A Delta Air Lines passenger from Orlando to Los Angeles shared that a man in 16E “started puking his guts out.” His barefoot companion in 16D talked openly about it being adenovirus and that their whole family had it he prior week. They knew he was contagious and flew anyway!
She says the sick passenger vomited for about 45 minutes while staying in his seat and wouldn’t go to the lavatory. She also complained his companion’s bare feet were “all over [her] space.”
He had thrown up “all over the seat” and the next flight was waiting to board as they left. it looked like there were people waiting to board—questioning whether the aircraft could be sanitized adequately and why the crew let it go on for 30–45 minutes.
He literally sat here puking for 45 min, wouldn’t go to the bathroom, his friends gross bare feet all over my space. I cannnnnnot get sick from this pic.twitter.com/7NPDBz4DAx
— shelby young (@shelby_young) February 23, 2026
Persistent vomiting onboard is actually CDC-reportable. And vomit is potentially infectious. Separately, Delta should enforce its Contract of Carriage and require shoes!
Ideally the passenger would be separated from others on board. Crew should have the cockpit notify operations that cleaners will need to do more than routine refresh of the cabin before the next flight, seat cushions may need to be changed, and staff will need PPE.
Unfortunately, airline policies encourage passengers to fly sick. It’s costly to change your plans, and a doctor’s note won’t even help you. It’s also broadly cultural: we expect people to ‘tough it out’ when sick. Work colleagues don’t want us to ‘let them down’.
U.S. airlines have generally eliminated change fees, except on basic economy fares. But passengers on basic economy fares tend to be the most price-sensitive, so they’re the ones most likely to fly given the cost of a change.
If a basic economy passenger is sick, and doesn’t want to expose other passengers and crew to their germs, they’re stuck taking a financial loss. We’re pushing a strong incentive for passengers to sprad disease on planes. And even if planes themselves have good airflow and filtration, gate areas and security checkpoints often do not. Delta has a communicable diseases refund policy but respiratory viruses don’t seem likely to meet the bar here most of the time.
Pandemic-era enhanced cleaning measures should have stayed around post-pandemic. There was a lot of cleanliness theater during Covid-19 but disinfecting is highly protective against many viruses.
As a passenger I don’t want to be on a plane with sick passengers and I don’t want to be on a plane with sick crew. I’ve written about American’s efforts to make flight attendants work sick and similar issues at United. That doesn’t make me want to fly them more.
Yikes. Sure sounds like norovirus, flu, food or alcohol poisoning, or hyper-sensitivity to motion sickness. Glad they still have the ‘John bags’ on-board; might have to use a few if in this unfortunate situation. To some, even smelling other’s vomit can be itself vomit-inducing. What a flight!
And people laughed when I started wearing a hazmat suit on flights.
I am 5’, 110lbs and the HULK wouldn’t have been able to keep me in my seat (next to vomitmess guy)! WTF is wrong with the flight attendants?? How is not doing anything “ we are not students or waitresses. We are here for the safety of the passengers.”. I call that
The mix of:
1) consumers’ limited vacation flexibility; and
2) consumers’ unwillingness/inability to cheaply afford travel plan changes when sickness hits; and
3) airlines and hotels’ consumer-unfriendly policies for cancellations and changes
make it inevitable that a lot of people make their infectious disease problem into a risk for others since the chances of being held financially liable by persons who become “collateral damage” with infection spread is extremely low.
@Denver Refugee — Were you one of those people during the pandemic? I remember there were some flights to/from China where everyone wore a white suit, face-shields, etc. Wild times.
@Gary, I’m not sure “CDC reportable” means the same as it did 13 months ago.
I flew in the early days of COVID sans mask and the fake Darth Vader shield and lived to tell about it. If one has significant health issues the last place is to be is in an airport and or a plane because talk about a place that glitters with bacteria.
Not sure why they just didn’t have this guy spend the flight in one of the lavs.
lots of assumptions here without an absence of facts.
The seatmate stated that the other passenger vomited for 45 minutes and drenched the seat; we don’t know if that was true but no one wants to sit next to or even near a sick person, let alone one that is vomitting.
We don’t know what the crew did or did not do or if there was a suggestion to divert or if the passenger was asked if they would be ok to continue the flight.
As usual, lots of assumptions, few facts based on anecdotal stories that may or may not be actually accurate.
I wonder too whether, given the lack of universal healthcare in the USA, those passengers least likely be able afford change fees are also the most likely to carry infectious diseases.
The cynic within me wonders whether airline strategies encourage purchase of “premium” seating, as passengers seek to reduce exposure to transmission vectors.
@Ray “CDC” no longer means what it did in the past.
Remember when it was the conservatives who respected institutions and cringed as “loony left” chased after the healthy conspiracy de jour?
Times have changed.