American Airlines Forces Passenger To Ride In Urine-Saturated Seat
An American Airlines passenger says they had to sit through an entire flight in a seat soaked with urine from a previous passenger, the Fort Wayne Observed blog reports. Here's an excerpt of the complaint letter they emailed the airline:
Upon boarding this flight, my [spouse] was assigned seat 24E. Upon reaching the seat, the gentleman in seat 24F indicated that seat 24E was soaked and that it smelled badly. That kept [my spouse] from immediately sitting in the seat. In fact, the seat was soaked with urine. The flight attendant's solution was to put a couple of blankets and a plastic bag on the seat. [Your passenger] literally sat in a urine soaked seat (the seat belt was soaked also) for the duration of this 2 hour flight! [There] was offered no compensation, no alternative seating, nothing.
... I believe that, at a minimum, we are entitled to a full refund of [my spouse's] ticket for that flight. Once the flight attendant was made aware of the situation, something should have been done. Seat cushions switched out, [offer of] another seat (except the plane was full), or...offered an alternative flight. I look forward to your quick resolution of this appalling situation.
This is what happens when crews are under the knife to turn over the airplane between flights with enough time for a thorough cleaning, or, in this case, the construction of a vacuum-sealed hazmat quarantine. The story is disgusting, and so is the crew's indifference and jerry-rigged solution. The only thing I can remember that tops it is Continental Airlines flight 1970 from Amsterdam to New Jersey on Thursday, June 14, 2007, where the toilets overflowed and streamed down the aisles. And in December '07, AirTran let a lady traveling to Boston sit in a seat that was similarly anointed. She got her airfare and the cost of her clothing refunded.
Personally, I would have refused to sit down and insisted on getting booked on the next flight. Still, that passenger definitely deserves a free ticket voucher and a hell of an apology.
Airline flight became more than a piddling matter [Fort Wayne Observed]
(Photo: JohnKit)
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Comments:
Wicked pissah, AA!
Well, there goes my breakfast.
That's got to violate some kind of health code...
This what we in the business call the R. Kelly upgrade
I wouldn't have sat in that seat no matter how many plastic bags and towels they put on it. That is absolutely disgusting.
@bukz68: Urine in sterile. There's no health hazard from sitting in it.
It doesn't mean that it's not discusting though.
Seat Warming Fee - $25
@linus: I've always heard that your own urine is temporarily sterile when initially discharged, but not for long. Any medical people around to help us out with this?
I would have made a huge scene.
@linus: Actually, urine is only sterile as it exits the body. Once it gets into the seat and interacts with all the other muck in the seat, it is a health hazzard.
Either deal with it and sit in urine for two hours, or risk a tantrum and playing musical chairs with the following flights? Yeah, that's a tough choice. I might have picked the seat like [your passenger].
Nice graphic, too.
I try to find the positives in every situation. Atleast it wasn't #2
"it's Pissant, not Pisseat...get it right!"
@Ash78: Well something is sterile or its not so the source is of no issue (whether its your own or someone else's). Also, yes the urine would be temporarily sterile, but only because once it leaves you its entering a non-sterile environment. So the urine becoming non-sterile is true but only because its contaminated by the outside, therefore any danger it poses (health-wise) is not due to the urine itself but must come from another source. So its not any more dangerous than a water-soaked seat, but its way more disgusting.
Any bets on compensation? My guess is a $50 voucher.
I'm surprised that they didn't pat themselves on the back for not making the passenger wrap in a blanket.
I believe they prefer to call it a pee-pee soaked heckhole.
This seems to be a regular occurrence. Who are these serial urinators who are menacing the airways?
I sat in a seat that had a vomit-filled sickness bag in the magazine pocket.
Wow, I don't blame them for being pissed. What a golden opportunity to break the seal of corporate injustice.
@linus: While urine is sterile, old urine breaks down into ammonia, which is both a respiratory hazard and a toxin.
In all seriousness though, it's totally unacceptable. The airline should have either had someone clean the seat before takeoff or put the passenger on another flight with compensation and clean the seat at the next stop. With the price of airfare these days, you should be able to expect a certain quality of service.
