Every day, the Federal Aviation Administration manages an average of 45,000 flights covering 29 million square miles of airspace. On average, 2.9 million people board an airliner to go somewhere in America every day. It’s inevitable that at least some of those people are going to get sick. I was one of those people for the first time yesterday. My savior was a little blue bag that resembled a lunch pail. What I hadn’t realized was just how hilariously awkward actually using an air sickness bag was, and how weirdly genius these little bags are.
I will admit, before yesterday, I hadn’t really thought about air sickness bags for perhaps more than 10 seconds over my entire life. I’m not afraid of heights, I love flying, and I only get motion sickness when I’m a passenger in certain cars and I try to use my phone for too long. I can’t even remember a single time when I was sick on a plane. Flying is such a passion of mine that I’m always checking out the airliner’s cabin or looking out of the windows at the airport environment. You’d think that after flying on several dozen Boeing 737s and dozens of Airbus A320s, I’d be bored, but I’m still just as excited as a kid in a candy store.
Yet, I’ve never really paid attention to air sickness bags. If we want to be all fancy and technically correct about it, these are “emesis bags.” But let’s be honest, you’re not going to beg your flight attendant for an emesis bag when you’re sick. But I definitely gave my full attention to an emesis bag yesterday, and the whole experience was two parts awkward, one part hilarious, and three parts enlightening.
Before I continue, yes, I am feeling fine now! I just got home from Prescott, Arizona, where I got to ride the brand-new BRP Can-Am Canyon adventure three-wheelers. You’ll get to read about that soon enough, but I have to stop and talk about my newest fascination.
Why Air Sickness Bags Exist
A terrible sickness enveloped me yesterday. I woke up ok, but within the hour, I felt a rumble in my stomach and a sulfur-like smell came out of my mouth. I was nauseated and wasn’t equipped to deal with it. My chauffeur was waiting outside, and I faced a two-hour drive to Phoenix so I could catch a flight. This was terrifying.
I’ve somehow been lucky enough to have only rarely experienced this sort of situation in my whole life. My only guess was that the steak I had the night before must have made me sick. I figured that maybe I’d just drink a lot of water and the situation would resolve itself.
Oh gosh, I was wrong. My condition worsened as my driver’s black Cadillac Escalade hurtled toward Phoenix. Things got worse still when I climbed out of the hire car and onto the sidewalk outside the Sky Harbor airport. I’ll spare the intricate details, but I did some unspeakable things to a toilet and then to a trash can at a gate full of waiting passengers. I’m not sure I’ve ever been more embarrassed in my life.
My wife came to my aid. She regularly deals with nausea and pointed me to a product called Dramamine. Apparently, people use this stuff to combat motion sickness, but it’s also good for nausea, too. For once, I was happy to pay way too much money for a product in an airport convenience store. I also picked up some Pepto Bismol chewables because I was desperate.
Sadly, whatever made me sick wasn’t going down without a fight. The stomach rumble remained as I boarded my flight. I was so concerned that I never got to look over the beautiful aircraft, say hi to the flight crew, or check out the airport environment as I love to do. Instead, I just sat in my seat and constantly thought, “I hope this Dramamine stuff works.”
Finally, at around 11:05, our glistening United Airlines Airbus A321 taxied to a runway for a departure to the west. Takeoff is normally my favorite flight segment. I love to watch the engines fire up, I like getting the little whiffs of jet fuel, and I especially love it if the aircraft is a hot rod like a Boeing 757. This time, as we neared the runway, my stomach started to hurt. I responded by popping a couple of Pepto tablets.
My body immediately rejected it. Suddenly, as I saw the runway threshold from my window, I knew I was going to barf. This was the worst time to get sick. It’s not safe to leave your seat during the takeoff roll, and even if you did, the lavatories are locked. Weirdos like me know how to unlock them, but regular travelers don’t. Instead, your only real option is the barf bag. I quickly reached into my seat pocket, pulled out a blue bag that looked like a lunch pail, and unloaded into it as the aircraft thundered down the runway. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if it was a real air sickness bag, but it was too late to observe the bag’s construction.
