Toilets overflow on Continental flight
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Potomac Heights
Posts: 470
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Toilets overflow on Continental flight
Sewage flows down aisles of trans-Atlantic flight
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stori....1cc511cf.html
10:55 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 19, 2007
By RAY LANE / KING 5 News
UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash.– Passengers on a Continental Airlines flight had to hold their noses for hours as sewage overflowed from toilets while they were high over the Atlantic.
"To be blatantly honest, I was more nervous than I had ever been on a flight," said Collin Brock. The University Place man was on board Continental Airlines flight 1970 from Amsterdam to Newark, New Jersey last week when things went bad.
"I've never felt so offended in all my life. I felt like i had been physically abused and neglected. I was forced to sit next to human excrement for seven hours," said Brock.
That's after lavatories - in the middle of a flight filled with passengers - started spewing sewage.
"Sickening. It's a nauseating smell. It's very uncomfortable," said Brock.
It was last Wednesday afternoon when his flight left Amsterdam, but roughly two hours into it, the passengers were told the lavatories were out of commission. An unplanned landing in Shannon, Ireland was made to fix the problem.
A pit stop became an overnight stay. The next day, the same plane headed for its original destination of Newark, New Jersey, but just after takeoff, the sewage overflow began. This time, there was no turning around.
"I don't know how you can say a plane needs to be grounded one day for a problem that's not as major as a problem the next day, and it doesn't qualify for being grounded," said Brock.
He says was there was one partially-working restroom on the plane for the more than 200 people onboard.
He also says the flight attendants - who were serving meal service in a stinky, unappetizing cabin - told everyone to not eat or drink too much.
"To be told that we were supposed to monitor what comes out the other end of us was insulting," said Brock. "Shame on continental. It was the worst flight experience I have ever had."
Continental gave Collin a $500 voucher for a future flight for the inconvenience. He says he's not sure he'll ever use it.
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stori....1cc511cf.html
10:55 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 19, 2007
By RAY LANE / KING 5 News
UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash.– Passengers on a Continental Airlines flight had to hold their noses for hours as sewage overflowed from toilets while they were high over the Atlantic.
"To be blatantly honest, I was more nervous than I had ever been on a flight," said Collin Brock. The University Place man was on board Continental Airlines flight 1970 from Amsterdam to Newark, New Jersey last week when things went bad.
"I've never felt so offended in all my life. I felt like i had been physically abused and neglected. I was forced to sit next to human excrement for seven hours," said Brock.
That's after lavatories - in the middle of a flight filled with passengers - started spewing sewage.
"Sickening. It's a nauseating smell. It's very uncomfortable," said Brock.
It was last Wednesday afternoon when his flight left Amsterdam, but roughly two hours into it, the passengers were told the lavatories were out of commission. An unplanned landing in Shannon, Ireland was made to fix the problem.
A pit stop became an overnight stay. The next day, the same plane headed for its original destination of Newark, New Jersey, but just after takeoff, the sewage overflow began. This time, there was no turning around.
"I don't know how you can say a plane needs to be grounded one day for a problem that's not as major as a problem the next day, and it doesn't qualify for being grounded," said Brock.
He says was there was one partially-working restroom on the plane for the more than 200 people onboard.
He also says the flight attendants - who were serving meal service in a stinky, unappetizing cabin - told everyone to not eat or drink too much.
"To be told that we were supposed to monitor what comes out the other end of us was insulting," said Brock. "Shame on continental. It was the worst flight experience I have ever had."
Continental gave Collin a $500 voucher for a future flight for the inconvenience. He says he's not sure he'll ever use it.
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: London
Age: 64
Posts: 100
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I felt like i had been physically abused and neglected.
Suck it up.
Sh*t happens.
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: western europe
Posts: 1,367
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
http://www.king5.com/perl/common/sli...=www.king5.com
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: It wasn't me, I wasn't there, wrong country ;-)
Age: 78
Posts: 1,757
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Lord Mount
Go Mount your anti customer service & anti ground handling service provider, anti audit helmet sport. In simple English "you are a prat"
Why didn't they try Iceland or turn around?
When you consider the millions of dollars of bad publicity this is going to cause a diversion would have being positively cheap. I imagine Leno and Letterman are getting cranked about now.
