Airline Passenger Claims Flight Attendant Falsely Accused Them Of Clogging The Plane's Toilet And Forced Them To Plunge It
The way in which this passenger was treated is appalling.
Mangkorn Danggura | Shutterstock It's not unexpected to have an unpleasant experience on a plane — someone kicks your seat, falls asleep on your shoulder, or man-spreads right beside you. It's an unfortunate side-effect of travel, but usually, the joy of arriving at your destination can make being squeezed into a flying tin can more bearable. That wasn't exactly the case for one passenger who had an encounter with a flight attendant that went from bizarre to downright gross.
In the subreddit r/amiwrong, a passenger recounted how they were forced to plunge a toilet they weren't even responsible for clogging.
An airline passenger was falsely accused of clogging a toilet and then forced to plunge it by an irate flight attendant.
The Redditor explained that on their flight from Bali to Sydney, they had sinus issues that were worsened by travelling.
They made an initial trip to the bathroom to blow their nose, and as they were exiting, a flight attendant asked if they had flushed the toilet in an accusatory tone. The passenger was rather groggy and so was startled by her. They immediately apologized and went back to flush the toilet only to realize they hadn't even used the toilet, they had thrown the tissues in the bin.
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"As I made my way back to my seat, my partner and I agreed the way she handled it was very rude and weird, but I was happy to let it go," the passenger said. But unfortunately after this, the situation only escalated.
Later, when asking for tissues, she seemed rather annoyed as the passenger sarcastically explained, "She was playing a very important block-building game on her phone." The passenger went through the tissues the flight attendant reluctantly supplied, and then they decided to go to the bathroom once again to blow their nose so as not to disturb the other passengers.
"This time I threw them in the toilet, put the seat down, hit flush and thought nothing of it other than she’d probably be very pleased to hear a flush this time," they wrote.
The flight attendant asked whether the passenger had flushed the toilet again.
Just as the passenger opened the door, the flight attendant appeared asking if they had flushed yet again. To which they replied "Yes, and again I was blowing my nose, but thanks for checking in."
A few minutes after returning to their seat, the flight attendant marched over and accused them of clogging the toilet and demanded they unclog it. They refused several times, but the flight attendant continued to harass them so they eventually gave in to not cause more of a disturbance to the other passengers.
For whatever reason, this flight attendant was convinced the passenger was responsible for clogging the toilet even though they were not. They were forced to remove tissues soaked in someone else's urine from the toilet with just a small piece of plastic.
Commenters were appalled on the passenger's behalf.
"You should have complained when you left the plane, but you still can. Don’t let them get away with this; she will keep treating people like that, so you will be doing a favor for the next customer that she chooses to annoy," one commenter advised.
The passenger agreed that they should've complained immediately, but they were too embarrassed by the situation, so they just took off. After thinking about it, however, they couldn't let the incident go and filed a complaint, hoping action was taken.
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"It's extremely difficult to block a toilet without actually putting [an] item in there or diapers or something big that won't fit in a normal toilet either. So your tissues did not do it, but probably did pile up with whatever else is blocking it," another commenter said. "No idea why she was acting the way she was, but normally these things are handled discreetly. Best to complain about it, although a lot of airlines won't even bother with it."
As it turns out, this flight attendant likely forced the passenger to endure a very unpleasant task for no reason whatsoever. Nigel Jones, an aircraft engineering expert who also worked as an engineer for British Airways, shared with CNN that a clogged toilet on a plane is no quick fix. He explained, “It can take days to rectify because there’s an awful lot of pipework, and it has to be broken down to find the blockages. If they have one or two blocked toilets, the aircraft is grounded because you have to have a certain number of toilets.”
We'll have to hope the airline actually responds because no passenger deserves to be treated like this. Being forced to de-clog a toilet that you didn't clog in the first place must have been disgusting and humiliating for this passenger. There's no circumstance that would've warranted such behavior from the flight attendant, and her "solution" for the clog likely didn't resolve the issue anyway.
If she was concerned about the toilet not being flushed, she could've asked politely. As for accusing this person of clogging the toilet, that is unacceptable. If there was no solid proof it was them, there was no need to make a scene.
If you're ever faced with an awful situation such as this one, it may be wise to report it in person right away so it can be dealt with immediately. It may feel embarrassing to admit what you went through, but you deserve amends to be made after being mistreated. At the very least, reporting it might save another passenger from a similar experience.
Sahlah Syeda is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.