Texas-bound flight returns to gate due to farting passenger

Passengers on a Texas-bound flight found themselves in one stinker of a situation after the crew was forced to remove a passenger who wouldn't stop farting, according to a now-viral online post.

The gaseous gaffe occurred on a Jan. 14 American Airlines flight from Phoenix to Austin, as poster Lamgalatx chronicled on Reddit's r/Austin page.

"Before most people had boarded, I observed that this man was audibly disgruntled about something, maybe hungover, rough day, idk, but as soon as he sat down, he was grumbling about something under his breath, like 'fucking hell' or something," the Redditor recalled.

Once boarding was nearly complete, the Reddit user heard the man yell, "You thought that was rude? Well, how about this smell?" At that point, he loudly passed gas.

The flight departed late in the evening and some passengers brought along food, which could have sparked the flatulent flyer's ... um ... outburst, according to the Reddit user.

"The man who purposefully farted moments ago decides to loudly and condescendingly say 'yeah everybody let's just eat the smelliest food possible all at the same time', A guy in the row over replied, 'if you don't like it, you can fly private,' to which fartman says 'that's so fucking rude.'"

At that point, another person scolded the pooting passenger, saying, "I think we'd all agree you're the rude one here," the Redditor wrote.

As the plane taxied, an announcement came over the intercom informing passengers they would shortly be returning to the gate.

"We get back to the [gate], and a flight attendant comes back and informs Fartman that he will not be staying on this flight," the Redditor wrote. "He simply replied, 'I don't understand,' and she tells him they'll talk about it off the plane."

The post continued: "We all breathed a sigh of relief when he was removed, I think most people were on edge about what he may say or do next."

The flight was delayed by less than 30 minutes, and the Redditor applauded American Airlines' handling of the situation.

The recent incident isn't the first time a tooting traveler prompted a change in flight plans.

Nearly two decades ago, an air passenger tried to hide the smell of her farts by lighting matches, prompting an emergency landing in Nashville. The woman was later banned from flying on American Airlines, according to Wired.

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