Air India flight to Delhi makes emergency U-turn to Chicago after 11 out of 12 toilets clog: 'A new low bar for customer service'

In yet another bizarre incident, passengers on an Air India flight en route to Delhi were forced to make an emergency U-turn back to Chicago, US, reportedly due to clogged toilets on the flight.

According to news agency ANI, which cited a spokesperson saying that alternative arrangements were made for the passengers who were stuck on the flight for over 10 hours. The report further noted the statement of the airline, which said, "AI126, operating Chicago to Delhi on 6 March 2025, air-returned to Chicago due to a technical issue."

The statement mentioned that upon landing in Chicago, all passengers and crew disembarked normally and were provided accommodation to reduce the inconvenience caused, reported the New York Post.

11 out of 12 toilets of Air India's flight 126 were clogged

According to a report by the popular aviation website View From The Wing, Air India flight AI126, which took off from Chicago to Delhi on March 6, 2025, was forced to circle back after 11 of its 12 toilets were rendered unusable.

Credit: X

The decision to turn back was made around four and a half hours into the flight when the plane was somewhere over Greenland, the report noted. Moreover, it took around an equal amount of time for the flight to return back to Chicago, resulting in a 10-hour-long ordeal for passengers.

Passengers on the flight complain that out of all the toilets, only one toilet was left for over 300 people onboard.

Videos of the chaos on the flight surfaced on X.

Meanwhile, amid the reports about the incident came in, a video shared by an X user with a handle name @dom_lucre, showing the chaotic situation on the flight, has now gone viral on the internet.

The video shows agitated passengers speaking to a crew member on the flight about the issue. Moreover, the caption of the post read that it is not uncommon for aeroplane toilets to get clogged, but with the issue typically bubbling up when the passengers flush unauthorised items down the pipes.

??BREAKING: An Air India flight was forced to return on a 10 hour trip to Chicago Illinois because their toilets were clogged with poop leaving hundreds Indians trapped on a plane with no restroom.

Air India Flight 126 was making its way over Greenland on March 5 when 11 out¡­ pic.twitter.com/FhPfMBYgzU

¡ª Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) March 9, 2025

"Even just one or two clogged toilets is enough to trigger a flight crew to turn the plane around and land due to the limited number of lavatories available," it added.

While on the other hand, a Reddit user wrote, "Every new day Air India sets for itself a new low bar for customer service."

Comment
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Not the first time: Air India flights report multiple complaints lately

Most recently, last month, a Bhartiya Janata Party's national spokesperson, Jaiveer Shergill, shared a poor experience while travelling on Air India. He took to his social media and shared that the seats on the flight were broken, the airline has the worst staff, and it has pathetic on-ground support.

If there was an Oscar equivalent for WORST AIRLINES @airindia would win hands down in every category :

> Broken Seats
> Worst Staff
>Pathetic ¡°on Ground¡± Support Staff
> Give two hoots attitude about customer service !

Flying Air India is not a pleasant experience but today¡­

¡ª Jaiveer Shergill (@JaiveerShergill) February 25, 2025

Earlier this, another passenger named Nilesh Bansal shared a post on his X complaining that he and his 4-year-old child were downgraded to the economy class flight AI-2055 because their original seats were allocated to Air India crew members, including a pilot.

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