DL194, you’re number two for landing.
I’ll avoid further puns and get to the point: I feel horrible for everyone involved in a Delta Air Lines diversion over diarrhea. The crew, the sick passenger, and the other passengers onboard. What a sad situation. But Delta deserves some praise as well.
Diarrhea Forces Delta Flight Diversion
On Friday, September 1, 2023, DL194 departed Atlanta (ATL) for Barcelona (BCN). The flight was operated by an Airbus A350-900 aircraft (registration code N570DZ) and departed about two hours late (unrelated issue).
While over the Commonwealth of Virginia, the plane made a u-turn and returned to Atlanta. Why? Per the electronic flight strip (EFS):
“Divert to ATL — passenger diarrhea all over aircraft — biohazard”
It appears that a passenger had some incontinence issues, could not make it to the lavatory, and ended up spreading fecal matter literally throughout the passenger cabin. Listen to the ATC audio below:
I have a dear friend who recently dealt with this sort of thing and had his own issue on a Delta flight, though thankfully not that severe. Sometimes diarrhea simply erupts…asking whether the passenger should have known better than to get on the aircraft is likely the wrong question, especially if food poisoning was involved.
The impressive part of this story is that Delta managed to find a new crew and get the flight (same aircraft, after a deep cleaning) back in the air. DL194 took off at 2:57 am (after arriving back in ATL at 10:57 pm). Not bad at all. The flight arrived into Barcelona at 5:10 pm, eight hours late.
CONCLUSION
Any diversion is regrettable, but at least this was not an unruly passenger – just an incontinent one. Kudos to Delta for getting the aircraft cleaned and back in the air in relatively short order. Hopefully, the diarrhea passenger is now feeling much better.
I am skeptical about the severity. My guess was one lavatory was a mess and maybe a footprint from a passenger using it afterwards. If it were truly all over the aisle and many seats, the cleaning crew would hold the plane longer.
It doesn’t take that long to clean up some crap. Especially when its fresh. If it’s old and caked into the seat and carpet, then that’s a different story, They were on the ground for 4 hrs. You figure 30 minutes to deplane and 1 hour to board and that leaves about 2.5 hours to clean. Which is more than enough time and especially with multiple people cleaning.
This is my worst fear.
In Mexico City I got salmonella poisoning along with my traveling companion. Within 10 minutes of each other, we both became violently ill. The suite had one bathroom. Without too much detail, we were fighting for the bathroom. The concierge was able to secure 2 other rooms and the valet wheeled us on the luggage cart. The hotel also got an in room doctor.
I can’t imagine what would have occurred if we were not in the room at the onset.
I feel bad for everyone involved. That said, is it me or is this behavior increasing? Showing my Gen X roots here, but I don’t recall cases of adults regularly crapping themselves in the 80s and 90s. In countless flights over the years, I have been ill on exactly one, a short one at that (FLL-ATL) and I managed to not leave a trail behind me or in my clothes. Adults should have some control unless they are seriously ill.
Of course, last century, I didn’t ever see pools closed at hotels (Walt Disney World is the worst) because someone crapped the poo … poo … pool.
TIL adults never had bad diarrhea in the 80s and 90s
€600 in EU261/2004 compensation for the passengers on the return flight!
I was on a Delta flight some years ago when a female passenger had an attack of diarrhea. We were not to far from our airport, I believe it was ATL. We landed and the plane was taken out of service. This passenger was seated in one of the first rows of economy; I was in business. The FA escorted her to the front lavatory. The smell permeated the entire plan.
Complimentary aroma therapy and liquid chocolate for all passengers.
I was on a flight in the 80s when I was about 17 and felt an issue coming on when we were taxiing for takeoff. I had no stomach issues before the flight. I held it until about 15-30 seconds into takeoff then bolted from my seat. I walked right down the aisle looking straight at the FA who was still seated for the takeoff. The lav was right next to her and she said nothing. Now , the FA probably would have said something.
They’re lucky they weren’t over the middle of the Atlantic 4 or 5 hours into the flight. Talk about a red-eye flight.
I remember flying out of STL when the unexpected emergency “urge” hit me. Barely off the runway on takeoff I sprinted for the toilet, the FA seated a few feet away. Her words: “Hey, you gotta go, you gotta go.”