The Awkward Part
Thankfully, my aim was perfect and I avoided making a mess. But what I didn’t see coming was the awkward aftermath. See, I just more or less unloaded into a paper bag, and the plane had only just left the ground. I had no way to dispose of the bag and nowhere to discreetly store it, either. No, instead, I just folded the top like a lunch bag and sat there holding the contents of my stomach as the lady next to me tried to watch some documentary about Megan Thee Stallion. The whole time, I hoped that I was actually holding an air sickness bag and not any normal paper bag. Only I would have such bad luck that I would accidentally barf into a typical paper bag and have the bottom of the bag fail on me.
I’m thankful that my seatmates didn’t make it out to be a big deal. If anything, I didn’t even notice a real reaction from either of the two people in the row. But it was still extremely awkward because here I was trying to be a presentable human while holding a bag of Pepto pink-tinged human gas tank contents in my hands. I then just sat there and waited. 10,000 feet AGL came quickly enough, but the lavatories weren’t unlocked until we hit 31,000 feet, and that felt like it took an eternity. I couldn’t even listen to music because one hand held onto the bag for dear life.
Once the lavatories were unlocked, I then began an even more awkward process of exiting my row with my barf bag in tow. If my seatmates had somehow missed me chucking before, oh, they definitely knew now. So did pretty much everyone else in the immediate vicinity because I accidentally made no effort to hide the bag. I finally tossed the bag into the lavatory trash can and then pulled a new barf bag out of the lavatory to replace the one I used.
The whole ordeal probably took no longer than 30 minutes, but I could have sworn that was like half of my three-hour flight.
Now that I’m back home and I’m feeling great again, I’m reflecting on the whole experience. On one hand, it was sort of hilarious in hindsight. If you get sick during takeoff or landing, you have to just sit there holding your barf until it’s either safe for you to get up or until a flight attendant hauls the bag away for you. If you’re friendly with your seatmates, this means carrying out conversations and having eye contact with someone while you’re holding your darn stomach in one of your hands.
If you’re that seatmate and you aren’t comfortable with someone being sick, then you’re sort of just stuck watching some random person hold a bag of sick next to you. It’s all awkward and sort of hilarious in a dark way. I’m almost surprised I haven’t seen a comedy skit around this.
A Simple, Yet Game-Changing Invention
On the other hand, I now have a great appreciation for the so-called “emesis bag.” It’s such a simple invention that has no doubt helped out countless travelers and flight crews over several decades of aviation.
According to the University of North Dakota, the air sickness bag, as we know it, was invented by North Dakota plastics pioneer Gilmore T. Schjeldahl in 1949. A year before, Schjeldahl set up a bag-making machine in the basement of his then-Minneapolis home. Back then, polyethylene plastic was a new wonder material, and one of its promises was a revolution in food packaging. Schjeldahl experimented with getting the plastic to seal against itself, eventually arriving at the use of a hot iron to melt the top end of a plastic food pack together.
Herb Harris invested $100 in the idea, helping Schjeldahl create Herb-Shelly, Inc. in 1948. Herb-Shelly would later experiment with lamination and adhesives. The plastic technologies invented by Schjeldahl would go on to become heavily used in the food packaging industry.
In 1949, Schjeldahl invented the “thermoplastic bag construction,“ a polyethylene bag with ridges on its top that were designed to be folded on each other and then sealed using a hot iron. The original idea for this bag was for food storage. The user of this bag could store food in it, seal it, cut it open, take food out, and then seal it again. Northwest Orient Airlines took an interest in the basic bag design for a different use: dealing with motion sickness.
While Schjeldahl is often credited for inventing the modern air sickness bag, Vox reports that at least one pilot in the 1920s and the 1930s, Captain Joseph E. Kimm, used brown paper bags to combat passenger motion sickness. A passenger would vomit into the bag and then the bag would be chucked out of the aircraft before its contents got through the paper. Obviously, Schjeldahl’s invention made dealing with motion sickness far less chaotic. Reportedly, Schjeldahl may not have been jazzed about the world’s obsession with his sick bags over his bigger projects, including atmospheric research balloons made with Mylar.
The design of an emesis bag is also so simple, yet so brilliant. Later iterations have been made out of card paper with inner wax paper layers or paper with an internal plastic layer. Some present-day barf bags are just made out of clear plastic with an easy seal top. However, many airlines still use a plastic-lined paper design today as well.
