A captain in command of a Jet2 flight from Las Palmas (Spain) to Manchester (UK) understood that when you gotta go, YOU GOTTA GO!
The pilot diverted the flight to Bilbao (Spain) after the lavatory tanks became too full for the passengers to use the onboard toilets. The plane was on the ground for two hours while passengers used the loo before it continued to Manchester.
A standard preflight check before the departure of an aircraft is to check the levels of the waste tanks. If the duty is forgotten, it can result in the lavatories becoming unusable during the flight. It’s unclear if the ground servicing team in Las Palmas forgot to empty the tanks or if the Jet2 crew forgot to check their waste management systems before returning to the UK.
When toilets become unusable during a flight, airlines will generally continue to their destination as diverting the flight is expensive. However, a representative for Jet2 stated that passengers’ comfort is of the utmost importance for the airline, which has one of the highest customer satisfaction ratings among UK airlines. “As an award-winning airline, the comfort and well-being of our customers is of paramount importance to us; however, we apologise if this caused any inconvenience,” the airline said in a statement.
