Last night I flew from Los Angeles to New York on AA…and encountered a medical emergency onboard that led to a lengthy delay and removal of a passenger.
We pushed back on time and FAs screened safety the video. But we stopped short of the runway, pausing near the United hangars. We sat for awhile without moving and I just figured it was normal evening traffic.
Suddenly, however, the captain made an announcement:
Folks, I’m sorry but we are going to have to turn back to the gate due to a medical issue. We’re waiting on a gate to open. Hopefully it won’t be too much longer.
Since he apologized, my first thought was that an intoxicated passenger became boisterous. I was flying economy class (see, I do fly in the back) and did not see anything. I just assumed that a passenger in first or business class was acting up.
We finally reached the gate and parked. The aircraft door was open and three customer service ground staff entered the plane. Yup, I figured. No doctors.
The customer service agent approached a passenger in economy class and asked the lady sitting next to him to move away. I figured there might be a fight and had my phone ready to record the incident.
But suddenly, the captain made a follow-up announcement–
Ladies and gentleman, if there is a doctor onboard, please ring your call button.
This was a flight to New York on a premium-heavy aircraft. A lot of call lights went on.
A couple of doctors joined the customer service agents to check out the passenger. I was several rows back and could not hear what was going on.
Passenger Removed
Eventually, after about 10 minutes, the passenger was led off the plane. He was asked several times if he was okay. He appeared to be a teenager or in his early 20s.
As he walked off the aircraft, he suddenly turned around and darted back to his seat. You could hear a collective gasp. He kept mumbling about leaving something behind, but could not articulate what it was.
Maybe he was drunk. Maybe he was high. Or maybe he was just sick. It’s not fair to speculate and therefore I won’t put his picture on the internet.
I spoke to a FA after he had left and we had taken off. The passenger was just non-responsive. He sort of stared straight ahead and did not acknowledge any speech or instruction directed toward him, like to fasten his seatbelt. He seemed to be in another world.
CONCLUSION
We ended up taking off 1hr20mins late and landing about an hour behind schedule. All in all, not bad. I trust the distressed passenger is now feeling better.
I was surprised at how calm everyone remained onboard. There was no shouting. No collective moans or loud gripes about the delay. Everyone seemed to take it well. That’s a good thing.
Last July I was flying WN TPA-MDW and at about 20k feet after takeoff the passenger behind me went into a full on seizure. It was super scary. We leveled off and a few onboard EMTs helped him out and FAs put on oxygen. He started turning blue and I thought we would lose him but eventually he started coming back. The pilots diverted to JAX and he was able to walk off on his own, but it looked really bad for a while.
Had an AA flight last year where a passenger had a seizure right as we landed at the very back of the plane. Scary time and people flooded the aisles to deplane instead of letting medical personnel get to the patient. That was really bad etiquette.
Also been on a flight years ago where a passenger had a heart attack and flat lined. We emergency landed in Amarillo and they got him off the plane and resuscitated him.
Traveling to visit relatives this past holiday I had a medical incident on my outbound AND return flights!
From BUR to DEN on an early morning flight an economy FA suddenly ran up to the purser in the forward galley looking quite scared and motioned to the back of the plane. Given that most passengers look to the flight crew for visual cues, this alarmed quite a few of us who noticed her panic. The purser immediately asked for medical assistance and went to the back of the plane.
It turns out an elderly woman had passed out. She had recently been diagnosed as a diabetic but between the early morning flight and not eating she hadn’t monitored her insulin properly and passed out. After a few glasses of orange juice she was fine. We were already in the air and continued our flight unabated. Once at Denver they did have us stay in our sears until two medical personnel came aboard and helped her out. She was walking on her own by then so it delayed us very little. There was no pushback from anyone that I heard. We all waited patiently.
On my return flight on JetBlue from Boston to LAX shortly after our dinner service has ended inint there was a big commotion in front of the lavatory doors. There was a family of 5 traveling, including the elderly mother of the wife of the group. It turns out her mother had been in the bathroom for nearly 30 minutes and she was worried something had happened. The FA opened the door from the outside and found she had collapsed inside. The daughter went inside and they all worked together for the next 15 minutes to clean up the mother and make her presentable to bring back to her seat. Once there they put out a call for medical assistance. Her seat was right behind mine so I heard that she has been sick with bad stomach flu for several days prior to the flight and that, along with bring tired from traveling, had caused her to pass out. They hydrated her and she was given some over the counter medicines the doctor had with him. He remained with her for at least an hour, which I thought was quite commendable. Once we landed they made an announcement for us to stay seated, but after a short discussion with the flight crew the paramedics decided to wait for all of us to leave and remove her last. But even while they debated and we stayed in our seats, I didn’t hear any moaning or complaining. This was 10:20 pm on New Year’s Eve after a 6 hour flight, so I found that pretty good.
I fly about 80K a year and this was the first time I’d ever been on board any flight where they called for medical assistance. Having it happen twice within two weeks….what are the odds?
Or it could have been dehydration. The flight purser on an Air India flight was able to bring back to life a young girl also about 20 who had similar symptoms.
“(see, I do fly in the back) ”
Very good, sir, but was it ‘deep economy’?
Indeed it was. And the proper term is “deep coach” 😉
Could have been a mental issue. Some folks who are bipolar, BPD, etc. go into an “episode” of potential psychosis, resulting in suicidal ideation, chanting, and more. It is a scary experience and they need to be stabilized before things get out of control. I am glad that they took action and that the flight was not cancelled. Many prayers to the teenager who may be suffering inside.
could have been a focal??seizure of some kind??