The bag I used on my United Airlines flight was made out of a heavy-duty paper with a plastic inner layer. It was sealed at the bottom and folded over at the top like a lunch bag. Honestly, it’s such a simple and lightweight design that I had doubts it would actually work. But it held together long enough for me to dispose of it.
People Collect Them, Too
I’ve also learned that there are barf bag collectors out there. According to CNN Travel, there are over 100 serious barf bag collectors in the world. These are folks with hundreds, if not thousands, of bags. Dutchman Niek Vermeulen had 6,290 air sickness bags in his collection in 2012.
I can see why these folks collect these bags, too. While United uses plain blue bags, many airlines put beautiful designs on their bags. Some airlines also slap jokes on their bags. German airline Hapag-Lloyd Express once had bags saying “Thank you for your feedback” which is just perfect. Finn Aviation’s bags used to have the company’s logo, a reindeer, barfing out ice cubes.
Some folks collect barf bags from any form of transportation, from buses to spacecraft. Others collect barf bags from political rallies and other places. The barf bag collecting phenomenon has become such a deal that the makers of Dramamine allied with barf bag collectors to make a 13-minute documentary.
Thankfully, the advancement of aircraft technology and safety has led to generally smoother operations than when these bags were invented. High-flying jets alone have offered far smoother rides than the prop-driven aircraft before them. While there are still flights with tons of turbulence, a lot more flights go smoothly, but the bags remain a sort of security blanket for some travelers. This has led to a new sort of life for many air sickness bags. Today, a lot of folks use these bags as trash bags. Or, they may use the bags as take-home bags for unfinished airline food.
In case you’re curious, you get blank air sickness bags for 4 cents a piece so long as you buy at least 100,000 of them!
According to German travel magazine Travelbook, some airlines don’t like it when people use the barf bags as trash bags, as it leads to unnecessary waste and costs. Ryanair has reportedly greatly reduced the number of air sickness bags on its planes to save money, as has Lufthansa. Meanwhile, other airlines have had fun with their bags. Easyjet recommends using your seat’s barf bag as a makeshift phone holder. Some airlines, like Delta, used to have card game score sheets printed on their barf bags. Spirit used to use its barf bags as advertising space.
I hope to never get sick on a flight again. But, should the worst ever overcome me again, I have a new appreciation for an unsung hero of aviation. If it weren’t for that simple paper bag, I would have ruined the pretty floor of an Airbus jet, possibly delaying a flight and destroying the days of over 100 people. Instead, I did my business in a bag, tossed it away, and got to walk away with clean hands and an intact dress.
Really, barf bags are just another reason why commercial aviation works so well today. It really seems like engineers and inventors have thought of nearly every situation that can arise in the sky, including when last night’s steak comes to haunt you on the runway.
Top Photo: Mercedes Streeter/Alibaba
Damn – that sucks. In my myriad flights I have never had to use one.
Though be thankful your dilemma wasn’t from the *other* end of the gastrointestinal tract. BTDT, too many times. It’s a LOT more awkward to have THAT issue on takeoff or landing, and using a barf bag at your other end would be rather more unsavory.
My worst flight ever, given I am roughly the size and build of a silverback gorilla, was having dilemmas in the microscopic lav of a Dash 8-100 bumping across Virginia on a thermally summer day. But at least I made it until I could get in the lav!
> dilemmas
Precious.
Would you prefer I say shitting all over the airplane? Because I can say that instead.
Not at all, I enjoyed the word choice.
I was flying from JFK to LAX during the winter with my son. He was already sick with a cold. TSA had us line up OUTSIDE on a cross-walk over lanes of traffic at one point. So it was cold and windy with us wearing clothing appropriate for LA.
He didn’t even make until the takeoff. I was surprised that the little to-go bag held up. After that he was OK for the rest of the flight.
I’m surprised spirit doesn’t charge extra to use one.
And there’s a separate charge for the barfing itself.