Short of a life threatening emergency this was a really bad call and just makes the airlines a whipping boy for poor attitude.
CO better start to pony up a decent offer quick or it's going to get a lot worse.
20driver
When you consider the millions of dollars of bad publicity this is going to cause a diversion would have being positively cheap. I imagine Leno and Letterman are getting cranked about now.
Short of a life threatening emergency this was a really bad call and just makes the airlines a whipping boy for poor attitude.
CO better start to pony up a decent offer quick or it's going to get a lot worse.
20driver
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Small dot in the Caribbean
Posts: 115
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I felt like i had been physically abused and neglected.
You're not a child that's been beaten and left in a garbage bin, rather have sewage in the plane than the plane in the ground. Why are they only talking to this one guy anyway?
Continental gave Collin a $500 voucher for a future flight for the inconvenience. He says he's not sure he'll ever use it.
To be blatantly honest, I was more nervous than I had ever been on a flight,
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Planet Earth
Posts: 276
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It`s utterly offensive to pass this horrible incident off as a non - event ; as for the naysayers here , just what kind of uncivilized upbringing did you recieve that leads you to conclude that human waste running in the aisle of a passenger jet is acceptable , yet tolerable and defensible. Go back to your caves you who condone this behavior by the crew on this Continental flight. Cheap American carriers , I can just imagine the outcry if it was someone else`s national carrier. Time to look in the mirror and have a good look.
Well, it might not be acceptable but Continental didn't do it on purpose. These things happen so just get on with it. Have you travelled on a British train recently? They are much, much worse.
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: West Sussex
Posts: 1,771
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Oh really ???
British trains are much, much worse ?
Even on the old ones I never had a river of sewage running in the aisle, and the new ones are surprisingly good.
I'd suggest it's you who haven't been on one, and as above posters said, being stuck alongside excrement for hours on end is NOT acceptable.
All of those who've patronisingly said 'sh1t happens ' - I wonder exactly how long you'd tolerate that in your hotel room ? Count it in nanoseconds, but it's ok for SLF for hours...
Even on the old ones I never had a river of sewage running in the aisle, and the new ones are surprisingly good.
I'd suggest it's you who haven't been on one, and as above posters said, being stuck alongside excrement for hours on end is NOT acceptable.
All of those who've patronisingly said 'sh1t happens ' - I wonder exactly how long you'd tolerate that in your hotel room ? Count it in nanoseconds, but it's ok for SLF for hours...
First I speak from experience of bad trains with no toilet lids, snapped off flush handles, p!ss in the sink, the odd log. This was last month. OK it was not an intercity but why would i make this up? I was thankfully only wedged next to it for about 15 mins. All the trains I have been on recently have awful toilets.
Also would I tolerate it in a hotel? No because I can do something about it. If your on an aircraft mid ocean then what do you do? You put up with it because you have to. OK if you were on this aircraft what would you do? Moan probably.
Maybe I look at it as a joke- an acceptance that given the amount of action they see sometimes toilets break. But what I think is not acceptable is the state those disabled Iraqi kids were found in last week lying in their own waste through no fault of their own, while the C*nt of a caretaker sells the food meant for them. Then i think a broken toilet so what?
Maybe I just think there are more important things to deal with.
Also would I tolerate it in a hotel? No because I can do something about it. If your on an aircraft mid ocean then what do you do? You put up with it because you have to. OK if you were on this aircraft what would you do? Moan probably.
Maybe I look at it as a joke- an acceptance that given the amount of action they see sometimes toilets break. But what I think is not acceptable is the state those disabled Iraqi kids were found in last week lying in their own waste through no fault of their own, while the C*nt of a caretaker sells the food meant for them. Then i think a broken toilet so what?
Maybe I just think there are more important things to deal with.
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: West Sussex
Posts: 1,771
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
All relative
No-one's going to argue about the orphans, 9/11 & Aushwitz were worse too - that doesn't mean this was acceptable, and nor is saying 'there, put up with it'.
I am absolutely against ' ambulance chasers R us ' litigatious solicitors, but I suggest these Pax deserve a great deal in the way of apology & compensation - if say, my elderly parents had been on that flight, I might be looking for who was responsible.
Ok I'm actually used to 'plumbing' & things can go wrong, but this was with such extreme effects that it is way beyond ' tough, mate'.
