A man travelling with United Airlines recently found himself ‘soaked’ in urine by a fellow passenger — with flight attendants offering little help beyond a change of clothes. Jerome Gutierrez had been fast asleep (some four hours into the San Francisco-Manila flight) when another man got up from his seat and started peeing. The incident was highlighted by his stepdaughter Nicole Cornell who also voiced her utter ‘disgust’ with the airline for their handling of the matter.
“He was asleep and buckled in and was surprised when he looked at the man and thought he was dreaming…Jerome realized he was soaked from his stomach down in that man’s urine,” she told SFGATE in an email.
Cornell said the airline had provided Gutierrez with pajamas to wear after the incident but warned him against approaching the other passenger. Attendants on board the United Airlines flight reportedly “feared there would be a confrontation and he would become violent”.
“They put the needs of the airline before my stepdad’s health. I am so disgusted and in shock with how United Airlines handled this! That is a biohazard, and the plane should’ve turned around to address this issue,” she fumed.
Meanwhile a spokesperson for United Airlines confirmed that there was a “passenger disturbance” without divulging details about the incident. The company said they had asked the police to meet the aircraft upon landing and banned the passenger in question.
The incident (which took place last week) has now gone viral with many on social media platforms expressing their horror.
Many were also reminded of the infamous Air India ‘pee-gate’ incident from 2023 that saw a drunk man urinate on a female passenger in business class. The incident had taken place on New York-New Delhi flight with the man soon landing on the ‘no-fly’ list and facing legal consequences.