airplanes?

[alexikiss]

Oh my God. WHO DOES THAT??? Haha, I would have said worse to her. I mean, you really can't argue the legitimacy of that action. Isn't that illegal? Hahaha

[stella9]

Jill in Apartment 413 and Pink Butterfly,

It was the most surreal experience. At first was like "What is up with this chick?" Then I noticed her pants around her ankles. I thought maybe she had d** or something and couldn't get to the bathroom. Then she took out the sick bag and I was like "Oh no," but almost simultaenously she pulled out the tampon so I got to see that get put into the bag. Then she opened of the new tampon and in it went. She pulled up her pants and then buzzed for the flight attendant to take away the bag. I stared at her the whole time. (I should have video filmed her.) The poor flight attendant thought maybe she had been sick so she had a sweet voice. Then I piped up with letting her know that the bag had a dirty tampon in it. The flight attendant took the bag, but you could tell she was totally grossed out.

After the flight attendant walked away I gave the girl the "what a freak look."

Stella

[stella9]

Alexikiss,

Yes it IS illegal. I am a private investigator and can tell you she could have been charged with Indecent Exposure, Reckless Endangerment, Sex Abuse, along with some other less offensive charges like. I am not sure if the flight attendent knew that because --- let's be hones --- you are right WHO DOES THAT? I can say with some assurance that this activity/offense was not covered in flight attendant school.

Stella

[Jill in Apartment 413]

Really? It's illegal? Remind me never to do that ;-) Not that I ever would LoL!

[stella9]

Jill,

It is illegal. It falls under the category of Indecent Exposure like urinating in public would fall into the same offense group. Of course, you have to get caught. As you know many people pull over the side of the road (which scares the bejeezes out of us because we think they are v**) to run into the woods to pee. Is that illegal? Technically yes, but no police officer would arrest someone for doing it as long as they were not parked illegally. However, if someone decided to urinate in the middle of a crowded mall and it drew attention, a nearby police officer would surely arrest that person. It is the same scenario with Tampon Girl. I would guess that most, if not all airlines, now that we are post 911 and post-exposives-in-the-undies era, would have arrested her upon landing the aircraft.

Stella

[alexikiss]

On the street in an urban area, you'd run a higher risk of getting a fine.

There have been stories making the news of men urinating in airsick bags and/or getting naked in their seat and they did face some sort of trouble because of it. You have to imagine these people are not playing with a full deck, to some degree.

[Jill in Apartment 413]

Urinating in an air sick bag? WTF? LoL! I have heard about this angry business man who once got up and deficated on a serving cart. This was on a 20/20 special about difficult passengers on planes. I was like, "I hope I never run into THAT!"

[stella9]

I saw that on 20/20.!!! The article was about outrageous behavior by passengers on airplaines these days. Sort of like sky rage. I felt the same way you did. That is something I would not want to see.

What do people think when they do this kind of thing? Do they think it won't go without notice? With everyone having cell phones, these antics will most certainly end up on YouTube. Do people really want that kind of notariety?

Geesh.

Stella

[alexikiss]

Good news and bad news.

There is a flight attendant who has a blog that I stumbled upon, so I decided to ask her if it is very common to see passengers have public episodes of v*. I told her I was emetophobic and dread flying because of it. Who better to ask than someone who spends every day and night on a plane with thousands of passengers a week?

She told me it is "not THAT common" to see that happen in flight...but funny that I should ask because 3 passengers were sick on her last flight. But she attributed it being due to "something going around right now."

So...while it's great for a flight attendant to say that it's not that common, it's a bit unsettling that "something is going around right now" - as we already know, from all the posts on here. She was not implying they all caught it from each other. But we know already how people who are sick just can't seem to keep their infected selves home, so I guess this should come as no surprise.

I'm trying to find comfort in her response and I hope others do, too...but I hate posting anything that feeds fears. However, that's the reality of it, I guess. :/

[rsm2150]

I have been on probably over a hundred flights, many on small planes (the ones most subject to turbulence) and have never seen anyone get s*, nor have I ever gotten s* on a flight (although coming back to NY from my cousin's wedding this summer we flew through the remnants of a hurricane on a small plane and I thought I might get s* then because it felt like a roller coaster and I was terrified the plane might crash--which has never happened before or since). There was one time this past Christmas when I saw a flight attendant steam cleaning a seat, with no indication if anything happened, but that's all. I always take dramamine which makes me sleepy, but doesn't knock me out.

