Why planes are extremely gross right now

[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?

...

[marybourg]

1. Well, why?

[Kid Berwyn]

20. Old School J-School, ah?

Don’t ask. Tell.

[marybourg]

21. Just plain old.

[Kid Berwyn]

22. Nothing but a number, Dear Friend.

[marybourg]

23. That's true while I'm sitting.

Once I stand up, reality prevails. 😩

[Kid Berwyn]

34. Even then, fight. And remember no matter the number...

…We all are children, marvels to be cherished.

[Takket]

2. seriously?

what, dear god, is happening?

Newsflash: People get sick sometimes. Before the 24/7 news cycle and an internet full of websites needing clicks, people got sick on planes too. It's just there was no time for the news to report on such things back then, because actual important things took up all that time.

And should we be worried?

No.

Are airlines capable of keeping planes clean?

Yes

Are we doomed for disgusting flights?

No.

This is sensationalistic garbage.

[stopdiggin]

14. best answer so far.

people didn't get sick before - - pick a date?

What's new? A great deal more people in airports and in the air?

[Snooper9]

27. A really stupid fucking article, and it was written by THREE people

LOL

[BannonsLiver]

38. DU loves anything that negatively sensationalizes the air travel industry or movie theaters.

Both seem to be very triggering for a lot of people.

[Maru Kitteh]

3. So what was the answer?

[Eric J in MN]

5. The article's answer

...is that sick people didn't want to fly during the pandemic but now that the pandemic is over they're flying.

My position is that the pandemic isn't over and that some of these people getting sick on planes have the coronavirus. We should mask on planes or avoid planes because of ventilation problems before takeoff and after landing.

[msongs]

8. and people are willing to be crammed together in ever smaller seats nt

[keep_left]

6. Most of these kinds of questions are best answered using "Betteridge's Law".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." It is named after Ian Betteridge, a British technology journalist who wrote about it in 2009, although the principle is much older. It is based on the assumption that if the publishers were confident that the answer was yes, they would have presented it as an assertion; by presenting it as a question, they are not accountable for whether it is correct or not.

[captain queeg]

11. This law could be used for all those ancient aliens and similar shows.

See them all the time on the History channel (that’s an issue right there), but I notice they’ll always some up with some theory but pose it as a question.

I don’t completely discount some of those theories, by the way, though the evidence is tenuous at best.

[keep_left]

13. Not much doubt about that. Speaking of which...

...RationalWiki has a good overview of Ancient Aliens.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ancient_Aliens

[ProfessorGAC]

25. Noticed That, Too

Same with the prophecy shows. Just watched one about Fatima yesterday. Exactly what you described, over and over.
And, I kept answering "No!"

[Elessar Zappa]

31. My dad loves "Ancient Aliens"

It’s funny because he has a degree in biology and history and generally has a good bullshit detector regarding pseudoscience or pseudo archeology but he’s convinced that extra terrestrials visited us in the past. I don’t argue with him anymore because it’s useless. I’m open minded enough that I think there’s a high likelihood that intelligent life exists somewhere in the universe. And hell, maybe they’ve figured out interstellar travel. But until I see actual evidence, it’s just a fun possibility.

[ProfessorGAC]

33. My Add

While I share the notion that intelligent life is also out there somewhere, my pushback has been; Even if a society had superluminal technology:
• Why would they bother with such a far more primitive culture?
• Even if it was anthropological curiosity, wouldn't they be able to observe stealthily from a million miles out?
That's why the "they visited in the past" makes no sense to me. A society able to sustain through that degree of technological development (plus the sheer time involved) would take unnecessary risks? Not logical.

[Taylor Picker]

36. This so much the case for The Curse of Oak Island that they put it on their merch.

?v=1581541491

[Lady Freedom Returns]

16. They finally gave this a name.

This "law" has been around in newsrooms and journalists classes for a long time. As they say in the paragraph.

