Flatulent Passenger Forces Plane to Make Emergency Landing

A Dutch airplane was forced to make an emergency landing recently after a fight broke out due to a staple of low-brow comedy.

Two found themselves sitting next to a man who was apparently unable to keep his flatulence in check. The passengers reportedly asked the man to stop, but he either didn’t or couldn’t. The two passengers reportedly then tried to enlist the airline crew to help them out. They didn’t. In fact, the pilot issued a warning to the two passengers.

Soon enough, a fight broke out. The pilot was forced to divert the plane to Vienna.

Police then boarded the plane with dogs, removing the two men and two nearby women. However, the women, sisters, claimed they were not involved at all and are planning to sue the airline.

“We had nothing to do with the whole disturbance. We distance ourselves from that,” said one of the women, 25-year-old law student Nora Lachab. She added: “We had no idea who these boys were, we just had the bad luck to be in the same row and we didn’t do anything. All I will say is that the crew were really provocative and stirred things up.”

The airline, however, disputes this. It claims the women were knee-deep in the mayhem, taking part in the fight. All four who were removed from the plane have been banned from traveling with the airline again.

I’d love to offer up some insight into the mindsets involved here, but it’s kind of hard to do. Frankly, I guess you really had to be there. Did the flatulent passenger — who was apparently allowed to remain on the plane — have any control over this particular function? If there was no medical condition involved, I can see why his neighbors were upset.

But even with a medical condition, I can see why his neighbors were upset. He shouldn’t be flying if he can’t avoid being such a disturbance. No one can deal with hours of stink. Also, there are bathrooms on planes. That’s a much better place for that sort of thing.

That being said, a fight is not the best way to resolve a dispute that has nothing to do with personal defense, especially on an airplane — where no good can come of such a thing.

Unless you’re on the ground and getting a chuckle reading about it.