THE woman responsible for canceling a United Airlines flight with her explosive stomach problems has revealed the easy mistake that led to the ordeal.
Meghan Reinertsen from Atlanta, Georgia, found herself in the middle of a travel nightmare while on a flight from Newark to Indianapolis last summer.
Meghan Reinertsen has revealed what she thinks caused her catastrophic stomach issues that canceled a plane last summer[/caption]
The unwell traveler was left doubled over in pain alternating between vomiting and diarrhea until the aircraft landed (stock)[/caption]
United Airlines was forced to cancel the following flight to allow for a hazmat clean up operation (stock)[/caption]
The then 28-year-old was stuck in the bathroom for 90 minutes with symptoms so dire that she triggered a full-blown hazmat clean-up and grounded the plane.
Her “biohazard diarrhea” which was compounded by nausea and vomiting all at the same time in the tiny stall saw her doubled in pain and eventually escorted off the aircraft in a wheelchair.
A year later, the nanny has revealed what she thinks caused the explosive stomach upset in a warning to travelers.
“I had eaten part of an undercooked burger hours before I left to get back to Indiana,” she told the Daily Mail.
“I only took a couple of bites because I was like, ‘oof, that’s really undercooked.’”
Meghan had been staying at a resort in Portugal and was on her second flight of the day after a stopover in Newark.
But it was on the first flight that she noticed something was not right.
“My stomach was rumbling. I was like, ‘this is different,’” she told the Mail.
“It really wasn’t until I got on the second flight that the pain kicked in. I was like ‘this is not good.’”
She had previously compared it to “giving birth from the wrong end.”
In a TikTok video about her ordeal, Meghan detailed how she was forced to strip off in the tiny cubicle as she was drenched in sweat.
After about 20 minutes, she tearfully admitted defeat, calling for help from flight attendants who passed her sick bags and told her to stay inside the toilet for the remainder of the flight.
It wasn’t until the plane landed that she had been told the full extent of the damage.
“A flight attendant comes over and says, ‘Everybody’s off the plane now, go ahead and take your time and come out when you can, the next flight has been canceled,” she recalled.
“In the moment, I’m not thinking its because of me.”
Then the attendant informed her that a hazmat team would have to do a thorough clean of the aircraft.
“Got it, so you canceled that flight because of me…because you don’t know it I brought something back from Portugal and I am a biohazard. I am patient zero.” Meghan said.
But that wasn’t the end of the ordeal as she was then taken to baggage claim in a wheelchair in front of all of her fellow passengers.
“They wheel me to baggage claim, but the bags haven’t come yet,” she said.
“So they just drop me off at the baggage claim. Now here I come rolling up.
“Everybody on my flight is like, that girl right there just pooped for two hours in our plane.”
