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.

  • Wahots@pawb.social
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    1 year ago

    If/when you get salmonella poisoning, you will find out. I didn’t understand how people died of diarrhea-based diseases until then. You shit literal liquid every 30 minutes or less, for like two weeks, and it’s unstoppable. In my case, it never really did get better. I got diagnosed with virally induced ibs and nothing ever worked quite right after that. It’s been three years since I ate that recalled food (which wasn’t in recall at the time, yay).

    Salmonella feels less like a disease, and more like you accidentally ingested some sort of rat poison and your body is desperately trying to get it out by making you vomit and shit like crazy so it doesn’t stay in you.

    It’s the only time I actually wished for a cork, or perhaps adult diapers. It was a new low for me, I felt like I was gonna die, lol.

      • Wahots@pawb.social
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        1 year ago

        My doctor told me shitting 4-5 times a day ain’t normal, lol. Things seem to slowly be getting better though. I dunno if my body will ever truely go back to 100%. Some say salmonella damages your immune system permanently, and based off my ass, I fucking believe it.

        I think I’ve been constipated 2-3 times in the last few years since then, and I savor the feeling, lol. My hope that in another few years…perhaps I’ll be back down to 1-2 times a day.

        • dogebread@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          It’s been like 15 years for me after a similar situation and 1-2 times a day is no problem, but the window to get to a bathroom is shorter than I once remember, and any kind of stress, particularly in the morning, makes for a bad time (early travel days, etc).

        • resurrexia@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Salmonella can hide out in the body and get reactivated again later so I’m not surprised. Plus your gut flora took a massive beating back then.

          • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Solved it right there, did ya?

            They said they’re under the care of a physician, so I think it’s safe to say they’ve gone through a few ideas.

          • Wahots@pawb.social
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            1 year ago

            I have, it’s just a bit overkill, like playing the piano with a claw hammer. I need a gentle touch, haha.