Last month a Delta flight made worldwide news for diarrhea all the way through the cabin of an Airbus A350. The Atlanta to Barcelona flight turned around and went back to Atlanta to get cleaned up.
Over the weekend an easyJet flight to London was rescheduled for the next day after a passenger unloosed the caboose in the lavatory but missed the toilet.
American Airlines? They just kept flying.
Had the worst experience on my recent birthday trip with @AmericanAir Someone had a poop accident in the aisle right next to me & they are refusing to compensate ! Talk about a crappy way to celebrate! #AmericanAirlines #BirthdayBlues #customerservicefail pic.twitter.com/f9hnyPSsLc
— Fete Jen (@fete_jen) October 16, 2023
According to a passenger on board the Airbus A319, someone on their flight “had a poop accident in the aisle” right beside them. The passenger wants compensation. They feel they didn’t get the experience they paid for. Implicit in purchasing a ticket is that their travel will occur in a poop-free environment. Or is it? The complaining passenger even received a phone call from customer service letting them know that the airline doesn’t feel any compensation is due.
On the one hand, it isn’t the airline that left the loaf. On the other hand, the customer didn’t get what they expected. Does the airline owe at least a partial refund, or like the contract of carriage says it’s just transportation from A to B with no promises there won’t be this sort of exposure along the way? Airlines generally sell an experience and then fall back on their terms when they do not deliver.
I guess I also want to know, why does it seem like this particular thing is happening all of a sudden?
People whine about compensation for all sorts of reasons. I don’t see this as something that should create compensation.
Considering American management’s attitude with employees and customers as well, this doesn’t surprise me. If American didn’t have lousy customer relations…they wouldn’t have any customer relations. I’m guessing that the contract of carriage doesn’t include this type of problem but an apology letter (at the least) would be appropriate. A partial refund would be very nice, too. But…we’re talking about an airline that doesn’t give a crap (poor choice of word but…) about their employees or customers, so what do you expect?
No, just no.
This sort of compensation should not end up priced into the cost of a seat.
Perhaps American will use crap as their signature scent.
For a multi billion dollar corporation, a few hundred thousand miles split amongst the passengers won’t even be a blip on the bottom line. But it’ll go a long way towards customer satisfaction. Just give them the damn compensation.
This weekend I was boarding a Delta flight and I needed to go really bad. I was in comfort plus, so I figured that I would be able to use the toilet while the rest of the plane was boarding. The flight attendant had no problem with this. It was a morning poo, and due to digestive problems it was quite muchy and a little splattery. Because the sink faucet seemed like it was continuing to run, and I couldn’t get it to shut off, that distracted my severely ADHD mind. It was only on my next flight, when I had a mid flight poop, that I realized the toilets don’t auto flush. And that’s when I remembered that my distraction caused me to not pay attention to whether that toilet had flushed or not, wish I almost certainly hadn’t. So apologies to whoever got to use the toilet after me.
Daniel! That was totally TMI.
No one wants to know about your in flight “ poop.” Some dignity please.
Daniel, thanks for baring your soul! I know that took courage and I appreciate you sharing your story.
“For a multi billion dollar corporation, a few hundred thousand miles split amongst the passengers won’t even be a blip on the bottom line”
I used to work on a team for an airline that proactively sent out compensation via miles for controllable issues to entire flights of passengers. If any of you knew how much “crap” happened on a day to day basis over the THOUSANDS of flights an airline operates daily (most of which are completely out of an airlines control) that View from the Wing or any other travel blog didn’t post about, you’d rethink nearsighted beliefs like this.
Airlines compensating people for the actions of other customers is an insane thought process. And no, providing miles to customers isn’t “free” and is hardly cheap if you look at the accounting. Spread that over thousands of flights a day for any customer who feels they “didn’t get the experience they hoped for” (especially due to other people) and any airline would run out of business within a few days. Get a grip.