I took my first transatlantic flight this past November to London (5 hours there, 7 and a half back) and nothing happened. For long flights I take phenergan which is an antiemetic but also knocks you out, which is nice.

Another thing that can help with motion sickness is to keep your window open and look out at the horizon, which gives you an indication of movement if you hit turbulence. The other positive is that you can see clouds coming, which usually indicate turbulence, so you're prepared for it.

[alexikiss]

I know there are different causes of motion sickness for different people, but what exactly does bad turbulence feel like when you say a roller coaster? My last two flights were a little bumpy for brief moments and the pilot warned us before it occurred. I was expecting the worst, but it was nothing. I sat with my eyes closed, turned up the music and just went with it. I didn't feel my stomach bottoming out or any of that - obviously some people enjoy that feeling if they go on roller coasters. But is that the particular feeling that it causes? I don't particularly enjoy that feeling and it doesn't seem to be anything that can be prevented.

[stella9]

There are several different levels of turbulence. In fact there are four in all - light chop, moderate, heavy and severe. The few bumps are probably light chop. I have had some bad flights where we had some nasty turbulence and you can feel your stomach drop as though you were on a roller coaster. I personally don't like that feeling which is why I don't ride roller coasters. Hence, I don't like turbulence.

Stella

[rsm2150]

By roller coaster I mean the plane would drop and then bumpily go back up and drop again, as well as rocking from side to side. I don't enjoy that feeling. After we landed they had to shut down one of the engines and the pilot went outside on the ground to look at the plane. They canceled all the other flights from Columbus to JFK after ours. The little bumps are fine and don't bother me at all.

[alexikiss]

Thanks for the clarification.

I can remember being on a cross-country flight as a child when the turbulence was something awful. I also remember that being the first time I ever thought about being scared that I would die! Fruit was flying off the food carts and rolling down the isles and of course there's always the person who takes out the Bible. I realized that unlike a ride, there was no way to get off the damn thing and that's probably why I never got on another plane again until last March.

I once read a website designed by a pilot to ease passengers' fears of flying. On the topic of turbulence, he made it sound like pilots go out of their way to avoid something severe like that. I guess they don't, or maybe they can't always. Needless to say, if things were that bad, I think I'd be more consumed with dying or sh*tting my pants than who was taking out a barf bag!

[hippychick]

Do you happen to remember what website that was? My mum is flying out to see me in June and she is terrified of flying.

[alexikiss]

Do you happen to remember what website that was? My mum is flying out to see me in June and she is terrified of flying.

Yes, here it is: http://www.fearofflyinghelp.com/intro.shtml

It takes a lot of time to go through, but it addresses every fear there is. There are also brief desensitization videos as the lesson progress - a plane taking off, the engine sound, etc. I found it helpful because before flying last March, I hadn't been on a plane since 1987 and I had no idea what to expect.

[Jill in Apartment 413]

I've only once been on a plane where there was such bad turbulence I was getting a bit n*. That was also the same flight that I had sun stroke on so I was probably actuall already n* cause of that. After taking a bus home from New Jersey I realized that as much as I hate flying, I hate busses MUCH MUCH more LoL!

[sammy_gaga]

i'm training to be an air hostess and ive flown loads and loads of times and never ever heard of anyone being s*
you will be fine

[alexikiss]

Sammy, I wanted to mention that your post makes me feel sooooo much better.

I also just asked my friend, who flies all over on these fabulous vacations all the time. I will post this here and also on my thread about the flying fear...

This is what she said to me:

"i have never in my life felt nauseous or known or seen anyone that threw up on the plane. on the internet you can find stories about pretty much anything, and i wouldn't be googling for that if i were you, cause obviously you'll find something like that on there."

[vixki]

one thing i found when i went on my flight to LA (thats london to LA, an 11hr flight) is as SOON as you can put your headphones in as loud as you can stand, I didn't put them that loud and I coudl still hear background noises, and people keep coughing on planes I guess cos of the dry air, and every time someone coughed hard I had to get up and walk down the aisles cos I was certain someone had just v* and I for some reason needed to see who it was. They never had, except once on the way back a pregnant lady a few rows ahead of me v* but I think that was some sort of morning sickness thing...
I spent the whole flight feeling very n* but that was just from panic. I was awake every moment of the flight (even though it was a night time flight) just from anxiety haha. And it seems stupid now after the flight cos nothing I was worrying about actually happened!

