Delta kicks woman with shellfish allergy off flight, passenger alleges

By Brandon Truitt

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    BOSTON (WBZ) — A woman says she was removed from a Delta flight to Boston after telling the crew she has a serious allergy.

Passenger tells Delta staff of allergy Ellie Brelis travels constantly for her career and even has the Delta Rewards credit card. She said she always takes the same steps when flying to alert the flight crew about her life-threatening shellfish allergy.

Brelis said her allergy is documented with Delta, and as she boarded a flight from Los Angeles to Boston, she touched base with the flight attendants about her multiple EpiPens, as she always does.

“She brought out another flight attendant into it, and all of a sudden, it just kind of became this really big commotion where they said they were concerned because they were cooking shellfish in first class and they couldn’t not serve it,” Brelis said.

Removed from flight to Boston

Brelis was not flying first class. However, she said, a Delta medical representative boarded the place and ultimately removed Brelis from the flight, leaving her luggage on the plane.

Belis said she was placed on a later Delta flight, but that one was also serving shellfish and there was no guarantee of a buffer zone.

She took to TikTok, where her video captured roughly 100,000 views, and other passengers shared similar stories.

“I also, in that moment, was just genuinely scared I wasn’t going to be able to get home to see my doctor on Monday morning,” she said.

Heading home on JetBlue

Brelis bought a seat on a JetBlue flight that could get her to Boston on time. She said her Delta flight was not refunded, and now she is wondering what travel will look like for her in the future.

“I would love to know if it’s something that I did that I could do differently in the future to ensure that this doesn’t happen,” she said.

Delta advises passengers with allergies to fill out a form or to contact the accessibility services team before flying – steps Brelis said she took.

Delta has not responded to requests for comment.

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