A Delta Air Lines flight that was scheduled to take off from Atlanta to Barcelona last Friday had to turn around and make an emergency landing because a passenger had diarrhea.
“This is a biohazard issue,” the pilot told the air traffic controller recorded on LiveATC.com. The excerpt in question was shared on the social network X (formerly Twitter) and reported by the New York Post.
“We had a passenger who had diarrhea all over the plane, so they want us to come back to Atlanta,” the pilot added after a two-hour flight.
A Delta Airlines Airbus A350 returned to Atlanta Friday evening because a passenger throughout the plane had diarrhea, posing a biohazard. 👀🥴
The FAA flight strip for DL194 was posted on Reddit (📷xStang05x). A passenger also posted here and asked why her son… pic.twitter.com/VWbkB47wF1
— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) September 3, 2023
The passenger’s identity remains unknown. The passengers were rebooked on another flight that landed in Barcelona the next day.
Cleaning crews were able to clean the plane in Atlanta because flight records show the plane was later used for another flight.
The airline confirmed that the plane needed to be cleaned due to a passenger’s health issues, but did not provide further details.
“Our teams worked as quickly as possible to thoroughly clean the aircraft and get our customers to their final destination,” a Delta spokesperson said. We sincerely apologize to our customers for the delay and inconvenience to their travel plans.”