A United Airlines flight scheduled to depart from Indianapolis was canceled after a passenger suffered what she described as the “worst diarrhea ever,” triggering a hazmat cleaning procedure.
The passenger, Meghan Reinertsen, a nanny and aspiring actress, later recounted the incident to more than 20 million viewers on TikTok. She explained that she had been returning to the United States from Portugal for a film premiere when she became suddenly and violently ill.
According to Reinertsen, the trouble began shortly before takeoff when she felt what she called “a disturbance deep” in her stomach. She said she realized within moments that she was dealing with severe food poisoning, which she believes was caused by an undercooked hamburger she ate the night before her flight.
Symptoms escalated rapidly. Despite the seatbelt sign being illuminated, Reinertsen rushed to the lavatory to avoid what she feared would be a public accident. Once inside, she says she experienced the “worst diarrhea ever” over a 20-minute period, along with repeated bouts of vomiting.
“I was sweating, crying, and cramping all over,” she said in her online account. At one point, she called for assistance from a flight attendant, who provided a bag for her to continue vomiting while she remained in the restroom for the rest of the journey.
When the flight landed in Indianapolis, a crew member informed her that the aircraft’s next scheduled trip had been canceled so that hazmat specialists could perform a deep cleaning. The precaution, she said, was taken in part because staff could not rule out the possibility of a contagious illness contracted overseas.
Reinertsen was escorted off the plane in a wheelchair and left to recover at her hotel. However, she said her troubles continued later that night, when she suffered another episode of severe diarrhea in bed.
While food poisoning is rarely life-threatening, the Cleveland Clinic notes that its symptoms — including nausea, diarrhea, and abdominal pain — can be intense and physically exhausting. Similar in-flight incidents have prompted diversions and emergency landings in the past, including a Delta flight from Detroit to Amsterdam in which multiple passengers fell ill from reportedly spoiled food.
United Airlines has not issued an official statement regarding the Indianapolis incident.
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