Unhygenic PAX
 

I operated a 3 hour delayed ALC the other day which wasn't too bad on the outbound. However.... on the inbound flight, we had a few specials (pax with wheelchairs)...

There was one elderly woman with her son...who had blisters on her legs and feet and pus oozing out of her ankles (sorry to be so graphic).But worst of all..she smelt absolutley offensive!!! U can tell that her son had not been looking after her properly at all (not saying that it's totally his fault).. PAX at the bottom of the stairs could smell her and it got to the point where we were literally heaving...

Also when she got onto the aircraft, it was time to get her out of the wheelchair... her legs were so weak, that she couldn't actually stand up...she collapsed onto the floor. It took at least 15 mins for the woman to be put into her seat, then it was time to board the PAX. we had to move the passengers around the woman away from her, we had to spray aftershave and perfume onto tissues to help us deal with the smell. We informed the captain of this...and suggested offloading her and her son..he however decided to let her be. I understand that airlines have slots and an aircraft on the ground is not making money, however, when it comes to hygiene..bearing in mind that we are serving food on this flight...I do not think this is acceptable. The flight deck could smell the odour from the LOCKED, BULLET PROOF flight deck door!!!

I personally don't think she should have been allowed to leave the UK in the first place...maybe I'm being harsh...

Does anyone else have any other views????

Flew a woman tonight, bleeding all over the shop. Smelt of sh!t, p1ss, and looked as though she hadn't had a wash in ages............... Then I remembered that I'm a Helivac pilot and that she had been knocked over and eviscerated.

Things aren't always what they seem. Could be that your pax was in dire straits and just needed to get back home for treatment without being able to afford a medevac. There is always a reason for the way that people present themselves.

Try not to be too judgemental, it may be difficult to deal with, but it's not forever. It may just be that you made her day and brightened up her very sad and painful life. We aren't all lucky enough to be able to afford or to be afforded POD healthcare.

Not a very nice situation for all involved. 10 years ago I worked as a Healthcare Assistant at the Royal Free and helped to look after many people with skin problems from elderly people with ulcerated legs to young people with severe psoriasis.

All these conditions are very upsetting for the patient and whilst they can be " offensive" to the eye and nose it is so important not to show any disdain as the patient will already be very aware of the situation.

I'm sure this lady and her son were very conscious of the smell and must have felt embarrassed.

I also would question whether she should have been allowed to travel if her condition was as bad at the time of leaving the UK. But of course it could have flared up during her trip and in that case she would have had very little option but to get home asap.

I think that a little superficial cleansing of the area before boarding or actually on board could have helped but I also realise that Crew aren't nursing staff and some wouldn't relish the thought of assisting in this way.
Ideally there should be nursing staff at airports to tend to this eventuality but of course in the real world this just isn't practical.

Oh i totally agree.. obviously as crew, we are meant to be able to deal with passengers from all walks of life which we did. We dealt with the passengers just as we did with everyone else. I'm just thinking that in terms of complaints from passengers and in terms of hygiene i.e food etc... it wasn't very pleasant.

And i do sincerely feel sorry for the lady. I'm sure she was aware of the situation which was obviously out of her control..

Stink bombs
 

When I was a young lad, let a stink bomb off on a Dan-Air flight got invited to the flight deck (wow I thought) skipper gave me a clout around ear, smiled and said "well done young man" I'm still looking for the git on 'Where are they now' forum.

Rick

There you are! You right little scrote! Try that again and the same agin for you laddie!

Whats the deal with parents changing dirty nappies on seats as opposed to on the change table in the toilets? I used to see that a lot.

dirty behaviour
 

and what about not washing their hands after peeing????? It happens all the time, also noticed many times with non-offensive looking business men as well!!! :yuk:

The next time I hear that somebody has cought some bug/infection because of "recycled" air on the plane, I will have to do a bacteriological test on their hands to show where those bugs come from in reality...

