Family forced to sit in vomit on United flight


A Maryland family says they were forced to sit in vomit-covered seats on their United Airlines flight from Orlando, Florida.

Scott Shirley and his family were visiting Disney World as a birthday trip with their 7-year-old son, Phoenix. As they boarded their return flight at Orlando International Airport, they began storing their bags underneath their seats and that's when they noticed a strange smell and their bags were wet.

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"She [Shirley's wife] reached down and rubbed the ground and goes "the whole ground is wet," and then she put it to her nose and goes "Oh my god! This is throw up," Shirley explained to WUSA9.

Shirley's wife suffers from Mysophobia (fear of germs) and began crying hysterically. Mr. Shirley informed the crew who told them a passenger had gotten sick on the previous flight and that they had cleaned the area.

'It was clear that no one had cleaned the area where we were sitting, because there was no evidence of any chemical smell what so ever,' he added. 

With vomit all over their hands and bags, they say the flight attendants gave them two options: take a flight the next day or sit in the vomit-covered seats. Since Shirley's wife works for the Food and Drug Administration and had to be back to work the next day, they had no choice but to stay. The family says there were given blankets to cover the seats but no additional cleaning was done. They were also given trash bags to put their wet luggage in.

'It was completely humiliating walking through the airport with our belongings in trash bags as if we were some sort of homeless family,' said Mr. Shirley. 

United Airlines has apologized and admits the area was not as thoroughly cleaned as it should've been. They've offered each member of the family a $150 voucher as well as additional mileage points. 

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