On Friday, a Boeing 737 Max was flying 163 passengers from Vancouver to Houston. Among the passengers, about 75 were returning from a cruise, with around 30 falling ill during the flight. The symptoms reported were flu-like, with passengers experiencing vomiting and nausea. It has not been confirmed which cruise ship the passengers were on, but reports suggest that they may have come from Royal Caribbean International’s Radiance of the Seas, which had experienced a norovirus outbreak last month.
After the incident, the United 737 Max was temporarily taken out of service for deep cleaning. Flightradar24 data shows that two flights scheduled to be operated by the same aircraft were canceled on Friday and Saturday. However, the plane did depart from Houston less than 24 hours after landing. United Airlines has not yet commented on the situation.
This incident is not only unique in its own right but also adds to a growing list of recent cases of widespread illness on airlines. A Condor flight from Mauritius had to be met by emergency services when 70 passengers suffered from nausea and vomiting due to some unknown reasons that are still under investigation. The airline announced that they would be making changes to their cleaning processes following the incident.
In a well-known case from 1975, Japan Air Lines had an outbreak of vomiting among passengers during a flight due to contaminated meals that were contaminated with Staphylococcus bacteria leading to food poisoning
