A major airline, once famous for dressing its female flight attendants in hotpants and high boots, has fallen into line with many other carriers and banned the service of peanuts on its flights – though it can’t stop passengers bringing them aboard.
Peanuts have been a staple on Southwest Airlines since it took to the air in 1966. The nuts are closely identified with the US airline, which has used them in marketing campaigns.
In-flight hotpants were a shorter-lived phenomenon. The famous 10-second TV commercial below survives from 1972 and shows three Southwest flight attendants in hotpants walking across the tarmac to their plane.
“Remember what it was like before Southwest Airlines?” one of them says provocatively. “We didn’t have hostesses in hotpants! Remember?”
The “hostesses in hotpants” era didn’t last long and Southwest would probably rather forget all about it.
Peanuts, however, have endured. A blog on the airline’s website is called Nuts About Southwest.
Once regarded as a harmless salty snack that went well with beer, perception of peanuts has changed as allergies spread through the population. For a few people, exposure to peanuts can bring on seizures and sudden death.
Southwest confirmed last week it would pull peanuts from all flights from August. They will be replaced by pretzels or, on some longer flights, by other free snacks, which the carrier hopes “will please customers who might be nostalgic or sad to see peanuts go”.
A spokesperson for the airline explained: “Peanuts forever will be part of Southwest’s history and DNA. However, to ensure the best on-board experience for everyone, especially for customers with peanut-related allergies, we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue serving peanuts on all flights.”
Allergies (not just to nuts) are on the increase around the world. Some 1.4% of children in the US are allergic to peanuts. In the most severe cases, inhaling a tiny portion of peanut dust can send a person into anaphylactic shock, which can prove fatal unless the victim is given a shot of adrenaline or similar medication.
United and American are among major US carriers to have already banned service of peanuts. They can’t guarantee no peanuts will be aboard, however, as passengers can bring them on. There’s nothing illegal about peanuts.
Written by Peter Needham
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