A plane packed with UK tourists returning home was forced to divert mid-journey after a toilet malfunction.
Ryanair flight FR1667 should have reached Bristol around 5 pm yesterday afternoon after departing from Fuerteventura at lunchtime.
But it diverted to the neighbouring Canary Island of Lanzarote shortly into its 3.5-hour journey after the toilets stopped working, according to local air traffic controllers.
It was not immediately clear what exactly the problem, which in the past has led to passengers being forced to use bottles to relieve themselves, had been.
The plane touched down in Lanzarote just before 3 pm yesterday after an hour and a half in the air.
No one from the low-cost airline could be reached last night or early this morning to explain exactly what had happened and say whether passengers had been able to continue to their intended destination or had to spend the night in Lanzarote.
In 2024, a long-haul flight was forced to turn back mid-journey after one of the Boeing plane’s toilets overflowed.
The United Airlines flight from Frankfurt, Germany, was a couple of hours into its journey to San Francisco, California, when the pilot decided to U-turn.
Contents from the toilet’s waste tank were pushed back up into the lavatory, passengers told German outlet Bild.
A foul smell was said to have quickly filled the rest of the cabin on the Boeing 777.
The crew reportedly called technicians from the plane, but they were unable to find a solution that could allow them to continue the flight.
The cause of the fault was not immediately clear, with United Airlines describing it as ‘a maintenance issue’.
How do aeroplane toilets work, and how do they break?
Toilets on aircraft rely on strong suction from the flush. A valve opens when the chain is pulled, sucking all of the waste from the toilet bowl.
The waste is then coated with Teflon, which is also used on non-stick pans, to stop it from sticking within the pipes.
The waste is moved through the pipes, just like your home toilet system, but in this case, it is stored in tanks on board the aeroplane as opposed to entering the sewage system.
When the plane lands, a sewage vehicle attaches a vacuum hose to the plane’s waste tanks. When it’s all emptied, the plane can prepare for its next flight.
Sometimes, pressure issues mean the toilets aren’t working and draining the waste properly. Regulations often stipulate that at least one toilet has to be working for flights under two hours long.
For long-haul flights, a broken toilet often grounds the plane, as passengers must have access to a lavatory during long flights.
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