The original patient, Peng, is diagnosed with Decompression Sickness (the bends) caused by scuba diving shortly before the flight.
A central theme of the episode is psychogenic illness. Most of the sick passengers, including Cuddy, are eventually revealed to be suffering from mass hysteria rather than a biological virus. Final Diagnoses: [S3E18] Airborne
Fran is diagnosed with methyl bromide poisoning . Reception & Review "House" Airborne (TV Episode 2007) - IMDb The original patient, Peng, is diagnosed with Decompression
While flying over the North Pole, House and Cuddy encounter a passenger exhibiting symptoms of what initially appears to be bacterial meningitis . As more passengers seemingly fall ill, the threat of a deadly pandemic grows, complicated by the fact that the plane is past the "point of no return" for a quick landing. Final Diagnoses: Fran is diagnosed with methyl bromide
In one of the episode's most comedic sequences, House recruits three random passengers to act as stand-ins for his usual team: a young boy (Chase), an Indian man (Foreman), and a morally outraged woman (Cameron).