Korean Air Lines has stopped serving peanuts as snacks to customers in response to a recent incident when two teenage brothers were unable to board a flight because of a peanut allergy.
The brothers’ parents said in media reports that their sons were removed from a flight because the South Korean airline was unwilling to accommodate a serious peanut allergy.
The brothers were travelling from Atlanta to the Philippines but were stranded in Seoul after Korean Air did not agree to a request to stop serving peanuts around the teens because the older brother has a severe peanut allergy, media outlets reported.
Korean Air has had an assorted history with nuts in recent years, with its image tarnished by the infamous “nut rage” scandal of 2014.
Chief executive Cho Yang-ho’s eldest daughter, Heather Cho, made headlines when she lost her temper over the way she was served nuts in first class and ordered the Korean Air plane to return to its gate at a New York airport.
The carrier’s shareholders removed Mr Cho from its board in a landmark vote on Wednesday, stripping him of managerial control of the company. Mr Cho and his family members are on trial on a host of charges including embezzlement, assault and breach of trust, which raised opposition to the CEO retaining his board seat.
He became the first founding family member of any South Korean corporate giant to be forced off a board.
Korean Air will remove food that contains peanuts from in-flight meals in several weeks, the company said.
“The decision to stop peanut products and peanut ingredients is the minimum safety measure for peanut-allergy passengers,” it said.
