All toilets break on Bali–Brisbane flight: Passengers told to use bottles; Virgin Australia apologises

Passengers on a Virgin Australia flight from Bali to Brisbane were forced to use water bottles after all onboard toilets stopped working mid-flight.

Flight VA50 left Denpasar on August 26 with one of its three toilets already out of service. The airline chose to operate the nearly six-hour journey despite limited engineering support available in Bali.

Soon after takeoff, the other two toilets also failed. For the final hour and 40 minutes, none of the lavatories on the Boeing 737 Max 8 were usable. One passenger told The Australian that an elderly woman “was unable to hold on and suffered the humiliation of wetting herself in public.”


Cabin crew eventually told passengers to relieve themselves in bottles or on top of what was already in the toilets. Another lavatory began leaking urine onto the floor, leaving a strong odour inside the plane.

Virgin Australia confirmed there were toilet issues but did not comment on passengers using bottles. The airline said all travellers on the affected flight would be credited and contacted directly.

The aircraft landed on time in Brisbane. Similar toilet-related problems have disrupted other airlines, including an Air India flight in March that had to return to Chicago after most of its toilets clogged mid-flight.