One of the worst parts about flying is other people. Whether it is someone in front of you who loves to lean their seat all the way back, another passenger snoring on your shoulder, or a Karen across the aisle who will not stop hitting the call button, sometimes you can’t help but think catering a private jet would be worth the money. Despite all of these daily flight quandaries, the one in this viral TikTok took the cake.
Brooklyn Borkowski was boarding her Southwest flight when she noticed that she was sitting in a seat that separated a family. She kindly offered to switch so that they could all sit together, putting her right next to the bathroom. That turned out to be a grave mistake. Midway into the flight, a woman came running down the aisle towards the bathroom, but she didn’t quite make it. Unfortunately for Brooklyn, she lost her airsickness all over Borkowski’s hair, lap, and in her mouth.
Fear not; in exchange for her troubles, Southwest offered her a free drink, and a fifty-dollar flight voucher, though understandably that did not erase the memory of someone else’s vomit in her mouth. To make matters worse, they gave her a super secure white trash bag in which to put her puked-on belongings, and when she boarded her connecting flight, they forced her to stuff it into her backpack, even after she explained her situation.
Emetophobes were the first to join the comment section, all saying they absolutely would have died on the spot if put in the same position, understandably citing it as their worst nightmare. Others said that they would have literally hired a lawyer and sued the airline for emotional damage after a situation like this one. Overall everyone agreed that fifty bucks and a free drink really weren’t enough by way of compensation, one commenter offering, “But why does Southwest give me a 250 dollar voucher every single time my flight is even like ten minutes late but only fifty dollars for this?”
On top of all of the obvious issues with this whole situation, it’s also a literal biohazard. According to Spaulding Decon, vomit is considered a biohazardous fluid because it carries pathogens that contaminate both the surfaces that it touches, as well as the air around it. This particular biohazardous incident may cause Southwest to knock itself out of the ranking as one of America’s favorite airlines. CBS News reports that Southwest has some of the highest customer satisfaction ratings for economy passengers. It’s probably best to bet that those passengers did not have the experience that Brooklyn did.
A pro tip for future flying endeavors: sit on a window seat as far away from the bathroom as possible. Or, if you have emetophobia, maybe just drive.