Just in time for the West Coast lunch hour, the topic of what to do when a seatmate vomits on you.
I noticed an absolutely disgusting story on Flyertalk about a sick woman who vomited on her seatmate. With the plane still on the ground, the sick woman all of a sudden erupted all over her seatmate, spraying her, her coat, and her shoes.
This was on United and FAs merely offered the woman a few wet paper napkins to clean up. She was also offered an open middle seat in the back, but (graciously, in my opinion) declined so as not to inconvenience other passengers. Seat cushions were not exchanged.
The sick woman spent most of the flight inside the lavatory.
What is Flight Attendant Clean-Up Procedure When Passengers Vomit?
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has released a guide for cabin crew on preventing the spread of disease on commercial aircraft. It urges cabin crew to treat all body fluids (such as diarrhea, vomit, or blood) like they are infectious.
Specifically–
- Take the following actions in areas contaminated with diarrhea, vomit, blood, or other body fluids.
- For hard (nonporous) surfaces such as tray tables, TV monitors, seat arms, windows, and walls: remove any visible contamination and clean and disinfect the area with products approved by your company.
- For soft (porous) surfaces such as carpeted floor or seat cushions: remove as much of the contaminant as possible, cover the area with an absorbent substance, and contain the area as much as possible. Remove the absorbent substance and any remaining material, and then clean and disinfect the area with products approved by your company.
Let’s not kid ourselves — sick people board flights all the time. Often it is unavoidable (like trying to get home to better nurse sickness).
I am squeamish about vomit. While it would always depend on how fast I needed to get to my destination, I do not know that I could stand sitting on a flight wallowing in the stench of vomit.
Flight Attendants love to say “we are here primarily for your safety” but it seems to me they define safety very narrowly. The spreading of disease qualifies as a huge safety issue in my opinion and while I understand perfectly well why FAs would be reluctant to put their own health at risk by cleaning up contagious fluid, that IS there job…or at least to find someone to do it while still on the ground.
CONCLUSION
The story I reference at the start has a sad ending. The sick passengers said nothing after the accident but eventually the victim asked the sick passenger that she pay for her dry cleaning and shoe cleaning. The sick woman agreed and provided a phone number. The number was dead…
A shocking lack of common decency and personal responsibility. Some have suggested that she go after United for her cleaning bill or even sue United for the inappropriate way this was handled. I tend to doubt either approach is the right one, but I do know I will be taking a closer look at my seatmate next time I fly for signs of sickness…
This is a very interesting, multi-sided story.
There was absolutely a lack of common courtesy. I believe that the passenger was not genuine in his/her offer to pay for the woman’s clean-up. A dead number just does not cut it for me. I don’t accept this apology.
However, I do not accept the way that United Airlines handled this either. It is unsafe, and it is the crew’s job.
You have to wonder whether or not this person should be flying. He/she could have had a true emergency, and if this is the case, should have informed the airline ahead of time to arrange for a “barf bag” or any other accommodations (a flight where she could have an open middle seat at the very least) as possible. This is one of those rare circumstances where I would have moved the people next to the open middle seat to give her the whole row to herself. I understand that this is a difficult thing to do, especially because the two passengers in that row likely chose those two seats for a reason, and that it is not very respectful to move them out of their seats. But the welfare of the common good is the priority here, and if this will ultimately help three people and hurt two, then by all means it is the right call.
Saying that, this action could not have happened because the airline was not contacted about this illness beforehand. But still, it was a poor reaction by the airline and an unacceptable apology by the passenger.
Um, if this happened on a United flight, why do you have Thai Airways pictured?
There is also a Lufthansa barf bag in the picture. It is all I had — do you have one you can provide?
That sounds not good. I recently had the pleasure of being the cause for such a problem due to bad food poisoning. Thought I have it under control the whole day and then within 2 minutes after boarding… Of course the toilet was blocked and it took the crew a few seconds to find a bag, which caused some contamination of the forward galley.
As we were still on the ground they requested for cleaning and had everything that came in contact with the vomit replaced while I cleaned myself in the restroom, thank god they have perfume stocked so I could make sure to not affect other passengers.
I don’t think I would feel comfortable staying aboard neither as the cause of the problem or someone near/affect by it if it isn’t properly cleaned and I find it terrifying that United did not do anything. Especially when still on the ground, maybe even with doors open, it should be no problem to get the issue addressed in a way that every passenger can feel comfortable.
My son Timothy has been sick a few times on planes, and it is not fun to be the recipient of this “gift.” It’s one thing if it is your kid who is sick, but when it is a stranger. All bets are off.
My first experience with airplane vomit was on a United flight from FRA to IAD last year. I was sitting in an aisle seat behind the bulkhead. As we were landing at IAD, a little girl (under 5?) seated behind me and to the right starting vomiting violently. Most of the vomit hit the floor, and her mother nonchalantly covered the mess with a blanket. As I was watching, somewhat shocked and definitely horrified, the toddler (under 2?) seated in my row also started vomiting. That mother also leaned her child over so that she’d vomit on the floor. Since we were landing, the flight attendants were strapped into their seats and they just watched helplessly (also probably with some sense of relief since they knew they technically couldn’t be called upon to assist). Needless, to say, as soon as the seatbelt sign went off, I grabbed my things and hightailed it off the plane.
Well this is timely. We had an incident a couple of weeks ago. A family member vomited with very little warning, filling the air sickness bag, which overflowed onto the seat, between the seats and down on the floor. At the risk of being too graphic, it was an epic amount of vomit. Passenger felt completely fine all flight until about an hour after eating lunch, a cold salmon salad with hard boiled eggs and veggies. I suspect food poisoning.
I jumped right into clean up mode and had to get quite aggressive with the crew as it related to giving me supplies to clean it up. The first class FA handed me a few cocktail napkins and turned away. I insisted on more substantial toweling, a trash bag and a bottle of water. I had to go so far as to say “go back and see just how much vomit I am cleaning” before he huffed off and to get me supplies.
When I mentioned they should call ahead for a cleaning crew, his response was along the lines of “yeah whatever”
I was on an Emirates Air bus from ozzie to UK a girl vomited all over me my coat my trousers my shoes and my hair, the steward trued to wipe me down with flannel.. Then put she over my chair and asked me to sit in it all the way home.. I couldn’t eat.. I Complained pretty much got no response.. There was no proper pathogen cleaning assessment. Nothing.. I know they cause help someone being sick but they did not handle it right or move me
That’s awful! How did that happen? It wasn’t a lot of puke, I hope?