A Delta Air Lines flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was forced to divert to New York JFK on Tuesday night after passengers and potentially even the two pilots were served mouldy food.
Delta flight DL136 departed Detroit at around 11 pm for what should have been a routine seven-hour transatlantic flight to Europe. Instead, the Airbus A330 aircraft with 277 passengers onboard had to turn back just two and a half hours after takeoff.
The plane was just passing the coast of Canada when the pilots decided to return to a major Delta hub rather than risk flying across the Atlantic where passengers and crew could suddenly become struck down with food poisoning without anywhere readily available to divert.
That decision, it’s alleged, stems from the fact that ‘spoiled food’ was served to the passengers shortly after takeoff but it wasn’t until near the end of the meal service that flight attendants suspected anything was wrong and started to check on the welfare of passengers.
One passengers recounted how she was first alerted to the issue when the pilot made an announcement about a potential problem with the food. Shortly after, flight attendants started to make their way through the cabin asking passengers if they felt okay.
It would appear that flight attendants were only alerted to a potential problem when it was flagged by a passenger. One passenger says a flight attendant told them that both pilots had also eaten the meal.
The plane didn’t end up landing at New York JFK until 4 am where a fleet of emergency first responders were waiting to assist passengers or crew who might have fallen ill.
The New York and New Jersey Port Authority said it assisted 24 people from the flight, including 14 passengers and 10 crew members, although all of those seen refused further medical care.
A spokesperson for Delta explained that the diversion was made on the advice of medical experts who the pilots had spoken with during the flight.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the airline said: “Delta flight 136 from Detroit to Amsterdam diverted to New York’s JFK early Wednesday morning after it was discovered that a portion of the in-flight meal service was spoiled”.
“Medical crews were on-site to meet the aircraft and treat any affected passengers and crew members. Delta teams will immediately work to gather information into how this incident occurred.”
“This is not the service Delta is known for, and we sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delay in their travels.”
In May, a fleet of ambulances was sent to meet the arrival of a Condor Airways plane at Frankfurt following a 12-hour flight from Mauritius after 70 passengers became violently sick during the flight with vomiting and diarrhoea.
Around a quarter of the passengers onboard the flight reported gruesome gastrointestinal problems but Condor said there was no evidence that the food it served them during the flight was to blame.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) certain types of food poisoning, such as Staph, can start to cause nasty symptoms like nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, and diarrhoea in as little as 30 minutes after consuming contaminated food.