I am absolutely against ' ambulance chasers R us ' litigatious solicitors, but I suggest these Pax deserve a great deal in the way of apology & compensation - if say, my elderly parents had been on that flight, I might be looking for who was responsible.
Ok I'm actually used to 'plumbing' & things can go wrong, but this was with such extreme effects that it is way beyond ' tough, mate'.
I think that's fair enough DZ, some compo and goodwill wouldn't go amiss, but maybe some things don't faze me, and a broken toilet is one of them. I could see the funny side when I had to fend off an errant log with a toilet brush once though.
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: London
Age: 64
Posts: 100
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Woah...easy there Merlinxx!
I am not in any way saying that this should be classed as acceptable on a modern airliner. The passengers should be compensated for the uncomfortable journey they had to endure.
What I am saying is that in todays litigious society there is an undeniable tendency to make mountains out of molehills in the expectation of higher and, in my personal view, ridiculous payouts.
To say "I felt like I had been physically abused and neglected" is rather over dramatising things. Having worked with cases of neglect and physical abuse I find those comments extremely distasteful.
"To be blatantly honest, I was more nervous than I had ever been on a flight,"............Why? I am sure that the crew conducted a dynamic risk assessment and had the passengers been in any danger, the pilots would have diverted.
Lets get things in perspective. Toilets sometimes overflow. It seems from the pictures that the cabin crew made sterling efforts to clean up and minimise the discomfort, but discomfort is all it was.
I can presume that, having already endured an unscheduled overnight stop, a poll of the passengers (Would you rather we landed and sorted the toilet or press on to our original destination?) would have produced an overwhelming response to continue the flight.
Is it acceptable? .........No
Do the Pax have a right to complain?.........Yes
Should the Pax be compensated?...........Yes
Were the Pax in any danger?..........No
Is it worthy of a TV news item?............No
As stated by Shaft 109, there are much more important things to be worried about.
I am not in any way saying that this should be classed as acceptable on a modern airliner. The passengers should be compensated for the uncomfortable journey they had to endure.
What I am saying is that in todays litigious society there is an undeniable tendency to make mountains out of molehills in the expectation of higher and, in my personal view, ridiculous payouts.
To say "I felt like I had been physically abused and neglected" is rather over dramatising things. Having worked with cases of neglect and physical abuse I find those comments extremely distasteful.
"To be blatantly honest, I was more nervous than I had ever been on a flight,"............Why? I am sure that the crew conducted a dynamic risk assessment and had the passengers been in any danger, the pilots would have diverted.
Lets get things in perspective. Toilets sometimes overflow. It seems from the pictures that the cabin crew made sterling efforts to clean up and minimise the discomfort, but discomfort is all it was.
I can presume that, having already endured an unscheduled overnight stop, a poll of the passengers (Would you rather we landed and sorted the toilet or press on to our original destination?) would have produced an overwhelming response to continue the flight.
Is it acceptable? .........No
Do the Pax have a right to complain?.........Yes
Should the Pax be compensated?...........Yes
Were the Pax in any danger?..........No
Is it worthy of a TV news item?............No
As stated by Shaft 109, there are much more important things to be worried about.
Last edited by Lord Mount; 21st Jun 2007 at 23:35.
Continental seem to be racking up the criticism stats recently.
I’m trying to put myself in a passenger’s shoes – or nostrils – after the tech stop at Shannon turned into an overnight, and I’m wondering what I’d have voted for: go back and get me on another flight to my destination, or plough ahead and get it over with as quickly as possible. Think I’d probably sigh and go for the latter.
Would it have been the same crew? Presume so, and there’d be a bit of “let’s get this over with” there as well. No indication of how they handled it with the passengers other than a reference to "don't eat too much".
Aso wondering what Continental PR did that we don’t know about. Was it only the “never-been-so-offended-in-my-life” guy that received a $500 travel voucher or did everyone on the flight. Perhaps I’m dreaming, but what a magnificent PR opportunity the arrival in Newark would have been for a VP to address a profuse apology and personally hand out travel vouchers to 200+ passengers.
I’m trying to put myself in a passenger’s shoes – or nostrils – after the tech stop at Shannon turned into an overnight, and I’m wondering what I’d have voted for: go back and get me on another flight to my destination, or plough ahead and get it over with as quickly as possible. Think I’d probably sigh and go for the latter.
