EasyJet Cancels Flight After Passenger Bathroom Incident

easyJet canceled one of its flights after a passenger defecated on the bathroom floor. The flight was scheduled from Tenerife South Airport (TFS) to London Gatwick Airport (LGW) on October 15. This incident added to the several hours of delays that the flight has faced.

After the incident, the pilot released a short video about the flight's cancellation on X, formerly known as Twitter. One can hear the passengers groaning as they get up from their seats due to the cancellation. 

In the video, the pilot said the following:

"[Someone found it] rather entertaining...to defecate on the front toilet, so now we're staying the night here. We're not going to get everyone off...and organize hotels, then we'll fly back tomorrow morning."

easyJet flight EZY8054 was scheduled to depart Tenerife at 8:05 p.m. and arrive at London-Gatwick at 12:20 a.m. local time the next day. However, that never happened due to multiple delays and the eventual cancellation. The first delay resulted from aircraft issues, forcing passengers to move to another aircraft. Since the replacement aircraft was smaller than the original, the airline provided £500 ($609) vouchers to passengers willing to take another flight.

easyJet had to remove ten passengers from the flight due to capacity issues on the secondary aircraft. However, the process took two hours because some passengers understandably wanted to avoid spending another night in Tenerife. The delay later grew by several hours since the plane was still at full capacity despite the passenger removals. This situation forced easyJet to move luggage to other flights to London-Gatwick.

Airlines often remove luggage if their aircraft are at full capacity for safety reasons. The excess luggage is moved to other flights to distribute weight across an aircraft more evenly. easyJet operates three weekly flights between Tenerife and London-Gatwick with the flight designator EZY 8054. Data from FlightAware shows that this route operates on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays.

If the flight on October 15 were not canceled, the excess baggage would have gone on the flight scheduled for the next day. It is currently unknown what the luggage situation was on the flight that successfully departed on October 16. British Airways, TUI Airways, and Vueling also offer nonstop flights between Tenerife and London Gatwick. 

Passengers were naturally angry due to several hours of delays and the stinky aircraft. Adding to their anger was the inability of easyJet to provide hotel rooms for all of the flight's passengers. The airline forced passengers to look for their accommodation. Despite the airline's promise to refund passengers for any accommodation costs, searching for hotels was the last thing the passengers wanted to do after the other issues. 

easyJet did not officially address the incident as a cancellation. The airline announced an "overnight delay" to clean the aircraft and remove the foul smell. This decision is understandable because airlines must look for their customers' and crew's safety and well-being. Feces in the bathroom would have created a poor inflight experience for the passengers.

Several passengers shared their experiences aboard the flight on X. One person said: 

"Real good of @easyJet to delay the flight 3.5 hours with 0 communication, then decide to cancel it altogether because someone took a shit on the toilet floor. Quite literally couldn't make this shit up." 

Several incidents have involved bodily fluids on flights over the past month. In September, a passenger's diarrhea problem forced a Delta Air Lines flight from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN) to turn around. Another incident forced Air Canada to apologize after forcing two passengers to sit in seats not properly cleaned from vomit resulting from a previous flight. Airlines must take extra care in these scenarios since bodily fluids can be dangerous if not properly accounted for.