Qantas flight from hell (from the Daily Mail)

[Kazzia]

Please don't click on this link if you're easily triggered by graphic stories about noro outbreaks - but I read this at my desk at lunchtime at a point when I was still hungry from having a small lunch. I definitely didn't feel hungry after reading it. My morbid curiosity got the better of me.

I think I'd have wanted knocking unconscious if I'd have been on this flight. In fact I'd have probably passed out with panic if I hadn't wrenched the plane door open at 30,000 feet. It is actually my idea of hell as well as the headline writer's!

Looks like it was noro contracted from food having read it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...--toilets.html

[JustLacey]

post deleted for my own privacy

[andee]

OOOOOHHHH.....MMMMMYYYYYYY........GGGGGOOOOOOSSSSS HHHHH!!!!! I cannot even imagine the horror!!!

[jparsons93]

Oh dear Lord. I would just have a heart attack amd die. I will keep them all in my prayers.

[andee]

Good idea jparsons and justlacey...I will be praying for them tonight, that they will not have any repercussions from this...

[daffodil]

Can someone summarize for me? I'm morbidly curious, but I don't want to click on the link.

[KaydeeJayde]

A school group came down with gastro during their 13 hour flight back to Australia.

To be a bit of a voice of reason here, it's not really a huge deal, I mean, yes. It's horrible for the students, really terrible that they had to go through being on a flight when they were so so unwell, but for the rest of the passengers... I was on a flight where there was an outbreak of a stomach thing, and I had no idea it was even happening until we landed and we had to get off at a different gate, and the plane had to go into quarantine.

[bluebell242]

Sounds awful. not something I'd want to experience!

[catherine73]

I`d have been running up & down the isle looking for a parachute!

[wiscomommy]

I'd be sunk down into my seat with headphones blaring and something covering my nose and mouth. What an awful experience for those children! To us it's the end of the world, to others in this world, it's just an unpleasant happening. Wish I could be more of that thinking!!!

[gumdropper1]

KDJD, that is an emet nightmare. Being stuck at 40000 feet for 14 hours with puking, diarrhea-ing passengers, with effing contagious NORO! There was no way out and no place to land. I hope none of the other passengers come down with noro from secondary exposure to those puking teens. If I were in charge of that plane, I would confine the sick passengers to one area instead of having puking, diarrhea-ing teens contaminating every lavatory on board. Doug

[Grace47]

I agree Doug. It is an emet nightmare. However, I have a feeling it was fp not sv or probably more people would have gotten it. 14 hours is a long time not to be able to use the restroom! Definitely time to watch the in flight movie no matter how awful it is. I also feel for the staff who had to clean those nasty toilets afterwards. Talk about yuck!

[Cynna]

They were contained to one section. The Daily Mail likes to dramatize things. If you read another story, they were put in a section by themselves near a bathroom.

That would be my idea of hell too. Not from catching noro, but I have a irrational fear of being trapped by someone else v. If you notice in the articles no one died. I would not have died on the flight, nor would Grace nor Gumdropper. The fear is in our minds only.

[Grace47]

You're right. I would hate it, but I would survive. thankfully, there were other restrooms for the passengers who weren't ill. It sounds like the Flight crew handled things really well.

[KaydeeJayde]

They were contained to one section. The Daily Mail likes to dramatize things. If you read another story, they were put in a section by themselves near a bathroom.

That would be my idea of hell too. Not from catching noro, but I have a irrational fear of being trapped by someone else v. If you notice in the articles no one died. I would not have died on the flight, nor would Grace nor Gumdropper. The fear is in our minds only.

Cynna, ou are absolutely right, they were contained to one section. And no one did die. It would have been horrendous to be stuck on a plane when you're sick, I feel so sorry for them more than anything.

And I have the same fear. I can't be trapped with someone who's vomiting. In a car, a plane, I completely understand.

[emetkermit]

When I read this I totally panicked. I live in Australia and am flying overseas in 2 and a half weeks and my 'normal' anxiety has spiralled even more out of control since reading that. I feel really sorry for them but the emet side of me wants to know if any other passengers contracted it. And if the plane smelt. Omg I so don't want to go o's.

[KaydeeJayde]

I'm from Australia too, and I'm flying a lot in the next month or so. They contain these "outbreaks" really well, pretty sure it didn't spread. And no, I'm sure they stopped the plane from smelling badly.

[emetkermit]

You're from my favourite city!That's good to hear, I would think those kind of things aren't very common? My hubby heard they were unwell before they got on, he was surprised they got let on the plane and he's not emet!Where are you travelling to?

