A woman with a life-threatening nut allergy says she was made to feel "like a child" by a member of airline staff after asking them to make a passenger announcement about not eating nuts on the flight.

Julianne Ponan, a campaigner from Walton who raises awareness around severe food allergies, was boarding a Eurowings flight from Germany to the UK on Thursday (April 4) when she made the request to a member of cabin crew.

The 29-year-old, who says she could go into anaphylactic shock from inhaling the airborne particles from peanuts, claims she was shouted at and told it was a human right of other passengers to eat nuts if they wanted to.

Miss Ponan said: "It made me feel really stupid. It made me feel like a child being told off. Everyone was staring."

Miss Ponan said she held a jumper over her mouth for the duration of the flight and sat by the toilets, as that was the only suggestion offered by the employee.

The alleged incident occurred as she was returning from the World Travel Catering Expo, where she gave a talk on why airlines should not be serving nuts and should offer more allergy-friendly food.

A Eurowings spokesman said in a statement the company was sorry Miss Ponan "did not feel treated in the right way on board". However, he said it was not possible to exclude the sale of any goods containing peanuts or other nuts.

Regarding the request to make a passenger announcement, he said: "We operate more than 700 flights a day, carrying more than 75,000 passengers daily. Such announcements are not generally part of the normal procedure.

"We point out that other products may also contain traces of peanuts. Added to this, other passengers may also bring products containing peanuts on board. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that there will be no consumption of any products containing peanuts on board Eurowings flights."

Miss Ponan accused Eurowings of not caring enough to make any changes, and pointed out that easyJet will stop the sale of nuts on-board if a passenger informs the crew of a severe allergy. Announcements will also be made on request, asking fellow passengers not to eat them.

Julianne Ponan created her own range of products for those with nut allergies, through her firm Creative Nature

Miss Ponan said her experience shows there is still a lot of misunderstanding around just how severe some food allergies can be. She added: "They could have killed someone. If I had an anaphylactic shock they would've had to divert the plane in an emergency.

"They would have had to pay compensation to the other passengers for the delay. I think their CEO needs to make sure staff are trained to understand the risks."

The Eurowings spokesman said passengers are asked to take their own medical precautions around nut allergies and those with a severe reaction should carry emergency medication. He added: "We would like to advise that guests with the chance of an allergic reaction travel at their own risk."

What is anaphylactic shock?

With a severe food allergy, the immune system can overreact to what it perceives to be a threat from certain foods. In the most severe cases a person can go into anaphylactic shock, whereby they suffer breathing difficulties and become light-headed. It can be life-threatening and may require an injection of adrenaline.