When it rains, it pours. Air India repeatedly finds itself in this situation. This week, the airline has had two incidents in which its 777 fleet aircraft had to turn around, resulting in flights to nowhere.
Air India’s Chicago-Delhi flight returns on account of clogged toilets.
An Air India flight from Chicago to Delhi, AI126, returned to Chicago after being airborne for more than ten hours on March 5, 2025. The airline said the return was due to a technical issue.
The Boeing 777, registered VT-ALQ, had over 300 passengers onboard, and according to people on board, only one lavatory was functional when the plane arrived back at ORD. The aircraft was ferried to Delhi on March 7, 2025, and hasn’t flown since.
The guests on board were offered rebooking. However, they had to call AI to get it done.
The unpopular part is that people just don’t care when they fly Air India. Or maybe they treat it however they like, like flushing down diapers instead of disposing off correctly, for instance.
But loos being clogged is not just an Indian problem. Here are just some recent incidents where planes returned because the loo/s were clogged:
- Toilet Clogs Cause Chaos On American Airlines Flight From India
- United 59: Bad to Worse: How a Single Clogged Toilet Caused a Boeing 777 to Abandon Its Transatlantic Journey
- Passengers asked to pee in plastic bags, bottles after toilet clogs on American Airlines flight
- American Airlines Airbus A321neo Diverts To Oklahoma Due To Blocked Toilets
Air India’s Mumbai – New York JFK flight returns to Mumbai after security threat.
Earlier today, an Air India flight from Mumbai to New York JFK was forced to return mid-air after a potential security threat was detected onboard. The aircraft, operating as AI119, landed safely back at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport at 10.25 am on March 10, 2025, after a nine-hour flight to nowhere. The aircraft turned around after having flown all the way close to Azerbaijan.
As per an Air India statement issued after, the airline received a bomb threat, which caused them to return. Here is the statement from the airline,
A potential security threat was detected mid-flight on AI119 operating Mumbai-New York (JFK) today, 10 March 2025. After following the necessary protocols, the flight air-returned to Mumbai, in the interest of the safety and security of all on board. The flight landed safely back in Mumbai at 1025 Hrs (local time). The aircraft is undergoing mandatory checks by security agencies, and Air India is extending its full cooperation to the authorities. The flight has been rescheduled to operate at 0500 Hrs of 11 March 2025, and all passengers have been offered hotel accommodation, meals, and other assistance until then. Our colleagues on the ground are making sure to minimise the inconvenience caused to our passengers by this disruption. As always, Air India accords the highest priority to the safety of passengers and crew.
Three hundred twenty-two people, including 19 crew members, were on board Air India’s Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft.
That is a lot of money, fuel, time and resources wasted on two flights that went nowhere, all in a week.
Bottomline
Air India saw the return to origin of two flights in the past week. The first one was Air India 126 between Chicago and Delhi, which returned to Chicago after ten hours of flying. In another case, AI119 flying from Mumbai to New York JFK returned to Mumbai after a security threat. Both of them operated with 777s, with fuel to the brim for a 15-hour flight or so.
What do you make of these instances?
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I’m not able to understand that if a security threat was signaled (I think it was a note in the toilet), why did they fly back for 4-5 hours instead of landing at the nearest airport around.