The crew of a Delta Air Lines transatlantic flight had to divert after several passengers reportedly got sick because of “spoiled food.”

This event happened on Tuesday, the 2nd of July (3rd in UTC), involving Delta Air Lines flight DL-136. Delta performs this service daily, departing from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (KDTW) at 10:35 PM. The flight’s destination is Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (EHAM) in the Netherlands.

On the day of this food-related incident, the flight had 277 passengers and crew on board. The aircraft was an Airbus A330-300 (17 years old, with tail number N816NW), which is what Delta typically uses for this route.

The flight took off from Detroit uneventfully, using runway 22L, with a delay of approximately half an hour. Its crew headed east and soon reached FL370 in cruise, for their ocean crossing.

Passengers AND Crew Get Food Poisoning

However, approximately two and a half hours after departure, when the aircraft was over Canada, its flight crew decided to divert. A number of passengers reportedly got sick after eating spoiled food, so the crew decided to turn south, heading for New York’s JFK airport.

The flight landed safely on JFK’s runway 22L, another two and a half hours after the first reports of food poisoning among passengers. Later reports indicated that medics at JFK treated a total of fourteen passengers and ten crew members.

None of the passengers and crew wanted hospital treatment after their food adventure. Delta Air Lines was quick to apologize after the event while its food safety team investigated how it happened.

The airline also issued the following statement:

“This is not the service Delta is known for and we sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delay in their travels.”

The rest of the flight was initially canceled. However, the same aircraft eventually flew to Amsterdam about 17 hours after landing at JFK. It is unclear if any of the original passengers were on board. The aircraft resumed regular service thereafter.

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