American Airlines offers $50 voucher to woman after stranger vomits on her bag

'You don't expect that at that time!' The woman spend the rest of the three-hour flight with stranger's vomit on her belongings. Photo / File

A woman whose hand luggage was left covered in a stranger’s vomit after a Florida flight from hell has complained that the airline’s response was not adequate - saying the spewing passenger should not have been allowed on the plane.

Nichole Schreib took to social media to express her shock.

Tagging her carrier American Airlines into a video of the incident, she said the airline “allowed this intoxicated, verbally abusive woman on my flight despite removing one of her friends”.

Schreib told Business Insider she was alarmed to encounter the woman and her friend stumbling around and retching in a LaGuardia Airport bathroom. She said that this all happened before 8am.

“You don’t expect that at that time.”

Worse still, she had a “repeat” encounter, on the plane when Schreib discovered the wobbly woman was seated in the row in front.

@AmericanAir allowed this intoxicated, verbally abusive woman on my flight despite removing one of her friends. Here she is calling the two men in her aisle “pu**ies” prior to puking on the floor and my bags - $50 credit is all they offered as compensation. #americanairfail pic.twitter.com/BTPl4FDBfR

— Nicole Schreib (@NicoleSchreib1) December 4, 2023

Schrieb felt the woman should not have been allowed to board the plane, saying she was clearly “intoxicated”. It was an opinion that was only enforced after departure, when the woman began vomiting everywhere.

“I couldn’t believe the amount,” she said of the motion-sick passenger.

Some of this sick landed in her bags, which were stowed under the seat.

Disgusted, Schreib asked for help cleaning up but the cabin crew could only apologise, saying they were unable to fix the mess as it was deemed to be “bodily fluids”.

“It’s bodily fluids, and we can’t touch that,” Schreib was told, so she spent the remainder of the three-hour flight covered in sick.

She told Business Insider that it was understandable to “freak out a little” when your belongings are full of another person’s vomit.

However, initially, American Airlines would not take any responsibility for the passenger’s actions or issue any apology. It was not until days later that it relented and offered a $50 voucher, after insisting it was its fault for allowing the disorderly passenger on the plane.

American Airlines responded to her social media post, asking Schreib to get in touch with its customer service.

“I did that and spoke to someone and that’s when I was offered the ridiculous amount of $50 compensation for the horrific flight that included wiping that woman’s vomit off my personal belongings,” was her reply.

“She was visually intoxicated and verbally obnoxious and abusive well before takeoff.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for American Airlines told Business Insider that they were following up with Schreib.

“We strive to provide a positive travel experience for all of our customers, and a member of our team has reached out to learn more.”