Bay Area family kicked off flight over son's peanut allergy

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A Bay Area family has found themselves in the middle of a heated debate after they were kicked off a flight over their son's peanut allergy.

The 2-year-old has a severe peanut allergy. Doctors told Theo's parents to be cautious.

"We casually let the flight attendant know that our son has an allergy and asked if there was anything they could do to accommodate," said Kyson Dana.

Kyson and his wife Sara asked that peanuts not be served in their area. They say the flight attendant refused their request. But they were still willing to fly.

"We were just sitting there like normal and they came up and said, you know, you need to get off the plane," he said.

It was an Allegiant Airlines flight from Provo, Utah to Oakland.

Allegiant released a statement saying in part: "The third party organization, which includes on-call medical doctors available to provide guidance, advised that the family not fly on that specific flight."

Kyson took to social media to vent and was not expecting the attention his story received. And he was certainly not expecting hate mail.

"We've been called over protective helicopter parents," he said. "We've been called all sorts of names and whiners."

He says they're only trying to bring attention to the allergy issue.

"It's a bigger issue than we got mistreated and kicked off the plane," said Sara. "That's not really why we want to be in the press. But more to help those in the future."

We spoke to passenger Allison Alden whose child also has a severe allergy. She says she understands the airline's decision but, "The parents understand the allergy better than anyone else," she said. "So as long as they understand their surroundings they can usually manage."

Allegiant ended up booking the Dana family on another airline.