Charlotte Foster
Travel Trouble

Flight cancelled after passenger's sickening act

A flight has been cancelled at the last minute after a passenger allegedly defecated on the floor of the airplane bathroom. 
The EasyJet flight was due to depart from the Spanish island of Tenerife to London’s Gatwick airport, which had already been delayed by several hours when the incident took place. 

A passenger on board by the name of Aaran Gedhu told CNN that the problems began when the scheduled plane was switched out for a smaller aircraft. 

Passengers were turned away from boarding the plane while the switch took place, which stirred up a frustrated atmosphere amongst passengers. 

After travellers eventually made it onto the plane two hours after their scheduled departure, they had to wait for their luggage to be transferred to the new plane, which again took several hours. 

As the delay extended, the atmosphere on the packed flight was characterised by "suspense and anger," Gedhu said.

"EasyJet planes, as they are, just aren't very comfortable – it's just a basic seat with okayish legroom room. So everyone was just a bit tense," he said.

"Then, the pilot finally gave the all clear, and then he said that it will be about 20 minutes until departure," recalled Gedhu.

"And that's when the incident happened with the defecation."

Gedhu, who was seated in the middle of the aircraft, saw "two passengers" visit the front airplane bathroom with word quickly spreading that someone had defecated on the bathroom floor. 

As an unpleasant smell followed, passengers grew more irritated, but Gedhu says most people onboard believed the incident was an "accident".

"Everyone was being polite to each other. There was no fighting amongst the passengers," he said.

"It was just a very uncomfortable experience. Obviously, the plane was in an unsanitary state. So they had to get external cleaners out from the airport to clean it. So that's when the stairs reconnected, and the cleaners came on to deep clean the flooring."

According to Gedhu, passengers remained in their seats during the cleaning process, and after the situation had been resolved, the captain of the aircraft told the plane's occupants they would have to disembark.

"It was very frustrating," another passenger, Kitty Streek, told CNN Travel

"We obviously can't prove whether the person simply had an accident or if they had done this out of anger for the delayed flight but it was hard not to be angry either way as nobody wants to be stranded in another country."

Image credits: Getty Images

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travel trouble, plane, EasyJet, defecation