Goodness, I’m starting to miss the days where airlines issued bans over mask compliance rather than inappropriately taking off your pants and urinating…
In this post:
Passenger on New York to Warsaw flight pees on exit door
This incident involves LOT Polish Airlines’ flight LO27 on January 26, 2023, from New York (JFK) to Warsaw (WAW), operated by a Boeing 787-8. According to reports, around 90 minutes before landing, a middle-aged man went to the galley, took off his pants and underwear, and urinated on the Dreamliner’s exit door.
The decision was made to continue the flight to Warsaw, as there was no risk to safety, and the passenger became more cooperative after relieving himself. Nonetheless LOT took this incident seriously, and issued the passenger a lifetime flight ban, so he won’t be able to fly with the airline ever again. Interestingly this is allegedly the first lifetime flight ban that LOT has ever issued. Ouch.
Some of the details of this incident have been confirmed directly by a LOT Polish Airlines spokesperson on Twitter.
What’s with the uptick in urine incidents?
Oddly this isn’t even the first airplane urine incident we’ve seen in recent months. Back in November 2022, a man urinated on a woman in Air India business class. This ended up becoming a major global story, leading to the man being fired by Wells Fargo, and being chased by police. Air India actually had a second urine incident less than two weeks later.
And now we’re seeing this…
I can’t wrap my what’s going on in the minds of people who think it’s reasonable to urinate in public on a plane, no matter what state they’re in. Specific to this example, this occurred roughly 90 minutes before landing:
- Presumably this wasn’t a case of the passenger boarding drunk or on something, as that would have likely worn off by this point in the flight
- Did the crew serve him too much alcohol, or did he just have a really low tolerance?
- Is this a function of “my mind isn’t working right, but this seems like a good place to relieve myself?” or is this a case of someone having some sort of public urination kink, and a drink or two making them more likely to act that out?
I just don’t get it…
Bottom line
A LOT Polish Airlines passenger has received a lifetime flight ban with the airline after urinating on the exit door of a Dreamliner on a flight between New York and Warsaw. The incident allegedly occurred around 90 minutes before landing, and it’s anyone’s guess what the traveler’s motivation was for relieving himself in this way…
What do you make of this LOT Polish Airlines urine incident?
(Tip of the hat to Andrzej)
As a 40 year purser/flight attendant I would attribute this to mixing Ambien with alcohol. We have seen many similar incidents around sleep medications. Passengers awaken totally disoriented and behaving strangely.
During COVID lockdown, people at home can use the toilet whenever they need to. We humans have lost the art and skill of holding urination until we find a toilet. Now we are allowed to go out again and we haven't relearned this important art. With reinforcement, like this case, we will evolve and relearn this art.
Agree. A friend of mine operates a theater. The plays are usually about 2 hours long, with a break around the middle. And he confirms that now, after pandemia, people can no longer hold urination for an hour or so (until the break or the end of the performance, respectively).
People seem to get pissy about this sort of thing for some reason.
I am the only one who sees this as an alcohol problem? Hard core alcoholics drink before boarding and drink during the flight. There might be some other drugs on board as well but I’ve seen plenty of crazy drunks in Coach over my decades of flying.
At no point did there were reports of alcohol or the person being intoxicated.
Eskimo - Several reports say he was drunk, he even admitted it.
Where's the report?
All I can find is the translation of this tweet. We all should have learned from @realDonaldTrump or @elonmusk that one testimony from Twitter isn't facts.
Taking off clothes inappropriately, and urinating in the wrong place(s), are common signs/symptoms of dementia, where the confusion can be so great that the sufferer has no idea where a restroom is, even if a toilet is 2 meters away from the individual.
That’s true and happens more often than people realise. They often believe they were intoxicated. If however, LOT has blacklisted the passenger he probably was “ misbehaving”. However, how does anyone know what happened to him afterwards? Where’s the official statement from LOT? As it’s a breach of privacy to discuss details.
To add, it’s not just men. Women have done this. Recently on a Vistara flight.
Thats what came to my mind as well, being a retired F/A as well as Registered Nurse. I think there is more going on here than alcohol.
@Brad-
A huge tell was this: “… and the passenger became more cooperative after relieving himself.”
That’s 100% in-line with a dementia episode. The patient is agitated, is unable to articulate what they need (often due due to some level of aphasia), and once they are relieved, become compliant or docile.
No matter what the circumstance, I hope this individual has someone to help him.
I bet this might be an Ambien situation. A dear friend of mine, the late Owen Beddall, wrote a book, "Confessions of a Qantas Flight Attendant" which chronicled some such events involving Australia's version called Stilnox. We had many laughs about people losing their dignity while on Ambien. Of course this example is gross and unacceptable.
I’m waiting for this to happen in United’s Premium Plus. You’re supposed to use the lav in your ticketed cabin; however, Premium Plus doesn’t have lavatories. So, the only place for Premium Plus passengers to go might be in the aisle.
Perhaps there’s a reason why people refer to Premium Plus as PP?
32 oz Gatorade bottles work in a pinch for ~half of the population. Small cost of investment and doesn't weigh much. Jeff Pesos approved.
A similar thing happened in my dorm in college. One person kind of sleep walked and thought they were in the bathroom, urinating on a chair. He didn't remember it the next day. In the next month, three other people did the same thing. I bet this guy was previously asleep, drunk, and not really awake when he did it. He heard about the India air incident and his subconscious somehow gave him permission.
Still not ok.
Could be dementia
This is stupid Ben
I suppose airlines could try ordering planes with more than the absolute minimum possible number of lavs to reduce waits on long haul flights?
Or people could use the bathroom before boarding and perhaps have a little foresight about when they might need to relieve themselves, rather than the absolute last minute?
Most functioning adults completed potty training when they were 3 or 4 yr old.
Sounds like this was 90 minutes before landing. This is generally when there's a huge rush of pax heading to the bathrooms as it's when the cabin lights come on and breakfast service starts waking everyone up. Not making an excuse, just noting that going to the bathroom before the flight would have been 5 or so hours before the incident (works for me, but I'm part camel) and also at a time when the lavs are most busy.
I was on a nearly filled LOT 787 from Miami to Warsaw in Sep 2022 and there were ample bathrooms aboard. The cabin crew was very nice, most cordial, and helpful I had seen in a long time.