[alexikiss]

one thing i found when i went on my flight to LA (thats london to LA, an 11hr flight) is as SOON as you can put your headphones in as loud as you can stand, I didn't put them that loud and I coudl still hear background noises, and people keep coughing on planes I guess cos of the dry air, and every time someone coughed hard I had to get up and walk down the aisles cos I was certain someone had just v* and I for some reason needed to see who it was. They never had, except once on the way back a pregnant lady a few rows ahead of me v* but I think that was some sort of morning sickness thing...
I spent the whole flight feeling very n* but that was just from panic. I was awake every moment of the flight (even though it was a night time flight) just from anxiety haha. And it seems stupid now after the flight cos nothing I was worrying about actually happened!

Yeah, I had my music way loud as soon as I felt the plane moving. Even funnier, I had those "Ear Plane" things in my ears at the same time for takeoff and landing - they prevent ear pain and popping and they worked wonderfully. So yeah, the music was loudddd. What sucks is that I think they ask you to turn it off before landing, but I didn't. I know that's probably bad, but I don't care because I cannot imagine sitting in silence or hearing strange "noises" as I'm freaking out about the damn thing landing in one piece. When something makes me nervous, I just put the music louder, haha. I'm going to be deaf by the time this is all said and done with, ha!

[vixki]

Yeah with me it's one or the other, sometimes I turn my music LOUD when I think I hear something, other times I go completely silent to see if I heard right and to hear more, a kind of morbid curiosity!

[alexikiss]

Yeah with me it's one or the other, sometimes I turn my music LOUD when I think I hear something, other times I go completely silent to see if I heard right and to hear more, a kind of morbid curiosity!

Morbid curiosity is exactly why I search about bad experiences. Thank God for all of these posts to counteract what I've read. I'm slowly becoming convinced.

[PinkButterfly]

It seems like everytime I fly I am doing alright. But once I'm OFF, I feel like such crap. I end up feeling sick the whole rest of the day. Not sure if its "jet lag" which usually makes you tired? But I would literally feel just yucky.. Not sure why. It was everytime I ever flew. Especially from FL to Cali, which takes about all day.

[PinkButterfly]

OH and I'm the same way with wanting to know who v*. So i know who to avoid! and how far I need to get away hahaa.

[barsoapjr]

I was thinking the same thing about people being sick on planes; my friend wants me to go with her to Vegas this summer and I've only been on a few planes but it still terrifies me! I can just get off the bus at the next stop, but once you get on a plane, you're stuck. My mom told me that she heard someone v* on a plane once but it was in 1st class and he was drunk (I think they try to prevent that more now). I agree with feeling morbid curiosity; my brain always makes up stuff that's way worse than what actually happens so if I know what actually happened, it's generally not as bad as my imagination.

[jmdonofrio]

i've flown many times in my life, when i was younger i flew back and forth to the UK alot because my mom lived there. i would get nervous but i was also alot younger then. last time i was on a plane i took my portable dvd player and had a blast. it was so much fun acctually. the only time i ever got sick on a plane was an 8 hour flight and that was because i was dehydrated. and that was even when i was walking off the plane and we were already landed. go and have fun!!

[Peter]

My first ever flight was with my father in 1949 abaord a Colonial Airline (since closed) from upstate NY to La Guardia airport. Besides being nervous, hot and very bouncey, the toilet overflowed down the passenger isle and the crew try dousing the smell with a chemical fire extinguisher. Yes, I used the little v* bag provided.

It would be years before I'd get caught in a plane but have flown hundreds of times since and even took flying lessons in a Piper Cub and flew a powered parachute ultra-lite without any problems.

Same with the Navy when my first seagoing experience was aboard a little destroyer off Cape Hatteras in a bad storm and I got a very bad case of mal de mer- but that was it. Got my sea legs and never a problem since.

Definitely take prescribed medications for the first time and you'll see our fears soon disappear. Unlike my first flight, planes today fly above bad weather and clouds so you should not have a problem.

[alexikiss]

I posted a follow up to my own airplane story here:
http://www.emetophobia.org/showthread.php?t=2303