No, it’s free to use the bag, but 50 dollars to put in the trash can on the plane, lol
A very funny and informative article. However I am surprised we never got the detes. I have been on some rough flights have never puked but it has gotten close enough to ponder the bag and wonder if it will actually hold all the vomitus I am capable of producing? They look quite small and even now I have no idea how many chicken mcnuggets one of them will hold. I think mcnuggets are the perfect measure of volume due to there ABC construction and oily texture it is easily transferred from gut to bag. Plus it is an item in which you can consume in great quantities. I mean baked beans would be a decent measure but who eats more than a can?
And when the bag breaks, the proper auto-journo expression is “Dumping the Clutch”
Flooded the carburetor?
Backfired thru the carb?
I’ve fortunately never had to use a barf bag on a plane, despite flying weekly for a number of years all across the globe.
With that said, my family had a bought of terrible stomach flu that just passed between everyone for a number of weeks. My sister-in-law is a nurse and sent us a box of hospital emesis bags and they were absolutely clutch (as all things she sends us are). So much vomit, but absolutely no mess beyond disposal of the bags. Barf bags are one of those things that you hardly notice until you need them, and then they are the greatest invention of all time.
I just thought how funny it would be if she sent you rubber gloves by mistake but with the message best way to handle vomiting.
True story: When my wife called her to thank her for the bags, which we didn’t know she was sending us, her response was “Huh? It was supposed to be 300 rectal thermometer sleeves!?”
I kept waiting for “Easyjet found that over 90% of their barf bags were being used due to drunkeness” 🙂
I’ve never been sick on a plane of any size or type, but my daughter (9 at the time) decided in 2023 that the first 15 minutes of an 8-hour flight was the perfect time to use not one, but two, barf bags. And a change of clothes, which my wife had thankfully packed in our carryon. I didn’t realize Dramamine wasn’t a household name, we’ve kept it on hand for every single trip just in case.
But the best barf story comes courtesy of my family when I was a kid. I was 11, my brother was 8, and we were taking a 2-week summer vacation all around Colorado. Awesome, right? I should also mention that my dad had temporary access to a company-owned Aerostar, a 6/8-seat twin piston airplane with turbocharging to help with the higher elevations. We just took it for granted since my dad took us on short flights almost every weekend, usually as part of the company’s normal rotation of “check rides” that coincided with pre-delivery models, customer upgrades, and so on.
My brother, in his infinite elementary-school wisdom, decided the best in-flight snack would be his favorite food: Mesquite BBQ potato chips. These were pretty new on the market and were much sweeter than traditional BBQ chips, and so we were all converts.
It was a short flight in Southwestern Colorado, from Cortez to Montrose. Being summer in the desert southwest, it was hot. And pretty windy. With lots of thermals, terrain to avoid, and a flight so short, you’d stay well below 10,000′. No worries, all the better to enjoy the scenery! Right?
Final approach, being bounced around like an old wooden roller coaster. I’m in the right front seat helping navigate and spot traffic. Mom and brother are two rows back, facing forward. Suddenly I hear a faint coughing sound over the raging piston sound. I pull my headset off and turn around just in time to be shotgun blasted with projectile mequite BBQ goo. Less than 30 seconds to touchdown and the whole cabine smells like vomit, my dad trying to control the aircraft while wiping the vomit on MY shirt. The instrument panel had even been splattered just a bit. It was one of those kind of pukes.
I found the air conditioning of the FBO waiting room as my own stomach started to turn. My mom walked back out to the plane with a roll of paper towels and a bottle of 409 or whatever she could find. I was physically unable to help, since all I could taste was that sour, acidic saliva that your mouth produces right before you throw up. I managed to stave it off somehow. And the plane was no worse for the wear. Go mom!
The situation isn’t that bad until it gets an experienced Mom to puke. Guys even Navy Seals and Doctors are just wimps compared to moms.
I was on an airliner once in some really rough weather when the whole “contagious puking” thing happened in the back. Thankfully, WAAAY in the back. But even from up front, the smell was pretty bad. I head from the F/As that about 25 people hurled, and not everybody managed to have a bag. Eeewwwww!
For those prone to motion sickness, the seats over the wings have the least motion, and those at the tail have the most.
That’s me in the corner.
