Passengers were forced to relieve themselves in water bottles on board a Virgin Australia flight to Brisbane after the toilet facilities malfunctioned.
Flight VA50 took off on Thursday (26 August) from Denpasar, Bali, for an almost six-hour journey to Brisbane, with one of the bathrooms already out of order.
The decision was made to proceed with the flight rather than cancel it, as there was limited engineering support in Denpasar at the time.
After takeoff, two further toilets ceased working. Passengers were on a Boeing 737 Max 8 plane, which typically only has three toilets: one at the front, and two at the rear.
During the last hour and 40 minutes of the flight, all toilets were unusable.
“One elderly woman was unable to hold on and suffered the humiliation of wetting herself in public,” a passenger told The Australian.
“Midway through the flight, every toilet failed.”
The passenger said that eventually “cabin crew informed us we would need to relieve ourselves in bottles or on top of whatever was already in the toilet.”
One lavatory also started to seep urine onto the floor, filling the plane with a foul smell, they told the publication.
Virgin Australia confirmed that the toilets had issues on the flight, but did not address passengers using bottles to relieve themselves.
“A Virgin Australia flight from Denpasar to Brisbane on Thursday evening experienced an issue during the flight which affected the serviceability of the lavatories,” a spokesperson told The Independent.
“We sincerely apologise to our guests and thank our crew for managing a challenging situation on board.
“We will be crediting guests for the Denpasar to Brisbane flight, and we are proactively reaching out to them to provide this update,” they added.
It is unclear what caused the toilets to become out of order, but Virgin Australia said this is being investigated.
While the Virgin Australia flight arrived at its destination on time, toilets can often be the cause of delays or cancellations on other journeys.
In March this year, an Air India flight from Chicago to Delhi was forced to turn back around after eight of the 12 toilets on the aircraft were clogged.
An investigation later found that the toilets were clogged by polythene bags, rags and clothing that had been flushed down and stuck in the plumbing, the airline said.
With restrictions on night operations at most European airports, the plane decided to divert back to Chicago.
The plane was near Greenland when it reversed course, meaning passengers endured a flight just under 10 hours, only to land back where they started.
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