iStockphoto / Konev Timur
Air India Flight 216 from Chicago to Delhi was recently forced to turn around after passengers on the flight clogged 11 of the 12 toilets. For anyone who has logged a long international flight, this type of blatant disregard that passengers treat the lavatories with should come as no surprise but 11 out of 12?!
Only 5 hours into the Air India flight, the decision was made to re-route the plane back to Chicago after 11 of the 12 toilets were completely clogged by passengers. This meant the flight was in the air for 10 hours and for 5 of those hours return back to Chicago the same passengers whose questionable digestive tracts clogged the toilets were all forced to share 1 single toilet…
The only working toilet was, of course, located in business class where people traveling in Economy/Economy+ are typically forbidden from entering. This seems to qualify under extenuating circumstances, however, because if people gotta go then they gotta go.
🔥🚨BREAKING: An Air India flight was forced to return on a 10 hour trip to Chicago Illinois because their toilets were clogged with poop leaving hundreds Indians trapped on a plane with no restroom.
Air India Flight 126 was making its way over Greenland on March 5 when 11 out… pic.twitter.com/FhPfMBYgzU
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) March 9, 2025
Take a moment to imagine you are on this flight from Chicago to Delhi and you have already crossed over Greenland and are nearly to Europe when they announce the flight is being turned around because 11 of the 12 toilets are clogged and now everyone will have to wait in line for 1 single toilet for the next 5 hours. Not great.
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According to India Today, there were 300 passengers on board sharing the 1 toilet in business class. A spokesman for Air India said the flight returned due to a “technical issue.” They also stated that upon returning to Chicago, everyone on board was “provided with accommodation to minimize inconvenience. Alternative arrangements are being made to fly the passengers to their destination.”
Call me crazy, but I read that as ‘sorry you got stuck inside a flying tube full of broken toilets… We realize you probably missed whatever you were traveling to see/do, but here’s a new flight for your troubles.’
….How? How does 11 of 12 toilets on this Air India flight get clogged?! Airplane toilets flush with the suction force of an astronaut getting sucked out to space in a Sci-Fi film.
Are they simply not flushing the toilets? Does Air India need to add ‘courtesy flush’ signage? And how does this happen to 11 out of the 12 toilets on the flight?! Was one passenger, a super pooper, responsible for more than one clogging? The people need answers. I need answers. A full-scale investigation must be launched.