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.

  • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    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.

      • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        it’s damn near unliveable and made worse by the fact that you can become someone’s joke or headline

        I’ve only left my house like 6 times for doctor appointments in the last 5 years because I’ve got GI issues so bad I can’t be more than ten feet from a toilet or I can’t trust things might go wrong. I’m a complete shut-in because of issues like in the OP, and I’ve had zero social interaction for years now.

        I’m sorry you have to go through this. It’s awful, and you’re right, there are no accommodations. Worse, it’s a joke, so that you don’t even want to discuss it with family or your doctors.

        I’m so sorry. Nobody should have to endure this. I wish you didn’t. It’s life-ruining, and the worst part is you’re utterly alone, and no one can really understand.

        I hope the person this article is about can somehow find peace from all this, though I rather doubt it.

      • peopleproblems@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I dont have IBD, I have IBS-C/M but you get what I’m throwing down:

        We didn’t choose these afflictions. Our lives are hell. A basic function of every living thing causes us pain daily, and outcomes like this run our lives.

        I don’t go to places that don’t have a bathroom I can occupy for a lengthy period of time. I can barely get any relief at home as it is.