[pieceofthepuzzle]

My worst passenger experiences have involved vomiting... On one flight there was a guy sitting a few rows in back of me who was obviously drunk. I remember thinking that if and when he got up to go to the bathroom it was going to be interesting. Well, he got up, stumbled down the aisle, looking green, and then fell into my row. Thankfully, he didn't vomit at that point, but waited until he got to the bathroom a few rows further ahead. He vomited all over the bathroom and it had to be closed for the rest of the flight.

On another flight there was a guy sitting across from me (I was in the aisle seat on the left, he was in the aisle seat on the right). The flight had been delayed for several hours, and I suspect he had been drinking in the airport. As we were taxiing he started asking for a vomit bag, and then lurched into the aisle (right next to me) and started the first of several episodes of vomiting into successful vomit bags.

We taxied for quite awhile, while the flight crew assessed whether he was going to be all right, and then the pilot made an announcement that he and the co-pliot had ‘timed-out’ (too many consecutive working hours) because of the delay, and so we had to go back to the gate and wait for a replacement crew. Finally got to our intended location, but the car rental place was closed.. Everything ended up great, but what a beginning to that trip....

[golux]

I read a great book about a Northwestern pilot that got busted for being a drunk pilot but finally put his life back together and regained his job at Northwest. Never forgot that... What a roll of the dice it is. These guys used to be wasted at 4am, get up at 6am for 0630 flights, and their biggest concern was whether the flight attendants could smell the alcohol steaming off them in the cockpit.