Losing my steak dinner…
I have a deep appreciation for the ol’ barfus bagus. I was returning from an overseas trip and was waiting for a connection in LAX back to DEN. After a long trans-pacific flight, I was exhausted and also angry that half my luggage had disappeared. Anyway, one of the folks I was traveling with was an Irishman, born and bred, and he offered to buy me a pint of ale. Many, many pints of ale later, I was hammered and he was just getting warmed up, but my flight was boarding so I had to go. I must have been several shades of green because the gate attendant asked me if I was able to fly. I sloshily assured her that I was, and somehow managed to stagger onto the violently rocking stationary plane. I had only one row-mate, and I thought I was going to be OK, but soon after takeoff, I knew things had gone all wrong. I proceeded to pour the contents of my belly into 4 barf bags. After topping off the second one, the flight attendant kindly moved my row-mate to another row but I think everyone on the flight could smell my putrescence. I mostly slept after that, but I was deeply ashamed and vowed I would never again go drinking with an Irishman before a flight.
Oh no, I’ve barfed too much….
I threw it up.
LoL.
Dammit, I’m a day late and a dollar short. I realize now it should have been:
losing my nutrition…
Now that’s funny I don’t care who you are.
you really should not throw the filled barf bag in the trash. It’s a biohazard. Give it to the flight attendant and they will put it in a Bio Bag and disposed of it properly.
That’s a good note! Admittedly, I was in a bit of a panic, and that was my reaction. Weirdly, some airlines, like Delta, recommend tossing them into a trash can. Maybe Delta trusts that the bad stuff will stay inside. Should this happen again, I’ll flag down a flight attendant!
So don’t put it in the convenient seatback pocket in front of you?
You’ve given me a terrible idea. Make a drink and pack it into a barf bag. Drink it on the plane. “Ah, refreshing.”
Barf bag; sick sack; vomit valise; emesis envelope; puke poke; spew satchel; chunder clutch; heave holdall; retch wrap; upchuck balloon.
“…And Using One Blew My Mind”
While you were Blowing Chunks.
OR
Losing Your Lunch
OR
Having a Psychedelic Yawn
OR
Calling for God in a Paper Bag
OR
Selling the Buick
I just hope someone was there for you to hold your hair.
The slogans on these bags are 200% more interesting to read than those stupid sky mall catalogues.
Edit: They are a good example of using humour to diffuse an uncomfortable situation.
Yet I still miss in-flight magazines AND SkyMall. Digital entertainment is fine, I just don’t want every kid around me to stare at me when the announcement comes on and the movie auto-pauses with naked people being dismembered or whatever.
Yes, I helped create these children, but this is ME time.
I like the crossword puzzles in sky Mall catalogue maybe put them on barf bags. Notice do the crossword prior to puking in the bag.
I just realized as opposed to having a camera with 6 feet of wires shoved up my butt I do poop in the box. Here we have puke in the bag. Is this a case to stop engineering everything?
My most famous moment of emesis was while I was in engineering school and one of our friends was racking up miles in a 172; four of us flew to Alabama for lunch, or something like that. I was warned that there would be turbulence. There was, and my stomach did not like it. Lacking bags, such as these, the contents of my stomach went into the only available container, which was the chest pocket of my jacket. It’s been 30 years and I have never lived this down.
I’ve since flown in craft as small as a Cub, and have only upchucked once, I think. I’m somewhat prone to both vertigo and motion sickness, so that’s a pretty good record.
Here is a suggestion. If you can’t keep from puking eat a colorful repast of food. At least then you can claim it was done to create modern art.
I’m just going to leave this here, just like Mercedes left her puke purse in the airplane lavatory.
https://youtu.be/WFS7Lm2wq2w?si=SLuUlTD5o40gpUn2
Friend in high school had these in the backseats of his car and we always mocked him, but he was vindicated when we all went to college and realized the genius.
Ugh, had food poisoning i think last friday for the first time. Now I’m taking a red-eye tonight. All I could think last week was “Thank god I’m not on the plane right now”
Mercedes, and anyone else who gets motion sickness, I’m here to help!
I’ve always had motion sickness issues, and as I’ve gotten older (somehow?) it’s gotten worse, especially while flying. Which is annoying because I’ve flown for work frequently for 15+ years, and I don’t see that stopping.
