You're right John ! (I'm the illustrator) I exagerated a little bit in the illustration, in the book I explain more in detail that the scientist discovered the mess only when she opened her suitcase at home :)

The illustration should be her at the baggage claim with security and a dripping suit case. Lesson learned: pressure-sensitive samples must be in your carry on.

The other cartoons are also not literally how it happened. We're not that dumb, John.

Imagine John L as an illusrator.

Imagine security when you're carrying that in your hand luggage

I just signed up to this website specifically to say sorry about him. Jeez... you're a comic science artist not a law court sketcher.

Hey, John L., lighten up! It's a humorous illustration. I don't think any of the illustrations presented here are serious or completely accurate .... Ever heard of creative license.

I had the glass of my watch jump out of it's metal ring, 2 metres high, when gaining altitude on a plane. I put it back before landing, and on the ground it was as firmly attached as ever. Leave me to suspect it's not that simple or perfect.

i believe you are right, but... a picture of a bag in the cargo exploding like this, is nowhere nearly as funny as this image, lol <3

Man you're boring!

Cargo holds are pressurised. That's where live animals and pets are put. But planes are only pressurised to 75% so not properly secured packets and bottles can burst. I expect she just used corks without a fastener.

Passenger compartments are not pressurized to 1 bar. They are more like 0,75 bar. If it's enough to pop open a glass vial? I don't know.

Congratulations on your sens of humor, John

Hey bub, elax, its just a cartoon.

I bet you're fun at parties......

Well, as an aircraft maintenance engineer I can tell, that there are no non-pressurized compartments used for storage on pressurized passenger airplanes.

Just to lay the smackdown, unless the aircraft was a very very old or very small plane, the cargo hold IS in fact pressurized at the same pressure as the cabin. However, the pressure in the cabin at cruising altitude is approximately equal to the air pressure at an altitude of 10,000 ft (0.71bar / 70kPa vs the pressure of 1.03bar / 101.33kPa at sea level) so yeah, stuff pops.

Just enjoy the illustrations... we get it... you know everything about everything, but just stop being so critical. The joy of cartooning is in exaggerating certain things, and that's exactly what's happening here. If I draw a caricature of you and give you an impossibly large nose, it doesn't mean you have one, it's just for the fun of it.

Airliner cargo holds are pressurized the same as the passenger compartment. If they weren't, the floor would collapse.

Let alone the fact I highly doubt vials of blood wouldn't be allowed in hand luggage

"Passenger compartments are always pressurized" Yes, to an equivalent altitude of 2000m or so. Still enough to cause problems from time to time, even if not this cartoon's worth!

Tell my ears the passenger compartment is not fully pressurized!

Maybe, maybe not. All the planes I have travelled on in the last few years, since getting a watch with a barometer in it, let the cabin pressure drop to about 800 mBar. My theory is that this is intended to tranquilise the passengers.

The baggage deck is also pressurized. But there's a difference in pressure going up, so the vials couldn't handle it anyway.

Actually vampires drink blood so it's a vampire dream.

They were very well cared for by an experienced team of wildlife veterinarians.