“The smell never really went away”: a dog relieves itself on board, the plane forced to divert its flight

Un avion de Delta Airlines le 15 juillet 2020. (illustration) EPA – ERIK S. LESSER

Le 7 avril 2024, les passagers d’un avion de la compagnie Delta Airlines ont vu leur vol détourné après qu’un chien avait déféqué dans le couloir de l’appareil.

Panic on board. On April 7, a Delta Airlines flight from Houston to Seattle was hijacked, barely an hour after takeoff. It was not a technical problem that caused the plane to make an emergency landing in Dallas, but rather a dog, which had its needs right in front of the first class toilets, reports < em>Business Insider.

"The smell never really went away"

Although the story may make you smile, it is nevertheless very real. The airline has confirmed that a dog defecated in the aisle of the plane, in front of the first class toilets. The toilets were immediately deemed unusable. Although the cleaning was able to be done quickly, it was the nauseating odor that spread throughout the aircraft that pushed the plane to turn away from its main destination.

Once arrived in Dallas, the hallway floor was cleaned and the unit aired out. Operations which lasted for a while, if we believe the testimonies of certain passengers. After a second takeoff, the travelers' ordeal was clearly not over. "The smell never really disappeared", says one of them, quoted by Ouest France.

Please note that the company only allows assistance dogs in the cabin. But on domestic flights, "pets are accepted as long as they fit in a bag under the passenger seat" , comments BFMTV.

An almost similar event had already occurred during a Delta Airlines flight last September. The plane had to turn around after a passenger suffering from acute diarrhea also defecated in a corridor of the plane.