Would it have been the same crew? Presume so, and there’d be a bit of “let’s get this over with” there as well. No indication of how they handled it with the passengers other than a reference to "don't eat too much".
Aso wondering what Continental PR did that we don’t know about. Was it only the “never-been-so-offended-in-my-life” guy that received a $500 travel voucher or did everyone on the flight. Perhaps I’m dreaming, but what a magnificent PR opportunity the arrival in Newark would have been for a VP to address a profuse apology and personally hand out travel vouchers to 200+ passengers.
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London UK & Uzes France
Posts: 91
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
What I am saying is that in todays litigious society there is an undeniable tendency to make mountains out of molehills in the expectation of higher and, in my personal view, ridiculous payouts.
"I was taking a flight and the toilets overflowed. There was sh1t everywhere and the smell was awful. I was so traumatised that I couldn't go down the post office to get my benefit-defrauding giro for 3 weeks and therefore couldn't afford my weekly fix."
[Cut to interior of an aircraft cabin with said dropout holding his nose]
"I called the National Accident Tear-The-Ar5e-Out-Of-It-Line and they put me in touch with a professional solicitor who obviously couldn't cut it in private practice so ended up doing litigation, mass torts, and class actions for people like me who can smell(!) an opportunity for cash whenever it presents itself. He sued the ar5e out of the airline I flew with and got me £262,381, which is frankly more money than I should be trusted with alone."
[Cut to picture of a cheque...]
"What's more, the airline has now instigated new safety procedures in all their toilets."
Sorry, couldn't resist. I agree the situation was unacceptable, but if any lawsuits come from this they should be thrown out immediately...
Martin
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 17
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
No need to resist at all, you're absloutly spot-on.
To the extent that this incident was the result of failure on the part of CO then the pax should definately be compensated. And I don't see that there was any real failure on the part of CO.
But what compensation though? Much of the world lives in places where you get kids ****ting in the street. I live in China and in addition to said kids in the street a trip to a public $hitter is an eye-opening (and nostril closing) experience. It doesn't do me any harm though.
Clearly not the best of flights for the pax onboard, but seemingly not one where an of the pax actually suffered any real loss or injury/illness.
$hit, literally in this case, happens. Throw them $500 (oh, they already have) and tell them to buger off.
To the extent that this incident was the result of failure on the part of CO then the pax should definately be compensated. And I don't see that there was any real failure on the part of CO.
But what compensation though? Much of the world lives in places where you get kids ****ting in the street. I live in China and in addition to said kids in the street a trip to a public $hitter is an eye-opening (and nostril closing) experience. It doesn't do me any harm though.
Clearly not the best of flights for the pax onboard, but seemingly not one where an of the pax actually suffered any real loss or injury/illness.
$hit, literally in this case, happens. Throw them $500 (oh, they already have) and tell them to buger off.
Guest
Posts: n/a
IF this incident happened as reported, then it was completely unacceptable.
Human waste represents a clear and present danger to human health and to expose some passengers to it for several hours is not on.
I am anti litigation generally, but in this instance would welcome punitive damages to tech the airline a lesson about what is acceptable behaviour.
Of course IF the incident was as bad as reported and I was not there, so I do not know and I haven't heard Continental's version of events.
Human waste represents a clear and present danger to human health and to expose some passengers to it for several hours is not on.
I am anti litigation generally, but in this instance would welcome punitive damages to tech the airline a lesson about what is acceptable behaviour.
Of course IF the incident was as bad as reported and I was not there, so I do not know and I haven't heard Continental's version of events.
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Age: 64
Posts: 191
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It is too much to expect people to moderate their bladders, etc, for close to 7 hours, let alone sit within nose range of a backwardly malfunctioning closet. If this story is true, then CO deserve every drop of effluent that will no doubt be thrown their way.
There are other questions here too. Like, why, if they conducted maintenance to the toilets on the ground in Shannon, was there still sufficient sewage in the system to over flow "just after takeoff"? Were they really conducting maintenance, or just going through the motions?
There are other questions here too. Like, why, if they conducted maintenance to the toilets on the ground in Shannon, was there still sufficient sewage in the system to over flow "just after takeoff"? Were they really conducting maintenance, or just going through the motions?