Great_circle

I remember flying on KLM AMS-JFK in Y in the early 1990's when several (elderly) passengers became nauseous, apparently airsickness as it was a bumpy flight but since they all appeared to be part of the same group of travellers it might have been something else such as fatigue or food poisoning.

Anyway, KLM had crew rest seats with curtains all the way in the back and some of these passengers were seated there and when somewhere above greenland two more elderly men became ill they were actually moved to Business class.

easw

On a side note, a couple of quick remedies for nausea on an airplane the OP might have benefited from without having to lie down:

1. A damp cool washcloth on the forehead or the back of the neck and turning the air vent so that it is blowing on your face.
2. Sucking on a lemon wedge or sipping a glass of water with lemon juice in it.

A couple of techniques I have used to help the patients I take care of at work (I am an RN) and certainly available on an airplane.

loridf

I'm a doctor. On a KLM flight from doh to ams an elderly man with his son became disoriented and less responsive. A request went out, a nurse and responded. We put him on oxygen and realized he needed more space to recline. I was in business and saw 2 empty seats. I asked the flight attendant to move him and his son to business for the rest of the flight. He did much better and the nurse and i alternated checking on him. He was fine in AMS but I recommended he drop by the airport clinic. A doc on a plane is a good thing. They should use the resource. We will take care of our "patient" and assist the flight attendant.

Mike Jacoubowsky

I think a UA crew would have done what most other crews would have done. Simply called for the doctor, regardless of the passenger's request otherwise. That's the only thing I find a bit disturbing regarding LH's procedures here.

My initial thought was that the OP came across badly, primarily for turning down the offer to call a doctor. But it didn't take long to see this is more of a cultural or personality thing, and the mistakes made on the OP's part seem excusable. The mistake made on LH's part though... I'm surprised LH crew's response wasn't "My plane, my rules, I'm calling a doctor." That would have been entirely reasonable.

cur

i agree with this post. people mooch all the time. op should have taken the dr.

TomMM

I see this often when flying to/from the middle east but it's usually older women. One I remember in particular "got sick" as she was boarding and insisted on sitting in (Euro)business. When the FA suggested she exit back to the terminal to seek treatment, the woman grumbled something and walked to her original seat.

Not saying your patient wasn't ill..

mmff

But... she wasn't.

CkCrunch

Yes I think the main mistake was refusing to see a doctor (assuming one is onboard). There was really no downside to seeing the doctor. They will only divert if it was an emergency and I presume you would want to know if it was an emergency (sometimes even minor nausea can be a symptom of something much more serious).

Also, as someone pointed out, the doctor has much more "expert authority" to prescribe a solution to the crew even if he does not have actual authority. The crew is much more likely to defer to the doctor on someone's urgent medical needs. I suspect that if the doctor deemed it medically necessary, he could even demand someone vacate their seat for you and I am sure the crew can find someone who will comply (I would!). A demand like that coming from a doctor is much more believable than one coming from a passenger's self-diagnoses.

The sad fact is, crews deal with people who try to upgrade themselves all the time for fake reasons, so seeing a doctor is really the best solution for everyone.

theddo

As it would've been entirely reasonable to tell him to sit down in his seat and land and offload him if he refuse, sending the bill to his home adress.

Feeling a bit nauseated isn't a carte blanche to do whatever you like, nor is a cultural disease because you want something for free.

"disoriented and less responsive" responding to treatment in the form of a business class seat for example? I call ........ on that one.

JapanFlyerT

Back when I was in my early twenties I passed out at the end of a transpacific to Hong Kong. They'd run out of food and offered me doubles and nuts as a substitute. I probably had 5-6 of these doubles over a period of a six hours. I also didn't stand up for hours due to my being in a window seat and it being a 100% packed plane.

When I finally did stand up I passed out.

I woke up in the floor, where they happily told me to stay and gave me O2 for about half an hour. By the time we landed I was fine (and totally sober).

I was in the jump seat for the landing, and was disappointed I didn't get to see the landing from my window seat into HK though, back when it was "exciting".

I'm surprised they didn't offer O2 to the OP.

oh912flyer

FWIW, I have had this episode more than once. It happens at 35k feet, and lying in my bed at home. I feel extremely nauseous and need to lie down on a cold floor to make it go away.

The last time it happened on a flight the FA gave me a glass of OJ. Fixed it in a couple of minutes. Guess my blood sugar crashed...

mjh0

This has happened to me twice on the A380 (BA in my case), once I was seated in Business, the other time in Premium Economy. On both occasions I'd dozed and woke up feeling nauseous and a bit agitated.

On the first occasion, in Business, I got up, went to the galley and one of the crew exclaimed that I looked almost grey - no colour in my face at all. I was quickly seated in the jump seat next to the galley and given ginger ale to sip on. I was asked if I wanted a Doctor, I said not just then, but if I appeared to become confused, was actually sick, or passed out, then they should see if there's a Doctor.

After a while, my colour came back and I started to feel better.

The second time, I knew to just let the crew know I felt nauseous and asked for ginger ale, and again only to get a Doctor if I seemed to deteriorate in some way. I was invited to move to a jumpseat in the galley if I felt that a change of scenery would help.

I flown a hell of a lot over the years on all sorts of aircraft, and I've only ever experienced this sort of nausea on the 380, which is curious.

ulxima

So, let's see if I get this right.
The OP feels unwell and he is offered professional help that he refuses.
Then he put his life and the professional career of an entire sympathetic crew (kudos to them) in danger.
The outcome is good and instead of apologising for his behaviour the OP is asking advises for raising this to Lufthansa and what to ask out of it.
It is obvious I did not get it right, what am I missing?

U

NYCjd

Agreed. The crew did the best they could in the air and the OP should be embarrassed for posting this. If s/he writes to LH, I would hope LH would not even take the time to dignify such an outlandish letter. The OP is pathetic.

Often1

I am certain that LH wrote up the incident. The offer and declination of medical assistance would alone justify properly documenting the incident.

That will be matched up with a complaint and an appropriate response issued.

While customer-facing businesses are loathe to issue responses such as this one deserves and therefore any response will be some form of drivel, it would be good if LH did respond by saying that perhaps OP would be better off flying a carrier more willing to risk other passengers health than LH.