A warning....guys and gals, we do notice that the sink is still clean, the soap hasn't been used and the hand towels never run out!! So do not be upset if I don't want to touch your boarding card or shake your hand as you disembark, we both know where your hands have been!

nappie changes on seats
 

yeah that is very disgusting.

especially when they change it on the tray table while people are eating!

dirty behavior
 

hahahahahahaha flybywire you are so right!

i always make sure i close the toilet door and flush the toilet with a hand towl. i dont want to touch anything in there.

i personally think you should have offered to squeeze their puss infested blisters. Maybe set up a competition with other crew members to see who can get the most distance from a good squirt.

pussy legs
 

hahahahahahahahaha blueloo you crack me up!

i wonder what you could say "excuse me madam, i couldnt help to notice your pussy legs, do you require assistance to squeeze out some excess puss? how can i best assist you? " LOL

Anyone in this state should have been washed before flight and bandaged! She must have been attracting flies! Disgusting behaviour and it should not have been accepted. As far as the groundstaff are concerned, they just want to be shot of the problem as quickly as possible, so all they care about is doing that the easiest way, which is pass them along the system (to the crew!).
I will never forget being met by the groundstaff at JNB who asked the Captain 'a transit passenger coming from Harare was drunk and punched a stewardess in flight. He's settled down now. You'd be willing to take him to LHR, wouldn't you?'. Err..... no, amidst hysterical laughter. You cannot expect the groundstaff to do the right thing- the easiest way to disentangle themselves is to pass the parcel straight to you! I would always go by the recommendation of the senior CC.

Going into the washroom bare footed always sickens me...I've given up asking them not to do it...!

Are they so stupid to think the liquid on the floor is water...?

on a charter jet from LGW we had a mother change her baby on the tray table wich she then ate her meal off:yuk:

yuk!

Some of the comments on this thread turn my stomach.

If someone is in a wheelchair there is normally a pretty good reason as to why, normally this is because they are not fully in control of their body and this includes control over some of their most basic functions, probably the reason for the smell.

Cabin crew are supposed to be trained to deal with less able bodied passengers, this is part of your job, you don't get to choose your PAX. All credit to the Captain for declining to offload the unfortunate individual.

Back to the training centre for you, tuismile, and I hope not to meet you on my travels

I don't think you're right there SXB... as far as I'm concerned, when it comes to the wellbeing of other customers, she should have been offloaded. And it's pretty unhygenic to be serving food when you have a customer like this unfortunate lady on board! If anything it would have been doing her a favour offloading her, purely beacuse any passenger that passed her was making disgusted faces, holding there noses etc. And please don't comment like that to me unless you were on the flight which I'm sure you weren't as I did exactly that...I dealt with her and her son thank you very much! I treated her just like any other passenger. So NO GOING BACK to the training center thank you..I'm quite up-to-date with my S.E.P's!!!

Tuismile
It seems that your Captain disagreed with you and did the correct thing, which is the only thing that matters really

As a humble Pax on an Asian carrier into LHR a year or so ago, I was disappointed to discover upon landing that the shoes I had removed from my feet and tucked under the seat in front for the duration of the flight were soaked.
The 'lady' in the seat in front hadn't moved once during the flight, and had left her seat before I realised what she had done. So I missed the opportunity of returning the compliment into her hand luggage.
Flying sure brings the worst out in some folks.

tuismile,
I don't know the rules in your company, but where I work, people with medical problems should have a medical certificate released by the company Medical Service. In case of doubt, if they don't have any, then CC or the Capt can request medical advice from the airport Medical Service. In case of problem I report the to the Capt (I'm usually the first to know about the problem because I had a special course to take care of passengers with disabilities) who 1)talks to the ground personnell 2)calls for the Medical Service.
It happened to me recently, when a pax who spoke only Romanian and only a little English told me she needed to check her pressure every two hours since she had an "attack" (that's the term she used) a few hours earlier. Of course I immediately spoke to the Captain who called for medical advice.

SXB,
I don't agree with your view. The crew (pilots and CC) are also in charge for the well being and safety of the rest of the pax. Pus is very infectious and the company might rightly have been sued if it had come into contact with another pax...not to speak of the person who had to sit on the same seat on the I/B. She should have been medicated and bandaged. Plus, for people not in control of their body functions there are ways to "take care" of the problems that arise with the condition. I'm more with Rainboe on this one when he says that probably the ground staff only wanted to "get rid" of the problem, as it happens sometimes. It is not acceptable that one pax, even a "medical" one, becomes a problem for the rest of the occupants of the aircraft, and only because her hygiene and medical problems were neglected. There are companies providing special services in these cases, or Doctors to accompany them for the flight. But then I am sure no doctor would have left her in the condition tuismile describes.