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.
Oh god, the poor person who shat themselves into the international headlines. That’s one for the books. Poor bastard.
At least they aren’t named. Only the people they were with would know it was them.
Or they could even be proud.
“You ever take down a whole plane just by having diarrhea? I have.”
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.
What did you eat that utterly crushed the spirit of a restaurant owner?
Right? Demon vomit capable of closing down a restaurant for good is kinda impressive.
“I’m so full of shit that a plane had to be diverted because of me”
“Hey honey, how was your flight?”
Lol
They almost certainly knew they were sick if they coated the entire plane in dookie
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 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.
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 wanna see what it looked like
The brown exhaust coming out of the plane in the article was a nice touch.
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
It’s going to leak from a passenger anyway (pun intended), so it doesn’t really matter if they try to hide it.
Likely true, but I think the virality was helped by hearing the pilot’s message and it ending up on Reddit
“ill-fated diarrhea plane”
What a beautiful phrase. Shakespearean.
Chef’s kiss for the image, with its brown trail.
My nightmare is to get a case of the shits while in a tube 7 miles up in the air.
I once vomited on a plane like I was Linda Blair. This news finally made me feel better. At least I didn’t make the plane turn around.
We call it: “The Aristocrats”!
“Aristocraps”
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At least they didn’t force passengers to disembark or sit on the soiled seats like Air Canada did
I. Don’t. Huh? How? The passenger was wearing pants right? What??
Any parents know. Twice I’ve seen kids shit so hard it came out the neck of their shirts.
When my little sister was a toddler, she was wearing one of those one piece zip up pajama suits.
Just her, me, and my dad home one day. Suddenly smell an awful, gut-churning smell in the house.
Go to pick up sister, sister goes squish in a place that should not squish. Noped out (I was 9 at the time) and told dad.
Dad notices the squish. Takes the toddler to the sink and unzips the pajama suit.
SHE FILLED IT.
UP TO THE TOP.
ZERO SURFACE AREA LEFT UNSOILED.
Several hours of gagging later, we survive.
Pajama suit is now a cursed object. Tossed it in the fire pit outside to avoid the smell being inside forever.
Forever burned into my brain.
Wish I’d never read that
It happens way more often than you’d expect, since you’d expect it to happen zero times.
now that’s a picture I didn’t want to have in mind
Holy shit (no pun intended). Now that’s a sight to behold.
Maybe it was… copious amounts… and gravity utilized the pant leg openings…
Brb gonna puke from my own mental image
This is a fetish thing, isn’t it?
Is this the end result of trying not to poop for three days?
Snakes on a plane II: Diarrhea on a plane
I’m tired of these muthafuckin diarrheas all over this muthafuckin plane!
The flawless execution. The outstanding result. This can only be the work of an authentic Master (with capital M). This can only be the work of Dennis Prager. I want to imagine him glancing for a second at the interior of the plane, while reaching for his seat. The Master, staring at the blank canvas, getting ready to create his new masterpiece. This was not an accident, this was deliberate. Aristotle once said: " Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny." This is a gift to the entire world, like the Sistine Chapel or the Eiffel Tower. Thank you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozg1orQ7j7o
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
