Flight canceled after passenger defecates on the plane’s bathroom floor

An EasyJet flight was canceled and its passengers were forced to disembark after a passenger apparently defecated on the plane’s bathroom floor.

The flight on Sunday night (15) from the Spanish island of Tenerife to London Gatwick had already been delayed by several hours.

Aaran Gedhu, a passenger on board, told CNN that the flight had already faced problems before departure when the scheduled plane was switched to a smaller aircraft, which resulted in some customers being refused boarding.

Those who managed to board, two hours after scheduled departure, had to wait more than an hour on the ground while their bags were unloaded due to the aircraft’s excess weight.

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As the delay lengthened, the atmosphere on the packed flight was characterized by “suspense and anger,” Gedhu said.

“EasyJet planes, as they are, just aren’t very comfortable – it’s just a basic seat with good legroom. So everyone was a little tense,” he said.

“Then the pilot finally gave the go-ahead and said there were about 20 minutes left until departure,” Gedhu recalled.

“And that’s when the defecation incident happened.”

“A very uncomfortable experience”

Gedhu said he was sitting in the middle of the aircraft but saw “two passengers” visit the plane’s front bathroom. Then word got out that someone had defecated on the bathroom floor. An unpleasant smell followed.

No one was happy with this situation, Gedhu said, but says most believed the incident was an “accident.”

“Everyone was being polite to each other. There were no fights between passengers,” he said.

“It was a very uncomfortable experience. Obviously, the plane was in unsanitary condition. So they had to call in outside airport cleaners to clean it. It was then that the stairs were reconnected and the cleaners came to deep clean the floors.”

According to Gedhu, passengers remained seated during the cleaning process. The aircraft’s captain later told passengers they would have to disembark in an announcement recorded on video by another passenger, Kitty Streek, who shared the video on X.

“It was very frustrating,” Streek told CNN . “Obviously we can’t prove whether the person simply had an accident or whether they did it out of anger over the flight delay, but it was hard not to be angry either way as no one wants to be stranded in another country.”

It took another 30 minutes before the passengers disembarked, according to Gedhu. He said he was put up in a hotel overnight – about a 45-minute drive from the airport – before boarding a “rescue” flight scheduled for the next day.

EasyJet confirmed that initial delays to flight EZY8054 on October 15 were due to “security reasons”.

“Some bags were unloaded to be transported on the next available flight for safety reasons, due to the excess weight of the aircraft,” it said in a statement.

“The flight was subsequently delayed overnight due to the need for additional cleaning of the aircraft,” the statement continued.

“We provide hotel accommodation for all customers, however, as there was limited availability of nearby hotels in the area, we have also informed all customers who booked their own that they will be refunded.”

“The safety and well-being of our customers and crew is EasyJet’s highest priority and although this is beyond our control, we would like to apologize to customers for the inconvenience caused.”

The cancellation of Sunday’s flight follows several recent disturbing incidents involving bodily fluids on board planes.

In September, a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Barcelona was forced to turn around after a passenger had diarrhea.

Earlier that month, Air Canada issued an apology after two passengers were told to sit in seats that had not been cleaned properly after being covered in vomit during a previous flight.

A CNN also reported on an incident aboard an Air France flight from Paris to Toronto in which a passenger discovered potentially toxic blood and feces left over from an incident on a previous flight under his seat.