I randomly discovered this product when I felt terrible, but I was in a situation where I 100% couldn’t get sick, so I panic purchased it at a walgreens and it has NEVER left my under-seat carry-on backpack since that day.
It’s not a drug, it’s basically concentrated electrolytes, and it tastes like cherry flavored chalk. But I’m telling you, it will save your ass on a flight. Chew 1-4 of them, depending how “urgent” your need its. It will get you through it. Works quicker than anything else I”ve ever tried, including pepto, Dramamine, etc..
(side note, very good for hangovers)
https://www.amazon.com/Nauzene-Stomach-Nausea-Chewable-Tablets/dp/B0791VDH6Q/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3U6H79UZKOOEO&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Bp4v1xF1IFXpVlBMY6dmERD1gUdetWINhUISo_SVDxPZRDFlKDlFu2fD-aUygy7u4mHUkV75y-VIOnk2H2JK3ti_5SQxvBEiDGo5mhBJf4LvKau5uH8xFWgN-AZzjbxMTtR9cdak-i-qQo255xYnhBIsUCBhQLL2K_E-YAkcQCQ06xpuYsZ3NXvTvvR-rJp7UOUgBwKRPpoeyEzTsRzDXK7B39hhN06F1P2W_lGCZ-ZDok8HVTDBvO3gCqZVU48pFgHo6fLJqR_4HKgHV1-yT1LGshDXJM8oEB-aC9r-oNg.1_-G0A0h1y0wFP5tWEOD7oZcrB-6eciK4tfyQwSLqeA&dib_tag=se&keywords=nauseum&qid=1746737096&sprefix=nauseu%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-1
I’ve never had a motion sickness problem, but I was on a smallish-ship boutique cruise in the Norwegian Sea a couple years ago, and oh my it was a roller coaster ride for a bit. I did not hurl my guts, but politely excusing myself from (a smoked fish) dinner was probably a good idea. I snagged the last package of “Postafen” on the ship, and the stuff is great. No issues after the first dose. Next time I’ll be prepared.
Pay to advertise it is the same as rolaids and tums
No, it’s not though.
Same link without trackers – https://www.amazon.com/Nauzene-Stomach-Nausea-Chewable-Tablets/dp/B0791VDH6Q
thanks!
What a fun read. Your pain, our gain!
They’re awfully similar to the bags found by bulk coffee bean dispensers.
Hopefully these are more effective at containing the contents’ aroma.
The only thing better than having an airsick bag if you feel the need is the person sitting next to you having an airsick bag when they feel the need.
The only time I remember puking on a plane stuck with me because it felt so unnatural to do it sitting up, until I realized that it’s basically the same position as kneeling with your head in the terlet, just 90 degrees off.
The staff and my neighbors were very sympathetic/tolerant. I doubt people would be so patient if I did that at my desk.
At your desk, you’re probably not belted into your immobile chair in a tightly packed row with a couple other people and sandwiched between the row in front of you and the row behind. Or maybe you are – some of the Return-to-Office mandates have been weird.
tl;dr – if you’re not restrained to or by your desk, go be sick somewhere else. 🙂
“Ryanair has reportedly greatly reduced the number of air sickness bags on its planes to save money, as has Lufthansa.” Of course they would, then charge you for the bag, and another charge to take it away. On the other hand Germans have the strength to just hold it down and never puke.
I threw up once on a flight and there were no puke bags to be found. I tried SO HARD to hold it in, but at some point, your body is taking over (and, FYI, if you hold your mouth closed, it’s coming out your nose). Sucks that a “cost saving” initiative resulted in some underpaid flight attendant having to clean up my puke, which almost certainly delayed the next flight. It was a very unpleasant experience for all involved.
Also, Mercedes, I never knew that I wanted to know the history of the puke purse, so thank you!
Ryanair have removed the pockets from the seat backs, so there’s nowhere to put them anyway.
puke purse! lol
I’m envisioning a Louis Vuitton monogramed knock-off.
Louis Vomitton
What the… WHY would they do that?? 🙁
I am getting visions of that scene from Stand By Me.
Fun fact: if you use one of Ryanair’s barf bags, they’ll charge you for an extra carry-on.
but…but…it’s a personal item!
It WAS a personal item. Now it’s everyone’s business!