New Delhi: Flyers have faced various kinds of on-flight problems.
But what passengers on a Virgin Australia flight experienced recently is unheard of.
The Bali (Indonesia) to Brisbane (Australia) journey turned into a nightmare as all toilets on the aircraft malfunctioned mid-air. It was a long six-journey journey, and passengers had no choice but to improvise.
Some took their discomfort in stride and waited until the plane landed in Brisbane, but others urinated into bottles.
According to a report by The Sun, problems started on the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft even before take-off from Denpasar on Thursday. One of the rear lavatories was reportedly out of service already. However, the flight proceeded on schedule as there was no engineering support available in Bali to resolve the issue.
The remaining lavatories became unusable during the journey, and thus passengers had no access to toilets for the final three hours of the flight.
It was quite an ordeal for passengers, who had to endure an overpowering smell that spread through the cabin as urine seeped into the floor.
Passengers described the atmosphere on board as uncomfortable and undignified.
“One elderly woman was unable to hold on and suffered the humiliation of wetting herself in public. Midway through the flight, every toilet failed,” The Australian quoted one of the passengers as saying.
“The cabin crew informed us we would need to relieve ourselves in bottles. It was degrading and distressing, especially for elderly passengers,” another passenger revealed.
Airline issues apology
Confirming the incident, Virgin Australia issued an apology to affected passengers.
“A Virgin Australia flight from Denpasar to Brisbane on Thursday evening experienced an issue during the flight which affected the serviceability of the lavatories. We sincerely apologise to our guests and thank our crew for managing a challenging situation on board,” the airline said In a statement, reported the New York Post
