American Airlines Passengers Told to Urinate in Bags

Overflowing lavatories on a flight from Phoenix resulted in crew asking passengers to urinate in plastic bags. The fall-out from the flooded toilets was captured on video. AA has apologized and explained that this malfunction was caused by a used diaper that had been flushed into the plane’s system.

Malfunctioning toilets onboard a recent American Airlines (AA) flight from Arizona to Kona, Hawaii reportedly resulted in cabin crew asking passengers to urinate in plastic bags, Phoenix NBC affiliate KPNX reports.

Video footage recorded on American Airlines Flight 663 on August 31st shows a member of cabin crew suggesting to an unnamed passenger that she should relieve herself by urinating in a plastic bag. Clearly taken aback, the traveler can be heard to ask, “What do you mean I have to pee in a bag?”.

Commenting to the outlet, the passenger said that travelers had been told that there were issues with the aircraft’s lavatories.

“You could see the passengers looking at each other in disbelief. And they also locked two of the lavatories, as far as I can remember, so there was no access to those whatsoever,” she said. The only available lavatory, she said, was already overflowing.

The carrier spoke out to confirm that there indeed had been a problem with the toilets on that particular flight, but clarified to the outlet that the plane had left the tarmac at Phoenix with all facilities in correct working order.

However, upon investigation, it was found that a used diaper – which had been flushed while onboard – was the cause of the malfunction.

In a statement, the carrier was quoted by the outlet as saying, “We are very sorry for the trouble this caused the 187 passengers on flight 663. Our customer relations team will be reaching out to all of the passengers on this flight to extend our apologies.”

“At American, lavatories must be working properly prior to departure. If an American flight is in the air, and all lavatories become inoperative, the flight will divert to the nearest suitable airport in order for maintenance to rectify the situation. Due to the location of the aircraft, the flight continued to its intended destination. The issue was subsequently rectified upon arrival in Kona, and our flight returned to Phoenix as scheduled,” it added.

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