If they can serve it on a plate in first class and say it’s a meal, why would having it free on the floor in coach result in compensation?
It is not easy to be sympathetic to big airlines but I don’t understand why passengers want them to be on the hook for the misdeeds of other passengers. If someone threw a rock through the window of my condo, I wouldn’t sue the condo association, I’d litigate against the rock-thrower. Take it up with the offending passenger who caused the damages.
Years ago I had my young kids at a water park in the toddlers pool. A diaper on another child failed to contain the load. All exited the pool while it was cleaned, but NONE of us asked for compensation from the amusement company. I don’t see the justification to ask an airline or any other company for compensation for these accidents.
What a bunch of crap.
Considering it is really a biohazard situation, I don’t think compensation is out of line. Especially since, unlike with some of the past similar issues, the flight didn’t turn back and exposed the passengers for a longer period of time to said biohazard.
As an EP member, I’ve come to conclusion that there are certain things no matter how egregious they will not issue compensation
1) Surprisingly employee behavior. I had an instances of any extremely rude flight attendant on a flight from CLT-LHR. The situation was documented with onboard pursuer and a formal case was opened. AA said it was an internal matter and discipline and training of staff could not be shared with customers. Compensation was rejected
2) Had an instances where baggage claim customer service had to told a group of 10 customers of more to shut up and she walked away and went on her break leaving passengers without answers. Manager came down and defended employee saying she was stressed out. AA again sent the generic apology letter and said behavioral issues aren’t grounds for compensation
AA is great about issuing points for delays or service related issues tied to performance. For people stuff……forget about it
So here we are, in 2023, unable to have a sh**-free flight, now. WTF????
No, no compensation should be given.
I would expect compensation though if they diverted the flight and inconvenienced me when it was, say, just a minor defecation in one contained area. Nothing mechanically wrong with the airplane and if the crew applied the biohazard kit and dealt with the smell, yet still decided to inconvenience all of us due to one incontinence, that may be a question of compensation.
It’s time to remove Taco Bell’s from the airports and be banned for travel within a 600 mi radius and be prohibited from consuming said meal two days prior to flight.
Also no coffee, no milk or juice on morning prior to departure of flight. Note: if you feel you need to fart run to the nearest bathroom first. Never trust a fart!
Get a grip everyone.
In San Francisco, people have to make do with passing poops on the streets on a daily basis. No one has asked the city for compensation on bad experience or bio-hazard exposure.
I feel bad for that poor person that become ill. To all the whiners just be glad it was not you! There is no justification for any compensation.
Simple. Just don’t fly AA, which is today’s version of Spirit.
You get what you pay for.
You ask why does it seem like this particular thing is happening all of a sudden? Answer: more and more people are on semaglutide (Wegovy, Ozempic, etc.) for weight loss, and one well-known side effect of this drug is uncontrollable diarrhea.
Society needs to take a stand against always having a hand out for “compensation.” FecAAl.
Surely this new trend of uncontained loads on a plane come courtesy of big pharma’s lovely new glp-1 weight loss products.
I’m sure most passengers just thought the “aroma” was part of meal service
My wife is a higher up at a competing airline. She always tells me if they comped for everything people ask for the airline would be bankrupt in a week. Why an airline should ever comp for the behavior, actions, or in this case an accident caused by another CUSTOMER is beyond me. Why dont you ask that person to get their wallet out and give you a couple bucks. Drama queen.
I think the issue is that the airlines did nothing to improve the situation. They did not clean it up and they did not divert to have it properly dealt with. This is a biohazard situation. Poop carries all kinds of pathogens and it is possible that the diarrhea had a viral or bacterial cause. Beyond that, I would not want to sit next to diarrhea for an entire flight. I do not think it’s unreasonable to request compensation for the airline’s negligence. It seems they prioritized not disrupting their schedule, so it seems like that choice should have some consequences that are not just absorbed by innocent bystanders.
This is exactly why I no longer fly. I either drive or stay home.