Date: 201508
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Light: Daylight
Aircraft: B737-800
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Cruise
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: First Officer
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Physiological - Other
Second reporter function: Captain
Anomaly: Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness / Injury
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Contributing factors: Staffing; Equipment / Tooling; Human Factors; Company Policy
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: A Passenger vomited all over the front galley and carpeted area of the aircraft in-flight. The Flight Attendants cleaned and covered the area the best they could with the bio hazard bags available on the aircraft. When we got to ZZZ there was nothing available for the Crew to adequately clean the vomit and absorbent pellets that were all over the front of the aircraft. We contacted the Company Safety Hotline and were told that all stations are supposed to have vacuums available but that was not the case. We were forced to board the Passengers through what was left of the mess after cleaning it the best we could and flying a four hour flight to ZZZ1 on an aircraft that reeked of vomit. These Passengers were no doubt exposed to an unhealthy and very unpleasant environment.


Second narrative: While enroute from ZZZ to ZZZ1 we had a Passenger become ill and vomit all over the forward galley and aisle leading up to the galley. We informed ZZZ1 Operations during the descent that we would need the aircraft cleaned upon arrival. Just to give you an idea of how large a mess this was; our Flight Attendants used four bio-hazard bags to clean the aircraft before arrival. Upon arrival; ZZZ1 Ops had the Provisioning Agent mop over the vomit. The act of mopping over the vomit did nothing but to spread and smear the vomit all over the forward part of the aircraft; and into the cockpit area. ZZZ1 operation was not prepared or equipped to clean the aircraft. I personally took it upon myself to clean the aircraft. I had to round up cleaning supplies from Maintenance and Operations. Nothing that they had was adequate. I did the best I could with some disinfecting spray and paper towels. The aircraft wreaked of vomit. This was going to be our office for the next four hours. It is absolutely disgusting that we had to live with this situation. There were chunks of vomit in little open space or gap on the aircraft floor. There was no way to vacuum this mess up.We are an airline where Passengers are going to on occasion vomit in our aircraft. Our stations need to be adequately equipped to be able to handle these situations when they happen. The stations need to be supplied with small 'steam vacs' to extract the bodily fluids from the carpet of the aircraft. Having our Crews and Passengers live with the odor and smell during subsequent legs is not acceptable. This situation is not sanitary for our Crews and Passengers. Please do something to adequately supply our stations with the necessary equipment and supplies to clean up bodily fluids. As of right now many of our stations are not equipped. I do not have a problem cleaning up bodily fluids; but please provide me the supplies to do so.


Synopsis: The flight crew reported that there were inadequate resources and supplies to clean up after an airsick passenger.