Airline passenger allegedly forced to sit in and clean vomit-covered seat

Cleaner's hand in yellow rubber protective glove holding plastic spray bottle on blue background. General or regular cleanup. Commercial cleaning company. Empty place for text or logo.

A United Airlines passenger claims he was forced to sit in a vomit-covered seat before being given paper towels to clean it by a flight attendant.

The New York Post reported that Sam Trail and his wife found his seat and the back of the seat in front of him were soiled by vomit on a recent flight with the US airline.

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Trail alleges he alerted cabin crew of the situation, but said they were more focused on the flight taking off on time.

The pair were reportedly flying from Vancouver to Houston on United Airlines flight 2057 on Sunday 18 August.

“I was told, ‘Oh, yeah, we can get a cleaning crew, but you’re going to be the reason this flight is delayed,’” Trail told click2houston.com.

A flight attendant then allegedly handed Trail paper towel to clean the vomit before a cleaner boarded the plane, reportedly with a spray bottle and towel. He said the vomit wasn’t cleaned properly.

“There’s gotta be some limitations. I mean you have to provide a sanitary environment and there should be an apology,” he told click2houston.com.

United Airlines said it had reached out to Trail about the incident, and that it was “disappointed that this aircraft did not meet our standards for cleanliness”.

“Once the issue was brought to our crew’s attention, cabin cleaners were called on board to clean the seat prior to departure,” the airline said in a statement to click2houston.com.

In a separate statement, United told The New York Post denied that Trail was forced to clean anything. The airline also said it was unclear whether it was actually vomit.

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