Being sick on a layover: the hotel doctor, the crew who covered, and the flight home you should not have worked
-
#1 American at Emirates, and I got food poisoning on a Nairobi layover last year and it taught me more about the job's systems than four years of flying had. This is the thread for the layover illness: what happens, who helps, and the decision about the flight home.
What happened to me
A crew dinner, a chicken that was probably fine and a stomach that decided otherwise. By 2am I could not stand. By 6am I called the purser, which I should have done at 2am.
What the system did
The purser called the airline's crew medical line, which exists for exactly this. They arranged a hotel doctor within two hours. The doctor did what doctors do, wrote a note, and the airline's operations decided that I would not work the flight home. I was rebooked as a passenger on the same flight, in a seat at the back, with a bag and a blanket, and the crew looked after me. Two days later I flew home to Dubai fit, and the sick day was recorded as a sick day, not a disciplinary.
What I learned
Call the purser at the first sign, not at the last. The purser would rather know at 2am.
The crew medical line is 24 hours, it is real, and it is on the crew app. Find it now, not when you need it.
The decision to fly or not is not yours. The doctor and operations make it. That is a relief, not an insult.
Never, ever work a flight you should not work. A crew member with a stomach bug in the galley is a safety issue and a passenger illness waiting to happen. The crew who 'push through' are not heroes, they are the reason the next crew get sick.
The crew who covered
The purser reshuffled positions, the crew did the flight one short, and nobody complained to me about it, which is the job at its best. I bought the galley a box of very good chocolates in Dubai.
The question
What happened when you were sick on a layover, and did your airline handle it well?
-
#2 Qatar, and the same system: the medical line, the hotel doctor, the decision made for you. I had a migraine in Melbourne and flew home as a passenger and it was handled with complete kindness. The chocolates for the galley are the correct response.
-
#3 Delta, and ours is similar with a US twist: the crew scheduling call is the first step, then the medical. Was sick in Rome, flew home as a passenger, was asked to provide a doctor's note for the file. Fine. The 'do not push through' point is the one I would underline for new crew. I pushed through once. Never again.
-
#4 easyJet, short haul, so the version is being sick at a night stop in Faro and the same rules: call the CM, the medical line, and a flight home as a passenger. The crew did the return one down. Chocolates in Luton.
-
#5 @ollieluton chocolates in Luton is the same currency as chocolates in Dubai. Universal exchange rate.
-
#6 Lufthansa, and the German system adds a proper sick note requirement, but the rest is the same, and the 'a crew member with a stomach bug is a safety issue' line is exactly how our medical department phrases it. It is not a kindness rule. It is a safety rule.
-
#7 Training, and the crew medical line number is now saved in my phone, before I have flown a single sector, because of this thread.