Biohazard. Kudos to American and what I learned from my experience
Jul 23 '00
July '99. The plane was just leaving the gate when my 3 year son threw up all over himself, his seat and me. Both my son and infant daughter starts screaming. The plane is absolutely full. I'm trying to avoid making eye contact with the other passengers.
Give the flight attendants at American Airlines credit. When they saw what happened, they let me go to the bathroom with Andrew to clean up even though the "fasten seat belt sign" was ON. Meanwhile, they donned their gloves, pulled out the red biohazard bags and proceeded to clean up in record time before the plane took off. Fortunately, they had an extra airline seat (I guess doubling as floatation devices make them easily replaceable) and they put the soiled seat in their biohazard bag.
I managed to clean Andrew up and put him in new clothes before the plane took off. My wife and I spent the next 4 hours of our flight holding a barf bag ready just in case.
Unfortunately, he threw up again when we landed. Barf bags were designed for adults and older kids - not for toddlers who don't understand that you had to put your face into the bag. This time, we had to wait for our luggage at baggage claim before cleaning up.
We drove our next vacation, but we're planning on flying to New York City one year later. Here's what I will be sure to do this flight:
* Make sure that everyone is healthy. If they are sick, I'm changing the trip. Sure, it's $75 per ticket, but it's worth it. Also, most airlines will try to accommodate you. If not, I'm telling them my biohazard story as I'm sure they would rather we stayed away. They may waive the charge.
* Bring extra change of clothes for everyone, not only for the children. This allowed me to change into clean clothes that made the rest of the flight more bearable.
* No milk right before the flight. 'nuff said. Experienced parents will understand what I mean.
* Grab extra airplane blankets for my children. If they get sick, the blankets can easily be popped into the biohazard bags.
* See doctor about anti-air sickness pills. One of my friends routinely gives them to his children when he travels but this would be our last resort (i.e. I'm hoping what happened was an isolated incident).
* Extra cash to buy people around you drinks or free movies for the inconvenience. Most people "understand", but nothing like drinks on the house to soften the "evil eyes".
* Sit at the back of the plane. I'll be closest to the restrooms and it'll be less noticeable when accidents "happen".
Hopefully, none of my preparations will be needed. Again, kudos to the flight attendants at American airlines. They were very professional, helped alleviate the situation and made the best out of a bad situation.
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Epinions.com ID:
Uncle_Tippet
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Member: Avon Leong
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
Reviews written: 79
Trusted by: 10 members
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