Delta Apologizes for Passenger Left 'Soaking Wet' After Plane Flooded

Delta Air Lines has issued an apology and a refund after flight attendants were seen allegedly "laughing" and "standing around joking" as a passenger was left "soaking wet" on a plane.

The scene of the flooded area was captured in a viral TikTok video posted July 3 by the passenger, a 40-year-old TikTok user known as @fornik8e. The video has received over 107,000 views.

The incident took place on Delta Flight D1071, traveling from Atlanta to Minneapolis, according to the clip. The footage shows a passenger sitting with feet up on the seat as water rained down on the floor, forming a pool near what appears to be the plane doorway. A yellow bag is seen beneath the seat in front.

A caption with the post reads: "This is ridiculous—no one offered an apology, or any acknowledgement that i was soaked, my stuff was soaked, and left me to figure out how to dry off my seat and the wall."

A Delta spokesperson told Newsweek on Wednesday: "We are looking into what may have occurred in this video, as it is certainly not the experience we want our customers to have. For that, we apologize."

The passenger told Newsweek she emailed Delta about the July 3 incident and "did not hear anything back until this week" and "was given a $50 gift card."

She said that following Newsweek's request for comment from Delta about the case she received a call Wednesday at 8 p.m. local time from a Delta representative "who saw the media request and looked at my inquiry. They issued me a full refund."

According to Delta, the refund was issued after talking to the passenger and following the start of an investigation of the incident.

The Delta spokesperson later told Newsweek: "We appreciate this being brought to our attention.... We have been in touch with the customer to ensure she was heard and have also provided her a gesture of goodwill."

In April, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) received 14,549 complaints (21.3 complaints per 100,000 passengers), such as a description of a negative experience, from the public via phone or email, according to the latest Air Travel Consumer Report from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Released in June, the report said the TSA received 384 airline-related complaints, covering such areas as baggage requirements, lost baggage, policy/regulations and wheelchair assistance, in April.

In a later comment, @fornik8e said: "The flight attendants were laughing and standing around joking. Just expected me to handle this."

A voice in the video says: "When I got up, because my legs and shoes were soaking wet, they told me there was nowhere for me to stand and I had to go sit in a different seat."

According to the voice, a flight attendant later "yelled" at the passenger "because I was in someone else's seat" after being told to move to another seat. "So I continued to stand in the galley," the voice said.

"They did eventually mop up the water on the floor, but I was left to clean up my seat, the seat next to me and deal with being soaked and having soaking wet stuff. No one apologized at all," the voice continued.

In a later comment, the passenger said: "My frustration is that no one helped me or acknowledged what had happened. To my stuff or to me. It was a terrible experience."

The video led to some debate among TikTokers, with some saying they understood the passenger's frustrations.

Hashtag.Stefanie said: "This suuuucks!! I can't believe this happened.... Like s*** happens, but the flight crew should have made it right!"

Melissa Pasquesi wrote: "@delta Gross. How can you expect people to pay for this. Please retrain your flight attendants, as well."

The original poster replied: "They didn't offer to help, they didn't acknowledge this was happening to a person, just that it was happening."

User blakerx said: "I would've been pissed!!!"

Others were less sympathetic, such as Walter Colby, who wrote: "Wow, you had to take care of yourself and no one apologized?"

User @hasan_lhcrew said: "Your situation sucked but you can't blame the flight attendants that will sit in front of you soaking wet."

RodGuy said: "You want an apology from an airline because of Mother Nature's act? I doubt you were 'yelled' at for being in another seat! LMAO! Wow!"

Update 8/17/23, 9:35 a.m. ET: This story was updated with comments and images from the plane passenger, TikTok user @fornik8e.

Update 8/17/23, 10:10 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional comments from Delta.

Update 8/21/23, 4:00 a.m. ET: This article was updated with the removal of the plane passenger's name and location at their request.

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