Food Poisoning on United
 

I have never been so sick in my life. My partner and I took a United flight from Newark to San Francisco on Sunday.<BR><BR>Our last meal together was on the flight - and we both ordered the same meal in First Class.<BR><BR>The following morning and subsequent day were some of the worst hours I've ever spent. <BR><BR>I contacted United - mostly to warn them so they could perform and internal investigation. I was given an 800 number to fax a written complaint.<BR><BR>Has this ever happened to anyone?

Your post brought back bad memories. I got food poisoning from stuffed chicken on a BA flight to London. I was sick the entire rest of the flight and barely made it onto my connecting flight to Paris. I couldn't eat a thing the first two days of my Paris trip, but I was able to do some sight-seeing(as long as I kept near a bathroom). It was awful!

So sorry to hear about that! What was the meal?!?<BR><BR>Flying United cross country next month in first...a little scared now!

Not on a flight, thank goodness. I have had food poisining at a Chinese Restaurant. Took 2 days to get over. I feel so sorry for you. I wouldn't wish that type of sickness on anybody!!<BR><BR><BR><BR>I'm surprised UA had you fax a complaint. This type of sickness needed immediate action!!!

My wife and I got a touch of food poisoning on an AA flight from DFW to Toronto. The meals had been loaded onto a plane with mechanical troubles and when repair efforts failed they switched the food to a new plane. Subsequent complaints to AA were met with disinterest.<BR><BR>Ironically AA had just fed us the second best airline meal we have ever had on our flight from San Jose, Costa Rica. It was a very nice steak (complete with real steak knives...obvioulsly this was a couple of years ago).

bill,<BR><BR>I also got sick on United I was flying from Mexico to Newark and I ate the chicken.OOOO what a bad mistake. Very sick.<BR><BR>Well I hope you feel.

The problem with food poisoning is that it is very difficult to trace to a specific food unless the remnants are tested. While circumstantial evidence might lead a logical person to conclude a certain meal or food item is the likely culprit, it can never be certain without testing the food. That is why people have difficulty getting the place that served the food to admit guilt or correct problem. For example, the person who got sick coming home from Mexico could not prove to the airline that they did not get sick from something they ate in Mexico.<BR><BR>While not airline related, my mother and I shared an exotic pizza in a local restaurant (not a pizza joint) and both went to our own homes and became sick with precisely the same symptoms at the same time. The restaurant, when I notified them - not to sue for a zillion dollars but just to make them aware - also gave me the run-around and said that since the pizza only had vegetables on it, we could not have become ill from it. This displayed such a lack of food safety understanding that I complained to the local Board of Health who made them take a new food handling safety course.\<BR><BR>So perhaps the local Board of Health is the way to go, since meals are prepared by a local catering company and not by some monster airline kitchen for the whole country. While the airline is the server and ultimately responsible, some other company with a local to departure city kitchen likely prepared the food.

You CAN get sick from vegetables. I read a while ago some kid ate a baked potato that was left sitting out and got botulism from that. Also an old grocer in our neighborhood ate at a fancy restaurant in town. 3 people died from botulism. The culprit? The onions! All three had "Patty Melts".

The inoculation time for food poisoning is at least 36 hours so it is doubtful your food poisoning came from United.

Food poisoning is caused by one of several different bacteria, most of which have incubation periods of far less than 36 hours. If you want all the disgusting symptom details, a good reference is on WebMd.com site - search for food poisoning.