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:
Fran is diagnosed with methyl bromide poisoning . Reception & Review "House" Airborne (TV Episode 2007) - IMDb [S3E18] Airborne
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
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). an Indian man (Foreman)