.

GMA obtained the the complaint, in which Ms Mandelbaum claims she "was subjected to denial of accommodation, humiliation, retaliation, and intimidation because she disclosed her son's food allergies and requested accommodation" and that United violated the Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights and the Air Carrier Access Act.

She further claimed that the experience was indicative of a pattern or practice of discriminatory treatment of passengers with food allergies and those who advocate on their behalf."

GMA also obtained a response to the complaint, in which United disputes her claims, saying the airline "denies that the Mandelbaum family was subjected to 'discriminatory treatment' or that there is a 'pattern or practice of discriminatory treatment of passengers with food allergies and those who advocate on their behalf.'"