Dozens of United Airlines flight attendants, as well as pilots and other employees at Denver International Airport, have reportedly been sickened by Christmas Holiday meals supplied by the carrier over the festive period.
Crew members have complained of experiencing extreme stomach pain, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting after eating a traditional Christmas meal, including chicken and salad, that United laid on for its employees on Christmas Day.
The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA,) which represents United crew members, says that while it can’t yet say for certain what caused the mass sickness, it may be connected to the holiday meal.
In a statement, a spokesperson for United Airlines told us: “United is monitoring reports from some employees about gastrointestinal symptoms following holiday meals served to Denver employees on Wednesday, and we are in contact with health authorities.”
The statement added: “There has been no impact on our operation.”
So far, there have been 24 formal reports of symptoms consistent with food poisoning from flight attendants who ate the Christmas meal, although the union is encouraging anyone who was sickened but who hasn’t yet reported symptoms to make themselves known.
Flight attendants have taken to social media to complain about the meal, saying that the chicken looked pink and that the salad of leafy greens may have been responsible for the food poisoning-like symptoms that have left so many flight attendants in agony.
United Airlines has reportedly told flight attendants that the sickness may be linked to a recent flu outbreak, but the carrier has moved to reassure sickened employees that they will not accrue sickness points or face disciplinary action if they have to take time off over the holiday period.
One flight attendant joked that United Airlines was determined to get flight attendants to fit into new designer uniforms that are set to be rolled out in 2025. Another quipped that the airline would use the incident as an excuse not to offer holiday meals in the future.
In an internal memo, the flight attendant union said it was still researching what caused crew members to fall ill but noted that it had received ‘numerous’ reports from affected flight attendants.
Some flight attendants say that their entire crew fell ill not long after eating the meal. In some cases, flight attendants have fallen sick during work trips.
Last Christmas, over 700 employees of European aerospace company Airbus Atlantic fell sick with severe gastrointestinal symptoms after a festive dinner was laid on for workers at the company’s dining facilities in Montoir-de-Bretagne in northwest France.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, certain types of food poisoning, such as Staph, can start to cause nasty symptoms like nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, and diarrhea in as little as 30 minutes after consuming contaminated food.
In July, Delta Air Lines was forced to pull meat-based inflight meals from services departing Detroit after a spoiled food scandal that resulted in the carrier’s airport catering kitchen being shut down.
The problems emerged when an Amsterdam-bound flight was forced to make an emergency diversion when flight attendants realized they had been serving passengers a moldy and spoiled chicken dish.
Fearing a mass sickness outbreak over the Atlantic Ocean, the pilots decided to divert the plane to New York JFK, where medical first responders were standing by to assist just in case anyone fell sick.
Here’s a brilliant idea: if the chicken looks pink, don’t (I repeat, don’t) eat it. Just sayin’