Virgin Australia Bali to Brisbane flight hit by lavatory failures

A Virgin Australia flight from Bali to Brisbane on Thursday descended into a sanitation crisis after all onboard lavatories failed midflight, leaving passengers reportedly told to urinate into bottles and endure overpowering odors during the roughly six hour journey. The airline confirmed the aircraft left Denpasar with one rear toilet already out of service and said it was investigating an in-flight issue that affected the serviceability of the lavatories.

Passengers said the Boeing 737 MAX 8 began the flight with two working toilets because a rear lavatory had been taken out of service on the ground due to limited engineering support in Bali. During the crossing to Queensland the remaining toilets malfunctioned, with several passengers describing lines for a single front lavatory, overflowing fixtures and a spreading stench that made the cabin unsanitary and distressing. One man who asked not to be named said an elderly woman wet herself, and other travelers reported crying children and visible distress among older passengers. Another passenger described clogged and overflowing toilets, urine and used toilet paper seeping onto the floor.

Virgin Australia acknowledged the...