Plane carrying 300 passengers forced to U-turn as 5 toilets clogged

A plane bound for New York had to turn around after several lavatories on the aircraft became clogged two hours into the flight, a representative of the airline has confirmed.

Approximately 300 travellers were on board the Boeing 777 when five of the aircraft’s eight toilets stopped working due to an obstruction.

Members of the Austrian Airlines cabin crew discovered the lavatories were jammed just hours after the plane departed from Vienna.

They decided to turn around as the toilets stopped flushing due to a technical blunder, a spokeswoman for the airline told Agency France-Presse (AFP).

The representative also said that the problem is the first of its kind to ever impact the airline, to the best of her knowledge.

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All passengers on board were rebooked onto other flights upon their return and the pane has since been fixed, added the spokeswoman.

In December 2013, a similar incident affected a United Airlines Flight from Phoenix to Cleveland, which was forced to turn around after a diaper clogged a toilet.

A lavatorial malfunction also compromised a Norwegian Air flight in January 2018, which happened to have 85 plumbers on board, some of whom attempted to fix the clog mid-flight. They were unsuccessful, however, as they needed access to the plane’s exterior.

It is estimated travellers flush aircraft toilets up to 1,000 during a long-haul flight, so it’s no surprise that spillages and clogs are a risk.

The vacuum toilets found on planes comprise a set of robust mechanisms that suck waste into a holding tank, relying solely on a vacuum pump as opposed to water, which is more likely to cause a clog.

With poor maintenance, however, even vacuum lavatories can jam due to the calcification of the pipes inside the toilet system which reduces the flow.