Left Holding The Bag

January 31, 2010

in Odds & Ends Stories

A few years ago, I boarded a flight on AA and took my window seat in coach.  As I sat, I felt a lump in the seat under my rear, so I reached and encountered something large, paper and squishy.  I stood back up to look, and found that someone had stuffed a barf bag into the space between the seat and the bulkhead, so that some of it was protruding into the seat. I pulled it out gingerly.  This bag was completely full with ‘something’ liquid.  Fortunately, the top had been folded over and the closures had been used, so it was more-or-less sealed closed, but it didn’t look especially secure.

Not sure about what to do with it, I rang the call button.  The FA who came was quite disgusted (as was I).  She suggested that I should discard my own barf so that nobody else had to touch it, but turned a little green herself when I explained that it wasn’t mine – that I had found it in the seat.  Since I was already holding it, I was quite willing to take it to the trash, but I wasn’t sure if I should just throw it away, since it might be a biohazard.  Also, since the plane was still boarding, I didn’t really want to go out into the aisle with the boarding passengers for fear of being jostled and having the bag come open.  She agreed that it should probably go into a plastic bag before going into the trash, and told me she would go get one.  Because the flight was still boarding, it took her a while to get forward and back, so I ended up literally ‘holding the bag’ for about 10 minutes.  I didn’t want to put it down or into the seat pocket because I was afraid it would come open – so I just held it. The thought that I was cradling a pint of someone else’s vomit in my hands kind of made me want to add to it.  

Finally, after 10 minutes of contemplating what might happen if the bag opened, or whether I was going to get some awful disease from it, and feeling more and more nauseous myself, the FA returned with a plastic bag and wearing rubber gloves, which somehow made me feel even more nauseous at the thought I’d been holding it bare handed.  As she  relieved me of the bag, she suggested that I might want to go to the lav to wash my hands, but I was already on my way!

But come on, anonymous barf-bag filler!  Did it really seem like a good solution to you to stuff that bag of your barf into the seat for someone else to find?

Demotage

{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

MJ January 31, 2010 at 4:44 pm

Gross.

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shocked January 31, 2010 at 6:23 pm

Between the bulkhead and the seat???? Really?

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Demotage January 31, 2010 at 6:27 pm

The side-wall-the one with the windows in it, is also called a bulkhead, I believe.

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genuis February 1, 2010 at 5:38 am

Who gives a sh%t what the bulkhead is ignoramus. Your probably just like the dumbass who left the vomit for someone else to take care of.

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genuis February 1, 2010 at 5:39 am

waiting for someone else to correct you're and the spelling of genius

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Iloveflying February 16, 2016 at 10:50 am

Ironically i didn't notice until you said something! Lol

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D-Money February 1, 2010 at 8:23 am

BS…and not in the usual way. 🙂

My guess is that the bag could have contained a "loaded" diaper.

BS in this case = baby sh-t. 😛

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rj February 1, 2010 at 8:32 am

I'm guessing the passenger left it and someone on the maintenance crew who came in to clean the plane thought it would be 'funny' to stuff it under the seat…

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Smiling Charmer February 1, 2010 at 4:36 pm

Didn't I read this story before??

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Kad February 1, 2010 at 10:44 pm

Yeah, wash your hands. You know they steam clean all the seats and carpets prior to every departure right?

LOL.

I would be checking my seat for spillage. If the bag was as full as you claim, there is no way 100% of it made it into the bag…..explains why airplanes always have this odd smell they try to cover up with ventilation.

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Demotage February 2, 2010 at 8:40 am

@SC. There was a similar story a couple of weeks ago, but not the same.

@D-Money- that would have been better, but the bag was definitely filled (and I mean FILLED) with something liquidy.

@Kad. Yeah, but somehow they seem to have gotten it all in the bag.

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Iloveflying February 16, 2016 at 10:54 am

I was getting nausea just reading about it! And that's saying something! I don't get nausea that easy usually.

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Rick February 4, 2010 at 3:57 pm

It only had barf in it? That's not bad. When I use to work for a small regional airline whose airplane did not have lavatories I found several puke bags full of urine and crap. At least I never had to touch them that was for the ramp agents.

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Smiling Charmer February 5, 2010 at 11:06 am

@Demotage

Thanks for the reply.

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rerere March 11, 2010 at 11:39 am

Of course, typical Demotage writing fake stories.

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