一架原计划从巴黎飞往华盛顿的联合航空波音767客机，在飞行途中因洗手间出现故障，不得不折返巴黎。该航班起飞约一小时后，在苏格兰和爱尔兰之间的海域上空改变航向，返回法国。飞机安全降落后，乘客被重新安排到下一班航班，但同架飞机在25小时后才再次起飞。这并非首次因管道问题导致航班返航的事件，此前已有其他航空公司和联合航空自身发生过类似情况，凸显了飞机卫生间设施维护的重要性。

✈️ 航班因故返航：联合航空一架从巴黎飞往华盛顿的波音767客机，在起飞约一小时后，因“洗手间出现故障”而不得不折返巴黎。这一突发状况导致了航班的延误和乘客的不便。

⏳ 乘客滞留与后续安排：返航后，乘客被重新安排到下一班可用的航班前往目的地。然而，同一架飞机在经过检查和维修后，直到25小时后才重新起飞，意味着乘客经历了长时间的等待。

🚽 管道问题并非孤例：文章提到，飞机因洗手间或管道问题而返航并非首次发生。此前，其他航空公司也曾出现过因乘客冲入异物堵塞管道，或马桶溢水等情况导致航班中断的事件，这表明了飞机卫生设施维护的重要性。

🛫 备降与维修考量：飞机选择返回起飞地进行维修，通常是因为在常飞机场拥有更多便利的维修设施和资源，也更容易为受影响的乘客重新安排行程。

A United Airlines flight from Paris to Washington, DC, turned back to the French capital.An airline spokesperson said there was "an issue with the lavatories."The plane took off again 25 hours later.

United Airlines passengers faced a flight to nowhere after a plumbing malfunction on their transatlantic journey.

Sunday's Flight 331 took off from Paris around 5 p.m. local time and was scheduled to land in Washington, DC, eight hours later.

However, just over an hour into the journey, the Boeing 767 turned around, per data from Flightradar24.

The plane changed direction while flying over the sea between Scotland and Ireland, and headed back toward France.

It landed back at Charles de Gaulle Airport two and a half hours after taking off.

In a statement shared with Business Insider, a United spokesperson said the plane had to divert to "address an issue with the lavatories."

"The flight landed safely, and customers were rebooked onto the next available flight to their destination," they added.

Data from Flightradar24 shows the same Boeing 767 departed Paris again 25 hours later.

It touched down at Washington Dulles International Airport shortly before 9 p.m. ET on Monday.

This isn't the first time that a flight has been forced to turn around due to a plumbing issue.

In March, Air India passengers faced a nine-hour flight to nowhere as their Delhi-bound plane returned to Chicago after most of the plane's bathrooms stopped working.

The airline said its investigation found "polythene bags, rags, and clothes that had been flushed down and stuck in the plumbing."

In April 2024, another United Airlines transatlantic flight ended up back where it started when the toilets overflowed. The plane had left Frankfurt for San Francisco before circling over the North Sea.

And a month before that, eight of the nine bathrooms on a KLM Boeing 787 stopped working, too.

Overall, such incidents are fairly rare, but they can force diversions due to the minimum requirements for passengers' bathroom facilities.

Returning to where the plane took off can make it easier for an airline to reroute passengers and repair any issues, as it is likely to have more facilities at an airport it commonly flies to.