@badgeman46: As someone who almost died of a massive urinary tract infection, I can assure you that all urine is not sterile.
Any form of body fluid is considered a biohazard. The airline has a responsibility to maintain clean and safe accommodations for the paying mob. This needs to be fired off at the CDC and the FAA and let them hammer on AA for awhile.
In a related story, American Airlines announces that it takes the extra weight of the urine burned more fuel and therefore will charge ALL passengers a
"Weighted Bodily Fluid Fuel Surcharge"
I'm NOT flying anymore.
That's absolutely disgusting and unacceptable -- unless, of course, the man forced to sit in urine was my ex. Then it's hilarious!
The real outrage is if it consisted of more than 3 ounces.
That's fcking disgusting.
Urine is sterile when it leaves the body... but it's full of stuff that bacteria love. It's like miracle gro for germs. And it smells.
At least the plane didn't crash and she didn't have to use the cushion as a floatation device.
i want to know the outcome.
"Forced" and not given a convenient or practical option isn't the same thing. It would have to be an extreme circumstance for me to sit there without being held down or having the certainty of arrest for exiting the aircraft. On the other hand, I've been in worse situations, and tickets are expensive.... BTW I'm almost certain the proper expression is "jury rigged."
@speedwell: So true. Urine should be sterile exiting the body, but it exceedingly often is not because of UTIs, bladder infections, kidney problems, and similar afflictions.
Also: it occurs to me that the correlation between wetting your airplane seat and having one of these afflictions might be rather high.
If she'd have refused to sit down in that urine-soaked seat.... she would have been dragged off that plain with a "disruption of the flight crew" charge.
Sit in a urine soaked seat for $1000? That sounds like some sort of expensive S&M treatment.
I would have refused and left said plane. People need to have a little dignity.
Who the hell pees in a plane seat?
Was the flight attendant switching with the customer not an option? I just hate how some of these people put their customers in a position that they wouldn't put themselves in. If the blanket, the plastic wrap and all that is so secure then why don't you sit in it? I mean you're going to be walking around for most of the flight passing out peanuts anyway..
american airlines has to be one of the "ghetto" airlines out there. their airplanes are nasty and old. i personally never choose them, even if they are the cheapest.
@RogueSophist: Haha. Good point. I used to wholly believe the "urine is sterile" argument until I heard the "blood in the urine" (and UTI, etc) possibility long ago.
@quagmire0: Wow, I don't blame them for being pissed. What a golden opportunity to break the seal of corporate injustice.
Well played sir.
@Diet-Orange-Soda: There's still no worry on a toilet seat though. But a soaked seat? Quite frankly I don't know if there's a health hazard there either but it's DISGUSTING!
I'd sue their asses.
Cold hard cash back. And a voucher. That's disgusting. The worst I've had to do is have the drunk sitting next to me spill his drink in my seat. But at least it wasn't human refuse. I'd even suggest a charge-back if they don't respond well enough.
In most places, you can't get someone to touch bodily fluids without being in a bunny suit, and they expect a paying passenger to SIT in it?
I'm not surprised the employees of American were this callous. The last time I flew on American, the plane smelled heavily of insecticide. My friend instantly started having an allergy attack and I instantly got a headache. When I asked what the smell was and if we could move to different seats, the flight attendant would only say that they "sprayed." Sprayed what? Then, I overheard him make a snide comment about me to another flight attendant and when I confronted him on it, he completely denied it. I was going to write American to complain, but it seemed futile seeing as the American clearly does not care about its customers. I wouldn't fly on American again even if the ticket was free. Many other problems occurred on that flight beyond the stench filled plane, but the stench was the only problem pertinent to this discussion.
God, flying sucks.
Given what goes through as a lawsuit these days, I'd say get a lawyer for compensation for the distress. I don't like frivolous suits (we had a case in Canada of a guy who won [later turned over on appeal] a case for being traumatized by a fly in an unopened bottle of water which he never drank) but I think this is a clear case where AA needs to be taught that passengers should no be degraded and humiliated in such disgusting ways.
I'm truly surprised that American didn't charge a fee for the "upgrade".