I wonder when those stopped being commonly stuck in seatback pockets. They used to be pretty much as universal as the safety card. I don't know the last time that I've seen one. (I'm sure flight attendants have a stash but they're not automatically at the seat any longer as far as I can tell.)
Wonder if I still have any in my travel memorabilia I have going back many decades.
I remember the bags. What I don't remember is hearing the sound of anyone using them, and I have crossed the Atlantic at least 50 times. And I would also say the flights have gotten quite a lot smoother since the DC-3 I flew on in the 70ies.
I once spent a transatlantic flight behind a poor lady who barfed every 5 to 10 minutes for 10 hours straight. Probably something she ate. Hope she’s alright.
I'm sure the reduced turbulence is a big reason. Both aircraft design and better information to avoid areas of turbulence. I just should know the timeframe and just never noticed. (Presumably some point between the 60s and 80s/90s.)
I believe it’s been within the past 20 years, likely as a result of the improved navigation and weather systems, rather than purely improvements to planes.
Source: have flown on older retrofitted planes without barf bags.
Wikipedia has an unsourced allegation that "The UNIX-HATERS Handbook" came with a barf bag in the back cover [1]. The book itself is an amusing glimpse into computing history even if it is rather dated and polemic.
I had a small ( I did not fly much) collection of those as a kid because I thought it was kind of a funny thing to do. Amazing that it's an actual 'thing'...
Great article to come across on a friday afternoon, the first paragraph is a great hook and had me laughing too.
Was waiting at a drive through coffee recently with the dog in the front seat. She needed to vomit right as I was about to pull up to the window. Just happened to find a small paper bag from lunch, or something, and was able to get everything cleanly in the bag! A dog snout fits more cleanly into a bag than human I think, but have never needed to use one myself.
One time I caught a barf with my hands from by sweet little baby dog. Saved a cleanup of the carpet but I would’ve preferred a bag. Just had to wash my hands afterwards.
The barf bag is such a specific artifact of human advancement. Consider all that had to be accomplished in order for it to exist: the triumph of aviation, the incomprehensible global infrastructure of commercial flight, and finally, the neat trick of inventing something people can throw up in that isn’t too threatening to keep close by.
The guy from Maine reminds me of another Maine native I know of in the business of collecting odd things; there’s a lady who would sing you a song while playing her accordion on Peaks Island as you walked into her museum of umbrella covers.
It was a neat addition to the classroom, and especially fun whenever a former student would stop by with one from an exotic airline.
He was well liked :)