American Airlines is Stocking Auvi-Q in Medical Kits

By Allie Bahn

Allergy & Asthma Network and other food allergy organizations and advocates continue to push for policies that require airlines to stock epinephrine auto-injectors in emergency medical kits. This month, that advocacy work appears to be paying off.

Allergic Living reports that Auvi-Q epinephrine auto-injectors are now included in emergency medical kits on the main fleet of American Airlines planes.

Omar Khalil, general manager of Auvi-Q manufacturer kaleo, confirmed to Allergic Living that Auvi-Q 0.3 mg and Auvi-Q 0.15 mg are included in airline emergency medical kits on approximately 900 American Airlines planes.

Other airlines that have added Auvi-Q auto-injectors to their airplane medical kits in the past year include Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. Khalil remains hopeful that more airline partners will follow suit.

There is no mandate by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) for epinephrine auto-injectors to be stocked in airline medical kits. Advocates like Lianne Mandelbaum of NoNuttraveler.com continue to advocate for this need.

“That way [epinephrine auto-injectors] will become available on all major airlines, and it won’t be ‘optional’ when medical kit contracts are renewed,” she told Allergic Living.

Airline crew training for allergy emergencies is another area where advocates are seeking change. Having the medication on board is essential, of course, but knowing how to administer it in an emergency is just as important.

A few other U.S. airlines currently carry some form of epinephrine auto-injector on board their flights, including JetBlue, Frontier, Sun Country and Elite Airlines.