Delta flight diverts to Atlanta after passenger with diarrhea causes a mess onboard

Gut issues and air travel don't mix well, and a recent flight is proof of it. A Delta plane carrying passengers from Atlanta, Georgia, to the Spanish city of Barcelona, was forced to land after a passenger began experiencing diarrhea aboard, so explosive that it "ran all the way through the plane." 

According to The Daily Mail, Flight DL194 had already departed Georgia when the situation transpired. It was in Virginia when the pilots decided that the flight could not complete the rest of its journey due to the "biohazard" aboard. In a text sent to  Air Traffic Control, the captain in charge said, "Divert to ATL — passenger diarrhea all over aircraft — biohazard." 

One of the pilots also confirmed the incident verbally. ''It's just a biohazard issue, we had a passenger who had diarrhea all the way through the airplane so they want us to come back to Atlanta," the pilot said, according to air traffic control audio recordings shared on social media. 

A Delta Airlines Airbus A350 turned around back to Atlanta Friday night because of diarrhea throughout the airplane from a passenger and it’s a biohazard. 👀🥴

The FAA flight strip for DL194 was posted to Reddit (📷xStang05x) Also a passenger posted here asking why her son’s… pic.twitter.com/VWbkB47wF1

— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) September 3, 2023

Delta passengers share ordeal 

As the pilots scrambled to deal with the bout of diarrhea that had wreaked havoc on the aircraft, passengers couldn't help but patiently sit amidst the foul smell. "My partner was on that flight! It was pretty bad. It was dribbled down the aisle and smelled horrible. 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 2:30 a.m.," said Dee W, one of the passengers on the flight. 

"Both my wife and I were on the flight. It was a mess. The pilots made the right decision to turn around. 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," added another. 

After touching down in Atlanta, the plane was thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. About five hours later, it resumed the rest of its trip before finally landing in Barcelona eight hours after its scheduled time. In a statement after the debacle, Delta Airlines apologised and said that its crew "worked as quickly and safely as possible to thoroughly clean the airplane and get our customers to their final destination."