NEW DELHI: In a fresh fiasco for Air India, a Delhi-bound flight was forced to return to Chicago from where it departed after nearly ten hours in air. No, it wasn’t for a mechanical failure. The lavatories onboard the flight were completely clogged. The mid-air sanitation disaster left passengers furious, adding to the growing list of service failures plaguing the airlines.
The flight, which took off from Chicago on March 5, was soaring over Greenland when 11 out of its 12 toilets became inoperative, leaving nearly 300 passengers with just a single functional lavatory. To make matters worse, the only working restroom was in business class, sparking chaos and frustration among travelers.
What was supposed to be a long-haul journey to Delhi turned into an unbearable ordeal, with passengers trapped onboard for ten hours before the aircraft made a U-turn.
While AI initially cited a ‘technical issue’ as the reason for the unscheduled return, passengers were quick to expose the problem. Many expressed outrage over the airline’s poor maintenance, with some branding the experience a “crappy” disaster.
“We are aware of some social media posts about the unserviceable lavatories on AI126 operating Chicago-Delhi on March 5 that caused the flight’s diversion back to its origin. We would like to confirm that as part of our investigation into the incident, our teams found polythene bags, rags, and clothes had been flushed down and stuck in the plumbing.
This led the lavatories to become unserviceable,” said an Air India spokesperson, adding that the airlines empathises with passengers who faced discomfort and whose travel plans were affected by the diversion.
Elaborating on the incident, the airline said, nearly two hour after take-off, the crew reported some lavatories to be unserviceable. “By this time, the aircraft was flying over the Atlantic, leaving points in Europe as potential cities to divert to... due to restrictions on night operations at most European airports, it was decided to divert back to Chicago,” Air India said.