Explained: So, what did actually happen with the ‘poop plane’ everyone is talking about?

It’s everywhere right now – and I’m sorry for that pun, but I can’t avoid the story of the passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight who had such bad diarrhoea the plane had to turn around and be grounded. The widespread (again, everything feels like a pun and it’s not I promise) story has been dubbed “poop plane” and is living in my head rent free.

The story has been circulating on TikTok and Twitter, and there are loads of news reports about what happened. The poop plane incident escalated into staff onboard calling it a “biohazard” and passengers recalling what they described as “a mess”.

So here’s the full saga completely explained. I think this goes without saying, but if you don’t like discussions of *poop* you should probably look away now.

So, what actually happened on the Delta Air Lines flight and the passenger with extreme diarrhoea?

Right, so the flight was on Friday last week, and was scheduled to travel from Atlanta to Barcelona. However, the Delta Air Lines Airbus A350 journey took a turn when a passenger suffered from such bad diarrhoea around two hours into the flight, the plane had to make an emergency landing and turn around.

The poop in question is said to have run “all the way through the plane” and a member of staff speaking to air traffic control labelled the situation a “biohazard” which is why such measures were taken. According to reports passengers were seen holding their noses and cabin crew desperately attempted to clean up the mess with air freshener, which didn’t really provide any help.

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Speaking to air traffic control, the captain said: “This is a biohazard issue. We’ve had a passenger who’s had diarrhoea all the way through the airplane, so they want us to come back to Atlanta.”

One woman whose partner was on board tweeted: “It was pretty bad. It was dribbled down the aisle, smelled horrible. The vanilla scented disinfectant used on it only made it smell like vanilla shit. After the plane landed, it was thoroughly cleaned.”

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

The plane arrived back in Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport at 10.40pm. It was deep cleaned after landing, and according to some reports the entire floor was ripped up, and flight records show the plane has been used for another journey since. When the plane returned the passengers were placed on another flight, and got into Spain eight hours later than their original scheduled landing time.

Another passenger tweeted: “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.”

Alleged footage of the flight in question has now been shared online, and appears to show the mess running all down the aisle of the plane.

https://www.tiktok.com/@trump_warroom78/video/7275531792948432170?q=delta%20flight%20diarrhea&t=1693993698587

A spokesman for Delta Airlines said: “Delta flight 194 from Atlanta to Barcelona returned to Atlanta following an onboard medical issue. Our teams worked as quickly and safely as possible to thoroughly clean the airplane and get our customers to their final destination. We sincerely apologise to our customers for the delay and inconvenience to their travel plans.”

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Witnesses onboard recall ‘mess’ and ‘horror’ of U-turned flight due to passenger diarrhoea