- Planes rarely have to turn around, but it does happen.
- A British Airways flight reportedly had to turn around due to a clogged toilet.
- A man caused a flight leaving Hawaii to turn around after he became angry that he wasn't allowed to do yoga.
When it comes to traveling on planes, it seems like anything can happen. Though it's rare for flights to turn around mid-flight for no reason, it can happen — sometimes under bizarre circumstances.
Read on for a look at some of the strangest reasons flights have had to stop their journey and return to the airport they departed from.
A plane turned around after a passenger forgot her baby at the airport.
A Saudia flight heading to Malaysia from Saudi Arabia turned around after a passenger let crew members know that she had left her child behind, according to The Guardian.
The pilot called in to air traffic control in a video and, according to The Guardian, asked "May God be with us. Can we come back?"
This isn't the first time something like this has happened though. In October 2018, a German couple called the Stuttgart Airport to see if they had left their 5-year-old daughter behind after driving away in separate cars, according to the AP. The child was found by police wandering the airport.
A British Airways flight reportedly had to turn around due to a clogged toilet.
In March 2016, a British Airways plane flying from Heathrow to Dubai was forced to turn around after passengers began complaining of a "smelly poo in the toilet," customers said. According to the Telegraph, the crew wasn't able to fix the problem, leading the plane to return to its original location for health and safety reasons.
That's not the only time a bathroom issue caused a flight disruption. In 2014, a Virginia Austria flight from Los Angeles to Sydney returned to the US three hours after departure because of a "fresh water overflow system," according to the airline.
Nuts served in a packet instead of a bowl drove one first class passenger into a fury.
In 2014, the daughter of Korean Air's chief executive, Cho Hyun-ah, reportedly became outraged when she was served macadamia nuts from a packet instead of a bowl while flying in first class. Her nut-fueled fury caused the pilot to return the plane to the gate in New York.
Hyun-ah was later found guilty of obstructing aviation safety, according to the Telegraph.
A laser once forced a Virgin Airlines plane to turn around.
A 2016 Virgin Airlines flight to New York had to stop mid-journey and return to London's Heathrow airport after "a laser incident," the airline said. According to reports, a laser beam was aimed at the cockpit and made the first officer feel unwell.
In 2010, a law was passed in the UK that said people could be charged with "shining a light at an aircraft in flight so as to dazzle the pilot." It is also illegal in the US to shine a laser at an aircraft.
Maggots once caused a US Airways flight to return to its gate.
A New York-bound US Airways flight from Atlanta had to go back to the gate in 2010 after passengers said maggots from a container of spoiled meat were found on the plane. According to eyewitness accounts from ABC News, the bugs were spilling out of overhead luggage compartments and onto passengers.
An airline spokesperson said the crew "thoroughly and completely cleaned and scrubbed" the plane after reaching the gate. It was also later fumigated.
Passengers on a Qantas plane complained of a disruptively weird smell.
Qantas Airlines, the national carrier of Australia, had various issues with four different planes over the course of 48 hours in 2014. As The Guardian reported, "an unusual smell" caused one of the flight disruptions.
The other three flights were grounded due to problems with the air conditioning and entertainment systems.
Following the events, Qantas chief Alan Joyce told reporters events that can cause a plane to turn around "happen all the time."
A man caused a flight leaving Hawaii to turn around after he became angry that he wasn't allowed to do yoga.
A United Airlines plane leaving from Hawaii to Japan in 2016 was forced to stop its flight and return back to its departure location after one passenger refused to sit down during meal service. According to the FBI, the passenger said he didn't feel like eating and wanted to do yoga and meditate in the back area of the plane instead.
When flight attendants and fellow passengers (including his wife) attempted to get him back to his seat, he became angry and violent, according to the FBI's criminal complaint.
The man was arrested, and later sentenced to pay United Airlines more than $44,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to time served.
One flight turned around to pick up two forgotten passengers.
In 2015, an Air Malta flight returned to the airport for two passengers at the gate who had missed the flight, according to the Times of Malta.
The airline said the plane turned back 30 minutes into the flight because of "a security precautionary measure following a discrepancy in the number of passengers and baggage on board."
Two flight attendants on United got into a fight and forced a flight from Raleigh to Chicago to turn around.
In 2012, a United Airlines flight from North Carolina to Chicago turned ugly after two attendants ended up getting into an argument on board, according to News.com. The plane was forced to return to North Carolina after the pilot called Raleigh Durham airport and described the incident.
After returning to the gate, the attendants were removed from the flight and restaffed with different employees, a United spokesperson said at the time.
A passenger forced a flight to make an unscheduled landing after she wouldn't stop singing "I Will Always Love You."
In 2013, a passenger refused to stop singing the song "I Will Always Love You" on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to New York, according to the Daily Mail. The flight stopped in Kansas City, and an airport spokesperson told WBTV, "There was a federal air marshal on the aircraft, who subdued the woman and put her in cuffs and removed her from the plane."
The woman was interviewed and later released without charge, according to the Daily Mail.
A scorpion bit a woman on an Alaska Airlines flight leaving Los Angeles.
A woman was stung by a scorpion while riding on a Portland-bound Alaska Airlines flight. The plane, which was taxiing out when the incident happened, had to return to the Los Angeles airport gate so the passenger could be treated for the wound, reported USA Today.
"No one seemed frantic at all, not even the woman who was stung," one passenger told CNN.
A Jin Air flight turned around mid-flight after uncovering a major issue with a door.
The crew of a Jin Air flight in 2016 had to alert the pilot after realizing a door on the plane was "leaking air" because it wasn't all the way shut. They made this discovery after taking off from Cebu, the Philippines, about 40 minutes after takeoff, according to AP.
As News.com reported, passengers reportedly suffered headaches and felt "pain in their ears" because of the door, but no injuries were reported. The flight returned to Cebu, and passengers were reportedly booked on different flights.
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