Call Kurtis: I Found a Filled Barf Bag In the Seatback Pocket On My Flight
AUBURN (CBS13) — Remembering their anniversary trip to Hawaii, anger sets in when Janet Masters thinks of how the vacation ended.
"I've seen and dealt with a lot of gross things," Janet says.
But nothing like the filled barf bag she says she found covered in a blanket in the seatback pocket in front of her.
"Here's someone's bodily fluids that I'm being exposed to," she said.
While handing it to the United Airlines flight attendant, Janet says the vomit got on both her and her husband's clothes. She says the flight attendant offered to move them, although she says the smell was on their clothes for the full flight.
"Smelling that smell on us and around us was just totally, totally disgusting," she recalls.
Flight attendant Shawn Kathleen has seen it all and runs PassengerShaming.com. People post photos of gross stuff left behind on planes including dirty diapers, men's underwear, banana peels, even gum. It's no wonder planes become disgusting when you see pictures of passengers clipping toe nails, drying their shoes with the air vent and sticking their bare feet everywhere.
"There was a gentleman treating his warts with Compound W," Kathleen recalls.
So what if you're plane isn't properly cleaned?
"Getting a refund of your ticket price would seem to be a reasonable result," said Consumer Attorney Stuart Talley.
He says the airline's contract of carriage covers what happens with lost baggage or delays. It doesn't address onboard cleanliness.
"The airline should be responsible for that," he said.
When Janet felt she wasn't getting anywhere as she shared her concerns with United Airlines, we contacted the company. A spokesperson apologized admitting, "our cleaners apparently failed to clean all of the seatback pockets."
United says flight attendants are trained how to handle situations like these and they have cleaning kits for any sort of cleaning need on a flight.
After we got involved, the airline offered the couple a $300 credit toward a future United Flight. But she's not sure she'll use it.
"I've lost a lot of faith and trust with the airline," she said.