Toilet crisis on the plane: Had to turn around:

Passengers on a United Airlines flight from Frankfurt am Main to San Francisco on Good Friday got a smelly surprise they won’t soon forget.

This is reported by several international media, including the German Welt.

Troubled by a mysterious smell

Stink in the plane

The plane had only made it off the Dutch coast in the Atlantic Ocean, when pilots and cabin crew had to assess whether the route could continue.

The reason was that the plane’s seven-year-old toilet was defective: according to several passengers, faeces was floating around the cabin.

– It was horrible. It stank of poo, one of them told Bild newspaper.

Several are said to have said that the stench was “almost unbearable”.

Couldn’t stand the smell

According to several media, the cabin crew contacted technical ground crews to find out what to do. In the meantime, the plane circled over the North Sea, waiting for new instructions.

After 15 minutes of circulation in the air, the passengers could no longer sit in the strong poo smell.

The pilots therefore decided to turn around and head back to Frankfurt – and the flight, which was just over eleven hours long, ended in just under two.

Had to turn around

A spokesperson for United Airlines confirms to the US Sun newspaper that the plane had to turn around after toilet trouble:

– On Friday 29 March, United Flight 59 returned to Frankfurt, due to a maintenance problem with one of the plane’s toilets, he says in the statement.

Clung on for 45 minutes

Furthermore, he says that all affected passengers were covered for hotel accommodation in Frankfurt, and that they “got a new plane with a well-functioning toilet” to San Francisco the next day.

It is not the first time that United Airlines has had to make changes to its itineraries: a short time ago seven people were sent to hospital after turbulence – and in January a panel came loose from the plane.