To fear vomit on flight to the point I’m watching who is sitting where?

[MelMar1]

I have a very bad fear of others vomiting, not myself vomiting (which I know is more the case in emetophobia). I have a flight coming up soon. I’m worried if a small child is sitting behind me that they could be sick and it could get through to my seat in the window seat, or if a drunk person etc. I can’t relax. Does anyone else get worried like this before a flight? I’m trying to tell myself if a child
or adult gets sick it’s not a common occurance that it will get on me. That’s my big fear that I’m stuck with it on a plane and it actually gets on me. Please be kind I’m bad enough with the worry!

Your predictions of who might vomit on the flight are not very accurate. You should be looking for anyone with motion sickness. Except for the most part we look exactly like everyone else. Some signs might be a tendency to carry a water bottle, small snacks, and that we make sure there is a vomit bag in our seat back. There may also be a tell-tale sticker behind our ear that is delivering a prescription motion sickness medication.

I don’t throw up on every flight, just ones with turbulence or occasionally if the plane is too warm.

I've never seen anyone vomit on a flight either. Far more likely to have a child crying because their ears hurt.

I also get scared of others being sick near me, but my fear includes boats and packed tubes, never aeroplanes! I fly regularly and have only been aware of one person being sick on a plane, many rows from me, and discreetly into a bag. I think it would be very unlikely to happen, and even more unlikely that any of the sick got near you.

I did once during a really turbulent flight in 2015. I was embarrassed as I was half asleep then woke up grabbed the sick bag and brought up my lungs!

I’ve actually seen 3 people vomit on flights so it isn’t that unusual. I have a similar fear OP, so am very aware of who is sat near me & whether they look ill etc. it’s exhausting. I worry about small children because they’re more likely to suddenly throw up everywhere without warning. In my mind adults are more likely to get it in a bag.

I am emetophobic too (I fear myself and others, but only fearing others is pretty common) - I didn't actually get on a flight until I was 30 years old, I was afraid to get in a tin box and go 30000 feet up with hundreds of potential pukers!

Eventually I had to do a short domestic flight for work, so I had to woman up. Since then I've flown a lot more, and for longer, and I gradually got less and less anxious about it. I'm now very confident I won't vomit, but I still fear it happening right beside me where I can see/hear/smell/catch it.

It has never happened. The worst thing I ever observed was about 4 rows ahead of me, a young girl with her parents maybe aged 7 or 8. They signalled the cabin crew and requested more sick bags...uh-oh. They brought her water and ice and bags, but I put my earphones in and watched something and slid as far down in my seat as I could so I couldn't see the coming and goings.

I got through it, although no sooner had I made it back to terminal I ran into the family by the escalators and the poor little thing was still hurling away into a plastic bag. That poor girl.

Anyway, I expect she was horribly travel sick but other than that, nothing!

Frequent short haul flyer and have seen it a few times but always children, normally in the 3-10 age range I'd guess

What an odd post. I used to fly very regularly and I have never seen or smelled anyone vomiting on an aircraft.

Boats, yes. People puking left, right & centre. Including me. But planes, no.

I've not seen anyone be sick on a flight since the 80's. I presume plane design, cabin pressure or whatever is better now. I've not even seen any drink and disorderly conduct either since a flight from Paris after the 5 nations in the 90's (happy drunks thankfully and much singing of the dam busters theme)

I feel for you, it's a tough phobia to deal with. I have flown long haul and short haul two to three times a year for the past 10 years or so (excluding COVID) and have seen maybe one or two vomiting cases in that time. I've even wondered why they bother with sick bags anymore... However don't discount the experience, professionalism and ability of the cabin crew. If you are in distress you should try them know and let them help you as best they can. Their job is to keep everyone and everything in the isolated, compressed tin can in the sky working as efficiently and safely as possible.

I think others are on the right track. Seeking help for your phobia and taking practical measures could help.

I can never relax on plane flights for a different reason but I simply get on with it. I accept that it won’t be a relaxing journey and the stress is something I will experience to get from point A to point B.

I've only seen my own child be sick on a flight, it was a vomiting bug. They were too young to warn me or use a bag themselves and we ran out of changes of clothes. It didn't get on other passengers.

I have to say as a fellow emetophobe (more afraid of other people like yourself), I've come to what I now call my "sick" sense.....I have only ever been on about 10 flights in my lifetime but have seen people being sick on over 50 percent....I think it's because I look out for it......i can literally tell when someone feels icky without even knowing them....I can only say you need to do as much as possible to take your mind off it... headphones, book etc. One thing I will say is that planes are loud inside and if someone is sick then you tend not to "hear" it...... just try and zoom out and ignore your surroundings xxx and since being a mum I can absolutely promise you that the anticipation is way worse than the event (if it happens)xx

I’m an emetophobe but I fly every year.

When I was a child we’d go all over the world and my brother was horribly airsick. I never shared a row with him, thankfully, so didn’t really know he’d been sick until the cabin crew came to him. Sometimes my mum would take him to the toilet if there was enough warning.

A couple of years ago the lady sitting behind me was sick. I didn’t know. She called the cabin crew, who took the bag away, and brought her water.

We always have the bulkhead row, I sit in the window seat, have headphones and have a blanket that I could put over my head if needed.

I have a phobia of vomit and totally get where you’re coming from. A girl was sick on a flight I was on last year but she had a sick bag and it was fine. It was worse on the transfer coach when a kid was sick. I make sure I don’t put my bag on the floor as I think that’s the biggest risk.

I fly quite often and I've never seen or heard anyone vomiting. The last flight I did was 14.5 hours and literally it was fine.

The only person I have ever known to vomit on a plane was me nearly 30 years ago.
I had caught a bug from my baby and couldn't get out of my seat as we were about to take off

It is VERY unlikely to happen I would say

I'm the same but my fear is mainly around me being sick. I have a fear that I'll suddenly be hit with a bug halfway through a flight and then be trapped on the plane and not able to get to a toilet etc.

I found this post very confusing. Your son and you are chronic vomiters on flights but "never are sick anyway". Then you go on to refer to when you and your son are sick. 😕 That makes no sense.

@CustardySergeant I missed out a bit after anywhere (sorry, I've had about 4 hours sleep in the last two days). We are never sick anywhere but in bags.

This.

And I've flown a fair amount.

Oh I see, you meant 'anywhere' not 'anyway', thanks for the clarification. 🙂
I'm so sorry you are so sleep-deprived and hope you get some sleep and feel better soon.

@CustardySergeant You're totally right I didn't ever write anywhere in the first place. Idiot! Definitely going to bed soon I think!

My DS was very travel sick and i dreaded flying and being sat near someone who was phobic - so it cuts both ways. I always checked for sick bags as soon as we got on and made sure the stewards knew he was likely to be sick. He was always sick in the bag and it was dealt with by the staff. Thank god he grew out of it. if you think you are stressed it's nothing compared to travelling long haul with a kid you know is going to vomit in a public place, surrounded by people who may complain about it.

I'm a fairly frequent flyer and get very nauseous on long haul flights and vomit sometimes. It's the air mixed with all of the different smells. You can be discreetly sick into the bags they provide. I suppose it might be different with kids.