[Skittles04]

i had a full on panic attack reading aboout this as it was unfolding, and when i found out they were coming back from sydney to melbourne (where i live) i freaked out. i'm going on a shcool camp next week and i just imagioned everyone on the bus... yeah.

but you have to remember that its so so unlikely that anythin glike that will happen again. yes its horrible, and any emets worst nightmare, but im sure we'll all be lucky enough to never be in that situation

[KaydeeJayde]

You're from my favourite city!That's good to hear, I would think those kind of things aren't very common? My hubby heard they were unwell before they got on, he was surprised they got let on the plane and he's not emet!Where are you travelling to?

Aw yay! Melbourne is wonderful! I'm from a bit out of Melbourne, takes about half hour to get there from here I'm travelling to and within the US for a month next month, and I am so ridiculously excited. I'm doing a 14 day bus tour of the national parks and stuff through Wyoming so I'm a bit wary of people on the bus being sick, but I'm pushing myself.

[emetkermit]

Hi KaydeeYou mentioned you were on a plane once where there was an outbreak of a stomach thing - that really worried me and I was just wondering where you flying and how many people got sick and how they dealt with it.It's causing me to freak out again Thanks

[emet-ana]

I wonder if we should think of ways that we would cope in that situation?

And look at the likelihood of that happening on flights?

It just seems that for people with severe emet this kind of article is very triggering but maybe we need to re-assess how we would cope with it? (like Kaydee and Cynna have so far)

[emet-ana]

If I was flying I would probably be carrying diazepam/anti-anxiety meds so I would take a couple of tablets and I would listen to music on my MP3 player and close my eyes.

I would have to accept that 'maybe' I would catch the gastroenteritis but that it would take about 2 days to incubate so I would be in the comfort of my own home/hotel and with anti-emetics (that I have, but I might get stronger ones from a doctor) and anti-diarrheal meds I cope could better than the poor students on board. I would use something to cover my mouth and nose and take travel sickness meds if I was feeling peaky. Hopefully there would be plenty of sick bags on the plane so even though the students were being sick they could use sick bags and toilets. I carry anti-viral foam so I'd use that a lot and would wash or bag my clothes and take a shower as soon as I got home/to the hotel.

As for the likelihood- well I guess this increases if the country that the flight is departing from has poorer standards of food hygiene but the fact that it's being viewed as newsworthy proves that it's a very rare occurrence! perhaps almost as rare as technical problems with planes. x

[KaydeeJayde]

Hi KaydeeYou mentioned you were on a plane once where there was an outbreak of a stomach thing - that really worried me and I was just wondering where you flying and how many people got sick and how they dealt with it.It's causing me to freak out again Thanks

I'm not going to say where I was flying or anything like that, but I can tell you that it didn't spread past the people who had it on the plane when they got on, they put them in a separate section, they were away from everyone else as much as they could be, and like I said, I didn't even know anything was happening until we had to switch gates on a stopover.

Emet-Ana, I think you're most right. These things are rare, that's why it became such big news. Just because it happens once, doesn't mean it happens all the time.

[Grace47]

You're right, Kaydee. Only unusual things make the news. If say, someone had smelly feet or really bad gas, I doubt that would make the news.

[gumdropper1]

That flight sounds worse than "Snakes on a Plane" for me. A 14-hour flight with norovirus and nowhere for an emergency landing.

[jennjt]

That would be horrible. Truly a nightmare. I would hope I would do something to cope-- take an anxiety pill & maybe even a Phenergan to knock myself out & listen to music on my headphones (wouldn't want it to be my favorite music, though, in case I had a negative association with it after that, lol). I fear, though, that I may not act as calmly as I envision in my mind. Once I was on a boat (a sunset catamaran cruise-- nothing like 14 hrs!), and TONS of people were v. Even though I knew they were not contagious and were only seasick, I panicked like no other. I went crazy and threatened to jump off the boat!! Even though there was a strict "no smoking policy," the captain knew I was serious and let me smoke a cigarette lol. Not one of my prouder moments. Thank goodness for Xanax at that time!

[emetkermit]

I totally understand-I am flying from Australia to Europe in a couple of weeks and am freaking out, especially hearing stories about people being on a plane where there was a v* outbreak. Even if it's not contagious (and that's far worse!), I would still panic as well. There's nothing rational about it!We'll see how I go, I'll post and let u guys know and I'm hoping it will be a triumph.

[LostNoob]

Trust the Mail to blow the story out of proportion -_-
Mind you, the idea of being on a 14 hour flight with people v*ing left, right and center kinda puts me off the idea of being a travel rep lol

[KaydeeJayde]

Trust the Mail to blow the story out of proportion -_-
Mind you, the idea of being on a 14 hour flight with people v*ing left, right and center kinda puts me off the idea of being a travel rep lol

I think left, right and centre is a bit of an exaggeration in itself. Pretty sure they were contained to one section and if thats the case, many passengers wouldn't have even been aware that there was any issue. Don't let a little thing like that stop you from doing something you want to do!