back in the good old days of prop planes and low altitudes and barf bags, many barfed out of fear before the plane doors were closed. i do not recall the flights being all that rough, but there certainly was a lot of barfing.

Sounds like the damage was already done! Did he manage to get it in the bag?

My mother was part of a "chain reaction mass vomit" in the 50s when she was about 12. The family was on a propliner during some weather. Everyone was white knuckled but nobody had gotten sick until my aunt finally did, which set off my mother, which set off some people near by, which proceeded to set off everyone in short order. When they deplaned, people were walking into the terminal with vomit all over their clothes and the waiting pax turned around and left in horror. Sociologists are fascinated by such events because they are examples of mass hysteria. I have been fortunate to never have witnessed such an event but I work with some people who have.

Way back in the 80's I was on a biz trip to Mexico. I was in the last row in the window seat (was not elite back then) with a very large Spanish couple next to me. It was a very rough ride and everyone started upchucking. I don't get sick in airplanes (I'm a private pilot and am used to a few bumps) but most of the plane was barfing. I asked the FA for a couple of double scotches to get me through the storm. She looked at me and saw what was going on and handed me about 6-7 little bottles and 3 cups of ice and said "Have a good time".

Once one person started barfing, the rest just got into the scene. The smell was unbelievable. I had to wash all of my clothes in Mexico City to remove the stench.

Glad i've never whitnessed one of these mass barfings.

Fortunately he did throw up in the bag, however the smell was disgusting. I ended up moving further back in the plane to get away from it.

We were departing MIA headed for DFW on an AA DC-10 when a young man was escorted on board. He soon began yelling "no! no! the bomb!" and considerably more as his apparently psychiatric escort turned green. People in uniform boarded, and he began shouting "no! no! I want to go!" And, off he went, with the people in uniform.

I felt sorry for the chap - his mental health providers had not properly calculated the extent of his anxiety or Tourette syndrome perhaps. He was definitely not fit to fly, and he caused some anxiety in passengers who didn't have an idea what was going on with the shouting about bombs and all.

More commonly, I have seen passengers involuntarily disembarked when an aircraft was overloaded (high density altitude, insufficient runway length, too much weight in passengers, cargo and fuel).

A year or so ago we were landing in PER from MEL (maybe SIN, I can't remember) and, although the flight appeared uneventful to me, the Capt made an announcement as we approached the gate asking everyone to "stay seated for a few minutes". When the door was opened two AFP (Australian Federal Police) officers and a K-9 (a proper one, not a quarantine Beagle) entered the jet, went to the back of Y somewhere (I was in the front of Y) and came off the plane with a "hippie" looking guy in handcuffs. Except for the fact that the guy looked somewhat feral he didn't appear to be intoxicated or resisting in any way. I never did hear what had happened but, yeah I'm probably profiling or stereotyping, but my guess is that he probably had drugs on him that one of the other pax found out about and the K-9 was used to establish PC for his arrest.

Reading another thread about a DYKWIA-type person, it got me thinking we should share stories of watching people getting the boot from a flight so people know what not to do. I saw it happen for the first time a week ago returning from vacation on the final leg, DEN-BOI.

A320, boarded and sat in 7C, Mrs. Boiflyer and Infant Boiflyer in 1F. Boarding was about done when some guy, his wife, and kid boarded and were by the cockpit door. Guy says something along the line with a noticeably mad/higher tone level of "...I'm sick of this GD airline...". Captain standing right there and says something like "you're not going to speak like that on my airplane, one more word and you'll be removed". Guys shuts his trap and the three of them take their seats about halfway back.

Flight attendants spoke for a moment to see who was going to go back and gauge his temperament before the door closed. One went back briefly, came back up, mentioned something to the rest of the crew. Then heard something about "don't want him to act up when we are in the air". Couple of minutes go by and some other UAL guy comes on to remove the guy, not a suit so probably not the GSC, operations guy or supervisor I imagine. After he proceeds to the rear, the lady in 3E decides to start video recording with her iPhone and one of the FAs shut her down quickly. She wasn't even trying to be discreet, just had it hanging in the middle of the aisle.

UAL guy tells other guy he's not flying but his wife and kid can continue. Pax and UAL guy go to front, followed by crying wife and kid. Guy tells his crying wife to go on and he'll see them tomorrow. She declines and tries to defend him, all three get off. I felt bad for the kid at 8-ish years old or so.

Rest of flight was drama-free. Mrs. Boiflyer sent me Jack and Cokes from F ^.

If that's all he said then the crew overreacted big time. And what was the point of going back to provoke him even more - give him 10 minutes to calm down. The fact that he shut up without confronting the captain at all to me says that the guy was capable of sufficiently controlling himself.

I agree, it sounds like apart from that, he was fine. He didn't make any kind of scene when he was kicked off, either. It doesn't sound like their decision was justified at all.

Seems like someone has an overinflated sense of self-importance. Would it have been OK if the pax said 'dang' instead?

Sorry that this is a bit OT, but why was the woman who was videotaping with her phone "shut down"? I have recorded with my phone on a plane (in view of an FA) and not had a problem.

United.

All other discussion pointless.

He could've asked him the reason for his resentment toward their airline, if the pilot was really proud of flying that airline?

I thought pilots were to be in the cockpit working on the different "checklists" before departure, not standing there (along with the FA's) watching pax entering & boarding ?

I've only seen people get off voluntarily - for example once a guy objected to sitting next to a large passenger. The FA took him aside (just in front of my seat) and said, this is a full flight, it's your choice if you'd like to be re-accommodated later. He got off. Actually he pitched kind of a fit & said some ugly things about the other pax, fortunately out of earshot of the other guy. My parents were once on a flight where a couple of drunk pax were arguing during the boarding process, male threw a punch at his female companion, they were tossed.

A friend who works for DL (first 12 or so years in customer-facing positions) once estimated he had taken 200+ people off flights (including meeting flights w Atlanta PD and some denied boarding situations along the way). Chemical impairment of some sort would be a common theme. The key to taking someone off a plane, he would tell you, is to not have the discussion about it on the plane. Quietly ask them to join you in the jetway to discuss the issue in private...then quickly shut the door behind them. And never, ever throw your briefcase at a gate agent.