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By Alyce Collins
Senior Reporter
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After a celebratory weekend away to enjoy her birthday, Emily Billings' trip ended horribly when she passed out on her flight and required an emergency hospital visit.
Billings, 24, had been to Charleston, South Carolina, for her birthday weekend, but on May 23, she woke up at 3 a.m., several hours before her flight home, and she instantly knew something was wrong. Her queasiness only grew worse as the morning progressed. Billings told Newsweek that, initially, she "thought it was food poisoning."
Despite feeling "extremely sick" all morning and struggling to get through airport security, the time finally arrived for Billings to board her flight home. The weekend fun was over, but the nightmare was only just getting started. Once on the plane, Billings was in hot pursuit of the bathroom to be sick once again. Unfortunately, once there, she ended up passing out on the floor.
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"After I passed out, I was taken off the plane by the EMTs," Billings said. "I was then taken on an ambulance who took me to a nearby hospital.
"I still don't know what caused it, but the doctor at the ER said it was likely just a stomach bug that was going around," she added.
The unfortunate incident, which saw paramedics board the plane to attend to Billings, ended up delaying the flight by an hour and a half, much to her embarrassment.
A 2022 survey by YouGov asked 1,000 U.S. adults if they have ever experienced an uncomfortable situation, and how tolerant they are to awkward scenarios. Among the responses, 50 percent of participants said they sometimes have flashbacks to their own embarrassing experiences.
It's not just their own embarrassment that people feel, as 35 percent also said that they sometimes feel a sense of second-hand embarrassment when they observe someone else do something regrettable, with 10 percent saying they regularly feel that way.
Billings was in no fit state to fly home to New Jersey that day, so she had to book an extra night's stay at a hotel to rest. She then flew back the following day.
After recovering mentally and physically from the debacle, Billings posted a video on TikTok (@isaidwoahhhhh) on May 23. It shows a picture of her passed out on board the flight, joking that it was the "best way to start year 24."
Speaking to Newsweek after the clip went viral with over 340,000 views, Billings said: "I shared the video because I thought it was a funny story. I have a small following on TikTok, and it was an event in my life that I wanted to update them with.
"My followers feel like my friends, and I knew they'd get a laugh about it," Billings added. "The reaction has been very mixed. Most people say they are sorry it happened and they hope I feel better; and others say it was wrong for me to get on the plane in the first place.
"A lot of people have also laughed with me about it and said what a funny memory it is," Billings said.
The clip on TikTok has amassed almost 7,000 likes. Many people have also commented on the post begging for more details about what happened. One person posted: "One of my biggest fears, I'm not kidding."
Another TikTok user wrote: "Main character always."
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