[keep_left]

26. A closely related concept is "The Cavuto" or "Cavuto Mark"...

...popularized by Jon Stewart.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Just_asking_questions#Frequent_question-askers (cf. third paragraph)

Equally notorious is Neil Cavuto, who has been known to JAQ off with lines like "Have the Democrats Forgotten the Lessons of 9/11?" or "Is the Liberal Media Helping to Fuel Terror?". Jon Stewart gave a name not to the concept of JAQing off but to what might elsewhere be known as a question mark: the "Cavuto Mark". Stewart subsequently "just asked" if Cavuto's mother was a whore. Not that he meant anything by it. Obviously.

[Eric J in MN]

4. Probably people with the coronavirus getting sick on planes.

Wear a mask on planes or avoid planes. There is bad ventilation when a plane is on the ground and full of people, both before takeoff and after landing.

[msongs]

7. the puppy poo is easy to prevent nt

[milestogo]

28. And so is human poo

If you are in danger of being incontinent, get some medical support. Wear a diaper. There is no shame in wearing a diaper for a long trip and it can easily be disposed of.

Illnesses do happen, but if you are sick, don't get on a plane. If you have a chronic condition, get medical support. Nobody should have to be exposed to someone else's bodily fluids.

[herding cats]

9. My theory on this is flying cost and it's not easily refundable.

So, if you're sick, you're screwed. Also, much more people fly to get about now than used to. Which means there will be much more sick folks on planes. Which also means more stomach viruses and diarrhea will be on planes.

[PortTack]

15. Nailed it...

I’ve stopped buying their “insurance.” I used to get it with every ticket and the couple of times I had to cancel, all I got back was the price of the flight which is about a third of the total cost. Not worth it

I have a daughter and two grand girls in Phoenix and I’m in the MW. So unless I’m willing to stop seeing them, there aren’t a lot of options. Have taken the train into Flagstaff a time or two, but it’s very expensive. I like it, but not 3-4 times a year.

[ForgedCrank]

10. I stopped

flying when they started feeling me up and stealing my dang toothpaste.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. I haven't flown since before 9/11

[csziggy]

35. Same here - I last flew in 1990

It was already too packed and flat out annoying even then.

I used to love flying, but not any more. My husband and I want to take a vacation out in the Pacific NW and British Columbia, but don't want to take the weeks it would take for us to drive from Florida to Seattle and back. So, I suspect a couple of flights are in our future. I'm going to have first class or business seats in my budget when we do go. That might make it palatable, but I'm not sure.

[GoodRaisin]

17. Plane travel has never been pleasant in coach class for as long as I

can remember. I was a frequent flyer for over 30 years, and I haven’t flown since I retired 10 years ago.

[pwb]

18. I am staying put.

It seems I am the same person no matter where I go.

[DFW]

19. I fly plenty, and have been spared this so far

You can't have part of your life in Europe and part of your life in North America and not fly these days. I'm not even going where my younger daughter does, namely the two above-named continents as well as East Asia and Eastern Africa, and that's just this year.

All you can do is hope that you don't have the "honor" of being stuck in one of "those" planes--and yell and curse if you do.

[marmar]

24. I fly fairly often and I've never had any of this happen....

.... I suspect it's always happened but in the social media era we find out about it now. The article makes it sound like it's some new phenomenon and I suspect that's hardly the case.

[LiberalFighter]

29. Haven't flown on a plan since about 1996.

Don't have any plans to in the future.

[Elessar Zappa]

30. I seriously doubt

that planes are any grosser now than previously. It just gets more headlines.

[FakeNoose]

32. First mistake was, she should have driven to Maine to pick up her kids

Kids come home from summer camp with lots of STUFF. Besides suitcases and backpacks, they have souvenirs and handmade projects of different kinds. It's really difficult taking all that stuff home on an airplane.

Should have driven a car, or even rented a van and picked up your kids.

Also a cross-country drive allows you to spend more time talking with your kids, hearing their stories, having conversations. Stop and see Niagara Falls on the way home or some other sightseeing. It's time to be together as a family. That doesn't happen on a plane ride.

This woman missed a wonderful opportunity to be with her kids. Instead we have to hear about her barfy flight on a fully-booked plane.

[BannonsLiver]

37. "tHiS iS wHy I dOn'T fLy aNyMoRe!111"

Has to be one comment like this in any DU thread related to movie theaters and air travel.