Passengers on the ill-fated Delta flight that was forced to turn back to Atlanta after a passenger suffered an extreme bout of diarrhoea have been sharing details of the unfortunate incident.
The flight from the US to Barcelona in Spain was two hours into its journey on 1 September when the pilot decided to make an emergency U-turn and head back to Georgia.
One ill passenger suffered a “severe medical emergency”, which one of the pilots speaking to air traffic control described as a “biohazard” that went “all the way through the plane.”
As other passengers watched the messy ordeal go down, they could do nothing other than sit in the plane mid-air as the aircraft headed back to its city of departure.
“It was an experience that I hope no one has to go through. I hope the poor woman that had this experience recovers,” Marie Beals-Basinger told DailyMail.com, expressing concern for the ill passenger.
Ms Beals-Basinger says that she was seated in First Class so did not have to directly deal with the excrement all over the plane carpet.
“We did see Delta crew attendees running back and forth in protective coverings or with gloves,” she explained. “They told us we would have to get off the flight because they had to do a thorough cleaning and replace the carpet.”
The Delta airline flight was only two hours into its journey eight hour journey before they had to fly back— (Getty Images)
Another passenger named John Hurdt, who was on the flight with his wife, also said that the flight crew did great at the arduous job of removing the carpet completely.
“The ground crew ripped out the carpet and put new in. Considering the circumstances, the ground crew did a great job, along [with] the attendants and the pilots,” he posted on X.
“It was a mess. The pilots made the right decision to turn around,” Mr Hurdt said, despite the U-turn adding on hours of wait time to their journey to Spain.
Other passengers saw the hilarious side to the whole ordeal. One user on X, who posted video footage of the carpet, said his brother was on the flight. He said his brother thought it was “the funniest thing he’s ever experienced.”
Another user also heard stories from their partner who was travelling to Barcelona that day, who described the scene as “pretty bad.” “It was dribbled down the aisle, smelled horrible,” the post on X read. “The vanilla-scented disinfectant used on it only made it smell like vanilla s***. After the plane landed, it was thoroughly cleaned. They didn’t leave until around 2.30am.”
The flight arrived back at Atlanta’s airport at 10.40pm and after a huge clean-up effort by the ground crew, including replacing the carpet, the flight took off again at 3am, five hours later, to Barcelona.
While most passengers would have been happy that the plane got cleaned, some would have had various appointments in Barcelona they were anxious they might miss.
Ms Beals-Basinger said she and her husband were to catch the Celebrity Reflection cruise ship when they landed in Barcelona.
“We were worried that we would miss the cruise,” she said. “We sat at the airport for hours, all of us so exhausted. Finally, we were allowed back on the plane.”
“Delta was very accommodating, they gave continual updates,” she added
Mr Beals-Basinger and her husband did make it in time for their cruise, despite the messy delay.
Delta Air Lines responded to the situation and said in a statement: “Our teams worked as quickly and safely as possible to thoroughly clean the airplane and get our customers to their final destination. We sincerely apologize to our customers for the delay and inconvenience to their travel plans.”
