Southwest Airlines changed its in-flight snack offering at the end of January, which puts the college softball team at the University of Pittsburgh at risk of severe illness during travel due to a nut allergy. The Panthers vow to boycott the aviation company in the future due to its lack of consideration.
Pistachios cannot be that important.
This unfortunate reality will continue to be a problem for Pitt throughout the entire college softball season, as most of its flights are already booked. Maybe this can be the catalyst for change.
Southwest Airlines introduced pistachios.
Southwest introduced ‘Wonder Pistachios No Shells’ as a complimentary snack option for passengers seated in Extra Legroom seats on Jan. 27, 2026. One of the most prominent airline carries in the country framed the new offering as a luxurious perk for customers who paid up for their seats.
The pistachios are only offered to passengers in the first six rows of the plane. The rest of the plane gets pretzel braids.
I personally do not see pistachios as a major upgrade over pretzels but that is neither here nor there. Southwest does. It started serving pistachios on its flights at the end of January.
That creates concern among passengers with a nut allergy.
Lianne Mandelbaum of Living Allergic spoke with the airline about its new snack offering. She asked two questions in specific.
- If notified in advance of a customer’s pistachio allergy, would Southwest consider suspending service of pistachios either across the flight or in the seating area of the allergic passenger?
- Is the crew permitted to make announcements asking nearby passengers to refrain from consuming nut products in these situations?
Southwest gave her the following answer:
“Customers seated in Extra Legroom seats will have the option to choose a Wonderful® Pistachios No Shells snack,” and for those with a tree nut allergy, “we can offer another one of our other onboard snack options.”
That was it. The airline did not directly address either question.
Pittsburgh Softball has a nut allergy.
The softball team at the University of Pittsburgh has a player and/or staffer with a severe nut allergy. It is not a contact or ingested allergy. It is an inhaled allergy, also known as an airborne allergy.
The athlete and/or coach does not have to eat or touch the nut to get sick.
With that in mind, the Panthers would like Southwest to reconsider its policy. Their team (like most) is forced to fly commercial alongside regular passengers. The airline is not willing to pause its pistachio snack offering because of the on-board allergy. Its flight attendants are required to continue with service.
That obviously puts the Pitt softball player at risk.
This issue first came to light prior to the season-opener last week when the Panthers traveled to Florida. The coaching staff was furious.
The pistachios again became an issue on Pitt’s flight to Houston on Thursday.
Assistant coach Jordan Dail went so far as to frame the pistachio offering as “attempted murder.”
She also said the Panthers won’t fly Southwest in the future.
“[It is] against their policy to even make an announcement about it! Pitt Softball will not be using Southwest Air in the future seasons and neither will I personally in support of our allergy friend. Disgusting!”
Perhaps this boycott will serve as a wakeup call for the airline. Surely pistachios cannot be that important.