When traveling by airplane, passengers have certain expectations of the airlines. One of these is basic cleanliness and hygiene standards are met. This wasn’t the case for one New Zealand couple who were traveling from Bangkok to Sydney and then ultimately back home on December 30, 2023. The couple was forced to sit in urine for their entire nine-hour flight.
Even worse, the couple had to fight to get a refund after the horrific experience. Qantas Airlines finally decided to grant one. At first the couple was only offered airline miles to compensate them for their inconvenience.
The couple first became aware of the situation when they placed an airline pillow, a travel neck pillow, and a bag of duty free items under the seat in front of them. When they pulled the airline pillow back out, they noticed it was wet on one side. On closer inspection they noticed all of the items under the seat were wet. At first the couple thought it was just water, removed the items, and notified a flight attendant.
Later, the couple made a concerning discovery. There was a pair of children’s underwear near the dampness. This leads one to assume that water was actually urine.
“Now we know that we have been sitting in urine for a 10-hour trip,” they recalled. “And the travel neck pillow, well, I had been using that for the last couple of hours, under the assumption it was just a bit wet from water.”
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The couple notified a flight attendant and the supervisor offered them 10,000 airline miles to make up for the incident. The couple believed the whole flight should be refunded and asked the airline to do so. Initially, the airline refused, stating that it was unable to do so because “the ticket was fully utilized.” The couple pushed back and got their refund.
"All our international aircraft are cleaned between each flight, including vacuuming seats and disinfecting surfaces. We are looking into what has occurred and have raised the issue with our cleaning supplier in Bangkok, which cleaned the aircraft prior to departure. We have apologised to the customers and will be providing a refund as a gesture of goodwill," a spokesperson from Qantas explained to Yahoo.
