On Friday, a Boeing 737 Max carrying 163 passengers from Vancouver to Houston experienced a widespread illness outbreak. Of the passengers on board, about 75 were returning from a cruise, and approximately 30 of them were suffering from flu-like symptoms such as vomiting and nausea. It has not been confirmed which cruise ship these passengers came from, but there was only one ship docked in Vancouver on Friday, which was Royal Caribbean International’s Radiance of the Seas. This vessel had experienced a norovirus outbreak last month.
Following the incident, two subsequent flights scheduled to be operated by the same jet on Friday and Saturday were canceled. However, the aircraft departed from Houston again less than 24 hours after it landed there. United Airlines has not provided any comments regarding the incident to Business Insider as of yet.
This occurrence marks the second incident of widespread illness on an airline within a month. Previously, a Condor flight from Mauritius was met by emergency services due to 70 passengers experiencing nausea and vomiting. The airline stated that they would make adjustments to their cleaning procedures following this event. Notable airlines have had similar incidents in the past, such as the infamous 1975 Japan Air Lines flight where 197 passengers fell ill with food poisoning caused by contaminated meals containing Staphylococcus bacteria.
