Flight from Toronto to San Francisco…While waiting to board an elderly man was waiting in his wheelchair. He was quite frail to say the least. He was coughing a fair amount. His wife was not sitting beside him but, several rows over. Not sure why as she could have wheeled him near her.
Preboarding starts and he is pushed onto the airplane. I check my ticket and wonder if the seat lottery gods will be kind to me. After saying hello to the stewardess I glance down the plane. It is apparent he is near the rear of the plane. My seat assignment is also near the back. Well, my number was up as I ended up sitting across the aisle from him. Felt quite badly as he was obviously very ill and shaken. For the duration of the flight he was able to hoark a ball of spit so large he would need to spit it out into an already used Kleenex. The gentleman that sat beside me said nothing the entire flight. Except for one time he leaned over and asked “how someone can spit out 10 gallons of phlegm and survive?”
Needless to say I passed on the lunch being offered..
Mental note…noise cancelling headphones on the next flight.
Tagged as:
illness & medical,
senior citizen
Many years ago while I was still working for United, I had just returned from a trip from Paris to San Francisco and the next day had to head to Washington D.C. for school. I got a flat tire on the way to the airport and had to take a connecting flight through Chicago. Out of Chicago on a DC-10, I started to feel really sick. I identified myself as an employee and asked a flight attendant if she could find a Washington based crew member to tell me where the nearest hospital is to the airport.
By the time she returned, blood was poring out of my mouth and down my chest. She immediately asked for a doctor onboard. I don’t remember what else happened as I passed out soon after. I thought the next thing I would see was the ominous “warm, white light.” Well, I did see that, but thankfully as I was waking up in the ICU after surgery to fix a pulomonary embolism. The hospital staff told me that a doctor onboard stayed with me the whole time to the hospital and saved my life by keeping my mouth cleaned so I didn’t drown.
Unfortunately he wouldn’t leave his name. I left United and went on to grad school and eventually law school and now help others in need, free of charge. I never would have gotten this chance had it not been for him. I hope he reads this and knows how much my family and I appreciated his selfless act.
Keith from San Francisco
Tagged as:
doctor,
illness & medical,
united airlines
While flying from Los Angeles to Washington DC on Virgin America the plan ran into some very heavy turbulence that lasted for well over an hour. Although I am prone to seasickness, I had never become air sick until this flight. After filling two airsick bags and mortifying my boyfriend I could no longer sit in my middle seat in the constant turbulence. I also did not want the contents of the two bags to catalyze airsickness in my boyfriend and the poor understanding stranger sitting next to me.
I carefully walked down the middle pathway with the airsick bags in hand to have them thrown out and the flight attendants rather rudely said i could not be up and about. I handed her the to airsick bags and looked for the restroom thinking it was a place I could stand and recover from my episode. Another attendant very rudely said I could not go into the restroom while the fasten seat belt sign was on. At this point in time I did not care what she said and her 110lbs frame and her ridiculous twinkling LED necklaces was not going to stop my 250lbs footballer build from getting into that bathroom. I said I did not care about the seat belt sign and went into the bathroom for an additional 30-40 minutes until the turbulence finally subsided.
This flight had two straight hours of turbulence. I question whether some of that could have been somehow avoided. I also wonder whether the attendants could have been more polite to an extremely unconformable and somewhat direst flier.
Tagged as:
flight attendant,
illness & medical,
lavatory,
virgin america,
vomit,
weather
While flying from Las Vegas to Pittsburgh I was shocked to see our flight attendants running to the rear of the plane for a medical emergency. Sitting in First Class with my mother, we were not sure what was going on in the back. An announcement was made for any doctors to please report to the rear of the airplane. Nobody stirred and the flight went on.
A few minutes later, a flight attendant noticed my fire department shirt and told me that her son too was a firefighter…and he had medical training. Well that being said I went to the rear of the plane where a person was suffering a panic attack. The flight attendant had pulled down one of the yellow masks to give some much needed oxygen to the passenger, but that proved to be our downfall.
After some tense moments, it was decided to land the plane in Albuquerque. The patient was taken from the plane, but we were told that the mask had to be replaced before we could continue our flight. Three hours on the tarmac later, the plane was unbearably hot and soon the problems began. Seven cases of heatstroke later, we were deplaned and sat in the airport for another 2 hours. Finally we were able to take off again for our destination. I have to give Airtran credit. For my assistance, they gave my mom and I vouchers for a First Class flight of our choice.
Tagged as:
airtran,
delay & cancellation,
doctor,
flight attendant,
illness & medical
