A Delta Flight Was Forced to Return to Atlanta Due to Diarrhea on the Plane — What a Waste!
Updated Sept. 6 2023, 3:54 p.m. ET
A Delta passenger had diarrhea on their flight.
Once while living in Los Angeles over 20 years ago, I participated in a double-blinded study to make extra money. You could always find ads for drug testing in the back of the LA Weekly, and I had a strong 20 year-old body but a weak bank account. After filling out paperwork, I was handed a bag from one of three bins. Nervous about an unknown drug, I decided to fib about taking the medication but when I was brought in for an update, I panicked and took severals pills at once. I know. I know.
Apparently I only needed to fill out a questionnaire about how I was feeling. There was no blood or urine test. Relieved I started for home but halfway through my journey while stuck in classic Hollywood traffic, my stomach started gurgling. Before I knew what was happening, I pooped my pants. All this to say, I very much feel for the Delta passenger who recently had diarrhea all over a plane, forcing it to turn around. It's a pretty crappy situation to be in.
Woman with stomach pain
By all accounts, the diarrhea plane was awful for everyone.
The diarrhea disaster happened Friday Sept. 1, 2023 on a Delta flight from Atlanta to Barcelona, Spain. A statement from the airline described the incident as an "onboard medical issue," which is accurate. "Our teams worked as quickly and safely as possible to get our customers to their final destination," they said. "We sincerely apologize to our customers for the delay and inconvenience to their travel plans.” The Airbus A350 aircraft made it safely to its destination the following day.
In an audio recording tweeted out by @fl360aero, the captain can be heard explaining why the plane was turning around. "It's a biohazard issue," he says. "We've got a passenger who had diarrhea all through the airplane so they want us to come back to Atlanta." In a subsequent tweet, footage of the cabin shows one aisle covered in pads of some sort. Large brown stains can be seen across three aisles.
Don't eat or drink before a flight.
Passengers who were on the Delta flight have taken to social media to share their experiences.
"Both my wife and I were on the flight. It was a mess," said a passenger by the name of John Hurdt in a tweet. He went on to say the carpet had to be replaced. "Considering the circumstances, the ground crew did a great job, along with the attendants and the pilots." Several people asked for more information, namely what was wrong with the sick passenger, but John didn't respond.
On Reddit, u/chef5674 did offer up more details though they came by them secondhand as they were in a different section of the airplane. "Reports were that the passenger got up about 15 minute after take off." wrote u/chef5674. Evidently the flight attendants wouldn't let this person use the restroom, and had them return to their seat.
"Initially people thought someone just had bad gas. Once we were on the ground we heard it went about 20 rows, but I’m not sure if that is true or not," relayed the Reddit user. The sick passenger then remained in one of the restrooms until ten minutes prior to landing and was carried off the plane with paramedics.
I love a good poop or fart joke. In fact, I don't rub elbows with anyone who is above that kind of comedy. However, it's always important to punch up, never down. Ridiculing someone who was clearly ill is low hanging fruit, and in this case that fruit was a ton of dingleberries. It's one thing to buy a bowel movement while trapped in your car because of a bonehead mistake, it's another to Eminem style lose yourself because your body is not up to snuff. Please know the difference! Tease with respect.