A Delta Airbus A220 headed from New York LaGuardia to Jacksonville turned back to the gate on Sunday because deicing fluid got inside the cabin and soaked a passenger.
Delta 1307 was scheduled out at 2:10pm and didn’t depart until 5:22pm. Air traffic control audio captured the crew requesting to return right after deicing. Coming off the deice pad, the pilots told ground they needed to go back to a gate, and when ATC asked why: deicing fluid leaked inside the aircraft and “soak[ed] the aircraft.”
Delta flight returns to the gate at Boston Logan because a passenger got covered in deicing fluid? That’s a new for me
Audio and video via the awesome @theATCapp pic.twitter.com/Txuecr2tf5
— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) January 20, 2026
Despite the mention in the tweet of Boston, Delta 1307 departs LaGuardia. The most likely explanation is overspray near the entry door. Doors and seals are not designed to behave like a submarine hatch on the ground, and high-pressure spray too close to gaps can push fluid inside past seals. Fluid can also ends up in systems meant to move air. That becomes a fumes or odor issue.
Aircraft deicing fluid is typically propylene glycol mixed with water, heated to around 150 degrees and sprayed under pressure. That’s notsomething you want on your skin or clothes for the duration of flight.
(HT: Paddle Your Own Kanoo)
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I hope everyone realizes how much food has Propylene Glycol in it! PG is common in processed foods like seasoning blends, baked goods, salad dressings, drinks, and dairy products. It also appears in cosmetics and medications.
If you can spill your own hot coffee into your lap in a drive thru at the Golden Arches & get a mil in civil court, this should be worth billions!
That usually happens when glycol is sprayed right at the seals. You’re supposed to spray above the windows and let it run down over the windows.
If it were me, I’d be calling an attorney.
Morgan & Morgan is ready and waiting. They even run ads on social media for aircraft smells.
Another Premium passenger experience on Delta.
Not sure of the details, but I was on a BUF-DCA US Airways flight back in 1999, sitting on the deicing pad when somehow the emergency window got dislodged and de-icer sprayed inside a few rows up from me.
They called some maintenance staff and they cleared the aircraft for takeoff about 2 hours late.
Between babies, drunks and Kilfrost DF, wearing a Tyvek jumpsuit while flying is looking increasingly attractive.
Re: “Morgan & Morgan is ready and waiting. They even run ads on social media for aircraft smells.”, fixed it: “Ambulance chasing douchebag and bottom feeding scumbag are ready and waiting. They, and many others of their ilk, run ads EVERYWHERE for EVERYTHING.” The extent and volume of lawyer advertising is horrific.
They (nearly all of them) don’t provide a useful or necessary service, they have no morals or ethics other than making money for themselves, only need a lawyer because someone else has one, they’ve created a need for themselves, they prey on other people’s misfortunes and since many politicians are lawyers our governing bodies are similarly screwed up.
All those lawyer jokes are actually correct. “What do you call 100 dead lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?” “A good start.”
Wow(!) Delta® is now offering free, warm,150°f PREMIUM showers to all it’s First Class passengers, preventing their arms from getting buildup of ice once they step outside in N.Y.; let’s see AA® top THAT.
Delta is ready when you are