Whatever happened to the barf bag?

This year is the 75th anniversary of two inventions that changed flying forever: The barf bag or sick bag, of gunky seatback pockets, and Dramamine, the anti-motion sickness drug. And much to the chagrin of a handful of serious collectors, the latter has seriously endangered the former.

“I’m writing to you on behalf of the barf bag community,” avid barf bag collector Bruce Kelly wrote in a letter to Dramamine handwritten on the back of one such collectible. “We’ve noticed for a while that quality barf bags are getting harder to find.” The letter is read aloud by Frank Paukowits, Dramamine’s senior marketing director, in a short film recently produced by the drug company in playful recognition of its negative impact on the barf bag industry.

The barf bag as we know it today was invented in 1949 by Gilmore T. Schjeldahl, who was experimenting in his Minneapolis basement during the early days of plastics. He originally intended to make flexible plastic bags to store food, but plane travel used to be much more turbulent than it is today, and airlines found another use for these waterproof bags. Before plane cabins were pressurized in the 1950s, gas and oil fumes often wafted into the cabin, and the smells frequently contributed to making people sick, according to Vice.

Today, Dramamine is an extremely popular drug for fighting motion sickness during travel. If you ask the barf bag collector community, it works a little too well—barf bags are so infrequently used now that airlines are no longer as creative with their designs. Practically speaking, however, it’s important to note that the drug is not exclusively responsible for the decline of puking on planes. Flights are smoother these days because pressurized cabins allow pilots to fly at much higher altitudes, above the wind and weather conditions that make a flight bumpy. There’s not much recent data about air sickness numbers, but in 2000, one study published in Aviat Space Environ Med found that just half a percent of passengers reported vomiting in flight.

Even still, the barf bag history is a fun marketing stunt. In the short film The Last Barf Bag, collectors Kelly, Bob Grove, Eli Cox and Steve Silberberg showcase shelves, boxes, and wall upon wall of framed, colorful bags from airlines across the world. Silberberg even has a sick bag for astronauts made for space travel.

Collecting the bags might be uncommon—“It has not been a good pickup line,” Cox admits—but it’s also a relatively unique hobby.

“There can’t be a more pedestrian fixture than an air sickness bag,” says Grove.

“It’s the right level of absurdity,” Silberberg adds.   

As of 2022, Cox’s collection included 374 “impeccably organized bags,” according to a feature about him in Texas Monthly. They were sourced from 70 countries and 136 airlines, and he pocketed many of them himself on his own travels. He originally started acquiring them after spotting a prize postage stamp on a trip to Monaco in the 1970s, realizing he would never amass a collection that would compete on any scale.

“Rather than wade through the giant community of stamp collectors as a tiny guppy, he wanted to lord over a smaller pond,” Texas Monthly wrote. “He just needed an item novel enough for him to emerge as its titan. And he came up with… air sickness bags.”

In recognition of its birthday and the decrease of ‘quality’ barf bags available to collect today, Dramamine is currently selling a collection of ‘This is not a barf bag’ barf bags. In other words, barf bags designed to be repurposed for more joyous pursuits, such as hand puppets, popcorn bags, ice holders and gift bags. The video also shows people using them as wind socks, storage bags and flower vases, among other creative uses.

Hold up, you may be thinking. Are we really pining the loss of a puke receptacle on account of people having less turbulent flights these days?

Evidently, yes. Yes, we are.

“People rarely use them anymore, and they certainly don’t appreciate them,” Kelly wrote. To collectors, he added, “it has always been more than a barf bag. It’s a monument to American ingenuity and problem-solving, and it’s been a wonderful way to meet lifelong friends.”

But don’t worry, we’re not advocating we go back to a world of motion sickness. We’re with Randi Jachino, VP of marketing for Dramamine, who is firm on her stance:

“I’m kinda anti-barf.”

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