Delta flight grounded after flyer’s diarrhea labelled ‘a biohazard’

A Delta flight from Atlanta to Barcelona was forced to turn around after a passenger on board suffered a bout of diarrhea which ‘ran all the way through the plane’. Flight DL194 had already departed Georgia on schedule at 8:47 pm, Friday September 1, and was over Virginia when the pilots decided to abandon the journey.

In a text message sent to Air Traffic Control, the captain was succinct in explaining the problem: ‘Divert to ATL — passenger diarrhea all over aircraft — biohazard.’ Air traffic control audio recordings also reveal one of the pilots confirming the situation over the radio. ‘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 situation was distressing for both passengers and crew. Some with knowledge of the situation posted to social media.

‘My partner was on that flight! 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 [Expletive]. After the plane landed, it was thoroughly cleaned. They didn’t leave until around 2:30am’, wrote Dee W. ‘The flight was met by emergency vehicles and EMTs carried the sick passenger off the plane. My partner said the plane was cleaner when they got back on at 2am than it was the first time they got on. No smell either.’

Another passenger onboard the Airbus A350 aircraft also praised the cleanup operation. ‘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 the attendants and the pilots,’ wrote John Hurdt.

Upon landing back in Atlanta, focus shifted to addressing the ‘biohazard’ issue through a thorough cleaning of the aircraft. Fortunately for passengers, the flight was not entirely canceled. The aircraft touched down in Atlanta at 10:40pm and eventually resumed its journey to Spain just over five hours later at 3am.

Following an 8-hour and 13-minute flight, the plane finally landed in Barcelona at 5:10pm – eight hours behind schedule. While Delta acknowledged the flight encountered an unexpected medical even, the airline remained tight-lipped about the specifics.

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