Loadmaster

If you were indeed suffering from heat exhaustion and classifying it as a medical emergency as noted in the thread title, you should have notified the FA that you had a medical emergency and needed an ambulance (no different than if you were having a heart attack) they would in-turn advise the flt crew and they would declare a medical emergency, get priority to return to a gate with Fire/rescue meeting the aircraft ship-side to treat you.

xliioper

And the situation is already noted in tarmac delay regs

§259.4 Contingency Plan for Lengthy Tarmac Delays.

(4) For all flights, assurance of operable lavatory facilities, as well as adequate medical attention if needed, while the aircraft remains on the tarmac.

Raymoland

While we are giving this old guy a hard time, since this is DLH-MSP on DL, we are talking about a CRJ 200. These are notoriously bad at offering airflow even with the engines running on the ground so if it was needed to burn off fuel to get below max landing weight on a full airplane, it's easy to imagine it getting uncomfortably hot. OP doesn't say when this occurred but even with outside temps in the mid 70s, a full 200 gets hot in a hurry. If the OP was a little over dressed or uncomfortable from the exertion of getting on the airplane then things can spiral.

As far as what you can do now, nothing.

As far as what you might do next time you encounter this, you can say that you need either a cold drink of water or need to get off the airplane immediately. If you insist on deplaning they cannot hold you against your will. You should, however, expect that you will be driving to MSP or wherever your final destination may have been. The 200 was designed as a business jet, it was never intended to be a regional airliner. The PACKS (pneumatic air conditioning kits) were never designed for the job they now do. The 700 and 900 are better. Your best option to avoid this would be to not book an itinerary on a CRJ-200. However in DLH, that may not be possible.

overdahill

Actually you don't. 1) lack of sweat 2) disorientation 3) slurred speech
Lack of sweat is a very big tell as I am normally a profuse sweater.

And that is as much as I recall before lights out from falling asleep or fainting.

Loadmaster

Just to make sure I'm following you, are you saying that you fainted and they didn't seek medical attention for you? or am I misunderstanding?

flying_donkeys12

I would ask for 15k skymiles and a puppy for your troubles.

davetravels

. . . . . And a case of Biscoffs.

xliioper

Unless you are standing up at the time, it's not going to be obvious whether someone simply fell asleep or fainted. It seems OP is not even sure which of two it was.

overdahill

I cannot be sure whether I fainted or fell asleep.

HOWEVER the stewardess had a perfectly clear statement that I was experiencing a serious problem and that
either I receive some ice or iced liquids OR I be taken off the plane. She stated that they had no ice or cold drinks
or anything except room temperature water and my request to be deplaned was then repeated. That's the last I recall.

Read about the baby on United which entered into serious harms way. It may not be for years that any long term effects may be known as the heat. An extreme example but makes its point.

https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea....united-flight/

ncwillett

The size of the plane is irrelevant. One is ALWAYS allowed to carry on a bottle of water. Carry it in your hand if your carry on is already full.

I have a history of fainting when overheated or when my blood pressure gets too low. And yes, I have fainted when I was sitting and when I was lying down. Every time, including when I was sitting or lying down, I blacked out (increasing tunnel vision until everything goes black), and I have never confused falling asleep with fainting. I would think you would know if you blacked out??? In my experience, it isn't anything like falling asleep.

You say you were disoriented and your speech was slurred, and yet the flight attendant (that's what they are called, and have been for years. Not stewardesses) ignored the fact that a passenger (you) was disoriented and had slurred speech? That is extremely difficult to believe.

flyerCO

Cool is fine. Cold is not. Cold can send the body into shock.

Robert Leach

Ok, reality check:

1. The OP appears a wee bit dramatic. With all due respect.

2. The OP is fixated on ice and/or cold beverages. Not just liquids. It has to be iced or cooled, he insists. Which is not clinically relevant. With all due respect.

3. The OP says he stopped sweating. When you stop sweating, it means heat stroke is imminent. (If you are overheated and still sweating, you can develop heat exhaustion; stop sweating and you are talking about potential heat stroke. Sweating is a great way for the body to liberate heat and cool off; stop sweating and you lose this ability). Trouble is, you don't go from normal to heat stroke in 45 minutes on a 90 degree (or even 100 degree) plane. You just don't. Yes, older folks are more susceptible to heat, and would feel the effects of it more quickly. But heat stroke would be a stretch after 45 minutes on a warm plane, even for a 90 year old.

4. If you truly had a heat injury, you should have been stripped naked so you could cool off. And if truly not sweating, you should have had ice packs placed on your naked person. Net result: head back to gate and cart the naked heat-injured passenger off the plane. Note: The apparent heat-injured passenger survived to post another day on FlyerTalk.

Now, assuming the account is true, not sure why they would have overloaded the plane with fuel (as expensive as fuel is currently). Fuel loading is usually done in a fairly precise way.

Having said all of that, I hate the CRJ.

Robert Leach

Which means that you know absolutely nothing about clinical medicine. With all due respect.

overdahill

You are entitled to your opinion.
However consider I worked with chairman of cardiology at Newark Beth Israel on refining and correcting their EKG mathematics often during live procedure. Mayo clinic Leukemia research (live). Research on red blood cell life cycle and monitoring of diabetes.
On site in ER on days of highest traffic monitoring quality of care, first hand witness to hundreds of heat related patients.

MSPeconomist