Why planes are extremely gross right now [View all]

[dalton99a]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2023/09/07/delta-flight-diarrhea-air-canada-vomit-seat/
https://archive.ph/rMjsV

Why planes are extremely gross right now
From diarrhea to the vomit-covered seats, cases of bodily fluids on recent flights abound
By Natalie B. Compton, Andrea Sachs and Heidi Pérez-Moreno
September 7, 2023 at 11:25 a.m. EDT

It was supposed to be a quick trip to pick up her kid from summer camp.

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA International, was buckled up and ready for takeoff from Chicago to Portland, Maine, with her husband, David. The plane was full and hot — too hot, perhaps, for the passenger sitting next to them. As they taxied down the runway, there was an unsuccessful scramble for a barf bag, followed by a clasping of the hands over the mouth, and then disaster.

“The vomit sprayed directly all over my husband ... over everything ... everywhere,” Nelson said.

Nelson’s misfortune did not make headlines. Neither did the stomach-turning recent experiences shared by a dozen travelers, such as coming across feces spread on lavatory walls to airplane seats covered with fresh chewing gum and puppy poop. There was the traveler stuck sitting next to a passenger in first class who soiled themselves on a flight from Minneapolis to D.C.

Then there are the incidents that do make the news, like the deeply unfortunate Delta flight that had to make a U-turn over the weekend due to a passenger suffering from “diarrhea all the way through the airplane.” Or the travelers who were removed from their Air Canada flight after refusing to sit in vomit-soaked seats on Aug. 26.

The rapid-fire dose of gross has us reeling with questions. Namely: what, dear god, is happening? And should we be worried? Are airlines capable of keeping planes clean? Are we doomed for disgusting flights?

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