We tracked down one of the diarrhea plane's unlucky passengers, who confirmed that the defecation disaster was indeed extensive.
On Friday, an international Delta flight bound for sunny Barcelona was forced to U-turn back to its starting point, Atlanta, for an exceedingly rare air travel horror: a passenger had suffered diarrhea throughout the plane's aisle so extensively that completing the flight was deemed untenable.
News of the incident first hit Reddit's r/ATC subreddit, to which a user shared alarming FAA flight information marking the ill-fated flight's decision to turn around.
"DIVERT TO ATL — PASSENGER DIARRHEA ALL OVER A/C," the flight strip read. "BIOHAZARD."
We tracked one of the plane's unlucky passengers down — and they confirmed that the diarrhea was, in fact, "ALL OVER" the cabin aisles, just as that flight strip read.
"I woke up and there was a bit of a strange smell," the passenger, who chose to remain anonymous while speaking of his Diarrhea Plane experience, told Futurism, adding that the flight attendants were forced to perform some DIY ingenuity to deal with the excrement.
"They found everything they could use," said the passenger, explaining that the airline staff used aprons to craft "makeshift biohazard suits" to wear while dealing with the defecatory disaster. Blankets and napkins, meanwhile, were utilized to cover the feces.
You might be imagining that Delta obviously just got these travelers a new plane, right? After all, this one was covered in human feces. But alas, there seemingly weren't enough jets to go around, and according to the passenger, the airline ultimately settled the issue by simply ripping out the Airbus' soiled carpets and giving the passenger plane an extra-thorough clean before reboarding it.
"They actually took out all the carpets for one section of it," the passenger said. "We were waiting three hours at the airport while they were trying to clean it, but they couldn't clean it, so they had to rip off the carpet and change it."
"Then we were back on," they added. "No problem."
The passenger also noted that the plane's staff fully switched over for the second flight attempt, which we're glad to hear. Anyone who's forced to make a biohazard suit out of aprons and proceeds to manage an in-flight diarrhea crisis for the next several hours deserves some time off, not to mention a raise.
You know how when you are falling asleep but have an embarrassing memory jolt you awake? Or when you are driving and have a memory that makes you suddenly scream?
The shitter will never have internal peace. I can't imagine much more of an embarrassing situation. Poor guy
I feel terrible for him too. Some people go their entire lives never knowing the kind of fear that develops with a bad case of diarrhea, and consequently don't understand how horrible it is to live with IBS.
I have no words for what he's going through, other than I hope he has family and friends that are more supportive than mine and more supportive than most commentors.
I have Crohn's and have for years. People don't realize how fucking cruel they are in these situations. It's like belittling somebody with cognitive difficulties. I absolutely get it, poop is gross, and other people's especially, but this is the second story like this in two months that I've seen and it's always framed how terrible it is for the "normal" people who have this once in a lifetime bad experience rather than the person who deals with it and has to live with it every god-damned day.
And people should know that society is absolutely not made for people with various forms of IBD. It's damn near unlivable and made worse by the fact that you can become someone's joke or headline for a problem that society doesn't want to accommodate for and is totally fine kicking you when you're already at a low point. People lost their ever-loving minds when they had to stay in because of COVID. I've been living that life for over a decade, because I know that this is how people are.
Poor guy for sure, but at this point I might just own it and get ahead of it. Get paid a few bucks to do an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, apologize profusely, blame it all on airline food or medication or something
In the full article, it said they kept the guy in the bathroom till a few minutes before landing. I'd absolutely refuse to leave the bathroom till it's been deplaned
I’m so glad your empathetic comment is at the top of this thread. Thank you for being a good person who doesn’t take advantage of other people’s misfortune.
No but as a kid (8 or 9 years old) I shut down a restaurant by puking all over it. Not just for the night either, I closed them down for good. We went back to the area 2 weeks later and they were shuttered. That was the last time my parents refused to believe me when I told them I was feeling sick.
If/when you get salmonella poisoning, you will find out. I didn't understand how people died of diarrhea-based diseases until then. You shit literal liquid every 30 minutes or less, for like two weeks, and it's unstoppable. In my case, it never really did get better. I got diagnosed with virally induced ibs and nothing ever worked quite right after that. It's been three years since I ate that recalled food (which wasn't in recall at the time, yay).
Salmonella feels less like a disease, and more like you accidentally ingested some sort of rat poison and your body is desperately trying to get it out by making you vomit and shit like crazy so it doesn't stay in you.
It's the only time I actually wished for a cork, or perhaps adult diapers. It was a new low for me, I felt like I was gonna die, lol.
I was on a Ryanair flight a few years ago, and out of 3-4 toilets that should have been working, only one was. And a staff member had to hold the door shut on that. The queue was all the way down the plane for like 3 hours of the 4 hour journey.
I don't know if it's possible to literally die of embarrassment, but if there's anytime I'd wish it was it would be in this situation if it happened to me
As someone with severe GI issues, this is exactly why I won’t travel. I can’t imagine the embarrassment that person is now living with. I’ve seen like six articles on this in my newsfeed today. I’d be utterly mortified.
I don’t even like commenting on this because I’m contributing to its visibility, but GI issues are completely debilitating and no joke. You can’t control it, and even adults don’t seem to understand. I’m just so sad for the person at the centre of this who will never live it down. :(
I share that sentiment- that poor person. To society's credit, I have not yet seen any posts or articles with an image or their identity. Hopefully it stays that way.
I sat out on a whitewater rafting trip with friends because I couldn't be that far from a bathroom. After many years of testing other problems, I went to a GI doctor for the stomach issues. I had undiagnosed celiac disease.
Frankly I can't see why they didn't just alert ATC that there was a "health incident" and then tell ground crews on a closed channel what to expect. Would have potentially limited how broadly this news went out
My favorite part of this story has consistently been imagining the poor person that has to figure out how to communicate this in so few words. Like, "How should I word this? Restroom mishap? No, it's not just the restroom. Passenger soiled in aisle? No, it's mo--" "removed JUST SAY DIARRHEA ALL OVER JESUS!"
I wonder if the cleaned plane still had some lingering aroma. They have just booked flights on competitors for these passengers or offered them a hotel
People need to learn to use the toilets at the airport BEFORE boarding a plane. Obviously there are not enough toilets on a plane. Don't put yourself in that position.