Sick bag etiquette
 

There was a man vomitting in the next seat to me, he filled one sick bag and I couldn't find another. I called the FA-purser, she came with a new bag but refused to discard the full-one explaining that it "should be placed on the floor" - to run into the carpets and peoples bags. Do you think the FA should discard full sick-bags, rather than allow them to spill around the cabin?

Yikes! I'm not a doctor, but I could think this is also a health hazard if the person was vomiting for some reason other than motion sickness.

Since this isn't UA specific, please continue to follow in Travel Buzz.

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cblaisd
Moderator,
Coupon Connection and United forums

On the floor? That's disguisting.

A gentleman sitting behind me got sick on a flight two weeks ago and the FA very graciously collected the used sick bag, discarded it, and provided new ones....

I would have thought the correct action by the FA would be to bring a plastic trash bag, have the passenger place the sick bag inside that, then the FA could tie the bag and put it in the galley trash.

John

The correct procedure is to swing the full bag repeatedly over your head in a great circle until it is empty.

No actually I think SoFlyOn got it right.

Simply sell it as a Hotzi Bistro Bag to the highest bidder. As there aren't many hot meals anymore, should bring a nice price.

I think Mr.Bean showed us what to do with them in his movie...

That episode of Mr Bean was certainly very funny.
It is however a serious problem when someone 'misses' the sick bag. On a transatlantic flight I was on a child completely missed the bag and the cabin stank for the rest of the trip. The problem was that the stench actually made more poeple sick.
I don't think the magic curtain stopped the smells from going forward to J and A either.
Yuk!

I would think that handling used barf bags is one of the flight attendants (many) unpleasant duties.

If he or she didn't take care of it right away, I'd raise a stink. (No pun intended.)

I remember overhearing two Continental flight attendants speaking on a flight a few years ago. One of them said something to the effect of "a passenger just got sick and asked me to take his air sickness bag. Can you believe that? I told him that wasn't my job and he should just get up and drop it in the rest room trash."

At the time, I was pretty surprised at her unsympathetic/hostile attitude.

I've seen the very method that SoFlyOn described used at least twice.

ON DL a couple of weeks ago. No need for a bag. A pax ran into FC bathroom to vomit. Oops, the FA was in there, with door closed but unlocked, emptying the coffee pot prior to landing. She acted as this pax's airsick bag. Fortunately, she had a change of uniform. Yuk. Wherever the bags go, at least try to use them.