A United plane had to be taken out of service and deep cleaned after dozens of passengers flying home from a cruise started throwing up
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- United Airlines briefly grounded a jet after 30 passengers fell ill with symptoms like vomiting.
- The Boeing 737 Max was carrying dozens of passengers who were returning from a cruise.
- Two flights were canceled after the jet was taken out of service for deep cleaning.
A United Airlines plane had to be removed from service after dozens of passengers fell ill, The Daily Mail reported.
The Boeing 737 Max was carrying 163 passengers from Vancouver to Houston on Friday.
About 75 of those on board were returning from a cruise — about 30 of whom fell ill, per the Mail.
The newspaper reported that their symptoms were flu-like, which included vomiting and nausea.
It’s not been confirmed which cruise ship the passengers came from, but Cruise Hive reported only one was docked in Vancouver on Friday — Royal Caribbean International’s Radiance of the Seas. The vessel experienced a norovirus outbreak last month.
The United 737 Max was temporarily removed from service for deep cleaning, per The Mail.
Data from Flightradar24 shows two subsequent flights on Friday and Saturday, due to be operated by the same jet, were canceled. However, it departed Houston less than 24 hours after it landed.
United Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider outside US working hours.
Friday’s incident was the second airline case of widespread illness within a month.
A Condor flight from Mauritius was met by emergency services as 70 passengers suffered nausea and vomiting. The airline said it was adjusting its cleaning processes as a result.
The most infamous airline-vomiting incident occurred on a 1975 Japan Air Lines flight. 197 passengers fell ill, of whom 144 were taken to the hospital. It was later found that some of the meals had been contaminated by Staphylococcus bacteria, which caused food poisoning.
