Bethenny Frankel has a bone to pick with several major airlines. The Real Housewives of New York star, who has a potentially fatal fish allergy, took to Twitter on Wednesday, January 23, to share yet another close call she experienced before recently getting on a plane.
“You can’t write this. Now another airline is serving cooked salmon for my next flight,” the 48-year-old wrote. “I have contacted them multiple times to no avail. I guess I’ll have to take another poll w my cabin. BC everyone is dying to eat cooked fish on a plane.”
You can’t write this. Now another airline is serving cooked salmon for my next flight. I have contacted them multiple times to no avail. I guess I’ll have to take another poll w my cabin. BC everyone is dying to eat cooked fish on a plane 🙃
— Bethenny Frankel (@Bethenny) January 23, 2019
In a subsequent tweet, Frankel implied she spoke to someone at Delta to discuss the food-related issue but failed to make any headway with the company. “Ok tweeps please educate @Delta who just told me that ‘fish allergies are not considered airborne.’ Who has the article about the poor little boy who died of exactly that?”
The child Frankel referenced was 11-year-old Cameron Jean-Pierre, who died because of a reaction caused by a fish allergy in New York in January after simply smelling, not eating, a fish-based meal that was being cooked nearby.
The Skinnygirl founder nearly died in December 2018 after eating soup that, unbeknownst to her, contained fish. “I have [a] rare fish allergy. Sun, I had soup, itched & was unconscious for 15 mins then [taken] to ER & ICU for 2 days w BP of 60/40,” she tweeted at the time. “I couldn’t talk, see, thought I had a stroke & [was] dying & told if 5 mins later I’d be dead. 911 & EPI saved me. I’ll never not carry an #epipen.” She later credited boyfriend Paul Bernon with saving her life.
She then had a second scare weeks later while on a plane where fish was set to be served as the in-flight meal. “Called airline mult x to say I have fish allergy. Got on & they’re serving bass,” she explained on Twitter at the time. “They couldn’t not serve it they said. Then they were turning around which I protested bc it would delay people. Cabin asked to not serve it & pilot made announcement to plane. That was fun. #epilife.” Though that plane didn’t end up turning around, Frankel was clearly annoyed her concerns weren’t being taken seriously.
After this most recent scare, a Twitter follower suggested Delta should have allergy education as part of its employee training program. The reality star then revealed the Atlanta-based airline is not the only one that needs to step up its game. “It was @AmericanAir who said they couldn’t not serve fish: Then after a vote, pilot made announcement to the plane that they won’t serve fish bc 1 woman has an allergy,” she tweeted. “They say now they won’t stop serving fish which is 1 of only 1 foods proven to be airborne & deadly.”
When one social media follower slammed the Shark Tank cast member for frequently talking about her allergy, Frankel declared she has no intention of staying quiet about something so important. “I will talk about it until it gets changed. I can explain it to you but I can’t understand it for you,” she shot back. “All of my relief work wouldn’t happen if I listened to morons like you who told me to stop & be quiet. Know your facts :)”