United Airlines had a really crappy situation on hand as the pilots of flight UA2477 from Houston to Boston alerted ATC about a biohazard issue onboard, causing cabin crew to vomit and passengers gasping for
The situation was so bad that the crew requested to land as soon as possible, diverting to Washington-Dulles (a United hub), where the plane was taken out of service and underwent a deep cleaning.
It’s not often that a plane gets taken out of commission by a passenger’s bodily functions, but it must have been a horrible experience for everyone involved and seated in the immediate vicinity.
This must have been horrible for the sick passenger, others around the immediate seating area, and basically, everyone on board who was eventually affected by this flight diversion.
As reported by The Independent, the pilot relayed to Air Traffic Control that the cabin crew was vomiting, and passengers requested masks.
A United Airlines flight bound for Boston was forced to divert to Washington Dulles International Airport on July 28 following a medical emergency involving a passenger.
United Airlines flight 2477 from Houston, Texas was a few hours into the journey to Boston when the incident occurred. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, landed at Dulles Airport at approximately 1.36pm EST.
The airline confirmed that a passenger experienced a medical issue requiring immediate attention, prompting the decision to divert the flight.
An airline spokesperson said: “The flight was diverted to Washington-Dulles after a customer experienced a medical issue.”While on the ground at Washington Dulles airport, the plane underwent a deep clean.
“The aircraft subsequently departed Washington-Dulles at 1717pm (local time) yesterday,” added the United Airlines spokesperson.
While the airline has not released specific details about the passenger’s condition, it did say that none of the 155 passengers or six crew onboard needed medical assistance once the plane had landed. …
“I talked to the crew and it sounds like it’s quite bad back there, it’s still really bad,” the employee is heard saying. “The crew is vomiting, and passengers all around are asking for masks.
“With this kind of being a biohazard I think we need to probably get this plane on the ground ASAP.”
The term “biohazard” typically refers to biological substances that pose a threat to human health, which in an aviation context can range from a contagious illness to bodily fluids contaminating the cabin environment. …
Discretion or not, it’s pretty much expected that this was either another case of diarrhea that didn’t exactly make it to the lavatory or a perforation of a passenger’s colostomy bag. Nevertheless I can only imagine the stench, disgusting!
The plane then had to be deep-cleaned at Washington-Dulles which was probably the main reason why they diverted to a United maintenance base. A day later it went back into service. Hopefully, they used an air freshener.
Conclusion
This must be one of the most unusual reasons for a flight diversion, having a plane turn back to its origin because a passenger caused a biohazard alert and covered large parts of the aircraft cabin in bodily fluids (feces) of sorts. This must have also been super embarrassing, and I’m sure the passenger in question felt terrible.
Having the pilot make a quick decision to divert to Dulles likely saved everyone a VERY bad flight, although Bosten wouldn’t have been THAT far out either. The question is how capable the station in Boston would be to deep-clean the plane; probably, United would have to shuttle it over empty.