Mid-Flight Chaos: Woman’s Mysterious Illness Forces Emergency Landing and Sparks Flight Cancellation
Ever wondered what it takes to literally ground a plane mid-flight? Well, buckle up, because TikToker and budding actress Meghan Reinertsen just turned her mid-air tummy rebellion into an aviation headline no one expected. Imagine battling explosive food poisoning thousands of feet above the Atlantic — enough to throw an entire flight’s schedule into disarray and call in hazmat teams faster than you can say “portable restroom.” From Portugal to Indianapolis, Meghan’s stomach saga is a wild ride you won’t forget, proving that sometimes, the most unforgettable in-flight emergencies aren’t about turbulence or tech glitches but a very human—and very urgent—need for the lavatory. Curious about the chaotic cleanup and why airlines might fear a virus outbreak from a soaring bathroom crisis? Dive into the drama that’s got passengers chatting and crews suiting up for the unexpected.
TikToker and aspiring actress, Meghan Reinertsen, took to the ether to talk about her explosive bout of food poisoning that forced an airline to ground an aircraft for the rest of that day.
Reinertsen was flying from Portugal to Indianapolis in the U.S. when her innards decided it was unhappy with something she’d eaten the day before and forced her into a restroom where she holed up until the plane landed.
- Meghan Reinertsen says her mid-air food poisoning led to flight cancellations and hazmat crews.
- The ordeal joins a growing list of unusual in-flight bathroom emergencies over the last two years.
- Airline feared she’d contracted a contagious virus during her trip from Portugal.
The experience is one of a few in the last two years which includes the turning back of a flight two hours out of Atlanta because someone defecated on the floor, and another outside of Amsterdam’s Schipol one day when eight out of nine bathrooms aboard a Boeing 787 Dreamliner failed.
Meghan Reinertsen was on the final leg of her journey when her stomach played up
Image credits: Sasun Bughdaryan/Unsplash
Reinertsen posted a three-part account of her aircraft-grounding diarrhea experience between July 7 and 8, explaining how she embarked on the multi-legged flight itinerary in the hope of making it to a movie premiere on time.
She awoke at three in the morning, departed from Faro Airport in Portugal, and connected in Lisbon to a flight that would take her to Indianapolis via Newark.
As the aircraft landed in Newark, she was awakened by “a disturbance deep, deep” inside her stomach.
Image credits: Steven Thompson/Unsplash
“Something is happening that I am not prepared to deal with,” she recalled thinking at the time.
Some time after the flight was airborne again, she made her way to the restroom, and the stomach bug forced out the contents of her stomach.
Staffers in hazmat suits were deployed to clean up after her
Image credits: meghanreinertsen
At some point during the bathroom stint, her bathroom antics caught the attention of an attendant who spoke to her through the closed door.
The airline staffer was particularly concerned about the plane landing while Reinertsen was on the loo, but she could not do anything about it.
Reinertsen recalled her state during the exchange, saying, “I’m sweating, I’m crying, my insides are cramping.”
@meghanreinertsen Part 1 of how I personally got a United flight cancelled #storytime#airplane#diarrhea @United Airlines ♬ original sound – Meghan Reinertsen
“For the next 20 minutes, I have more diarrhea than any human should have in their life,” her account continued.
As she sat in the stall, she was also informed that the plane’s schedule for the rest of that day had been cancelled because the airline–fearing that Reinertsen had contracted a virus in Portugal–had taken precautions.
The plane was then parked, and individuals in hazmat suits were deployed in her wake.
In 2024, eight out of nine toilets on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner failed
Image credits: Andrej Lišakov/Unsplash
The TikToker’s brush with food poisoning comes over a year after cabin crew on an airborne KLM Boeing 787 Dreamliner realized that it had one working toilet on the entire aircraft.
According to AirLive, attendants discovered the issue shortly after takeoff, and the pilots ruminated for an hour before suggesting turning around.
Image credits: Getty Images/Unsplash
@meghanreinertsen Part 2 of how I personally got a United flight cancelled #storytime#airplane#diarrhea @United Airlines ♬ original sound – Meghan Reinertsen
The aircraft carrying 200 people and destined for Los Angeles would reach British air space before the aviators would action said idea–two hours later–“wasting nearly seven hours total in the air.”
The same happened in 2024 when an Airbus A350 was delayed by eight hours
Then in September 2023, a Delta Airlines Airbus A350 was forced to make a U-turn after a passenger left a malodorous trail of diarrhea between their seat and the restroom.
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