A plane turning back to its departure point normally causes a certain amount of concern amongst travellers, with question marks immediately raised about the aircraft’s airworthiness.

But for passengers aboard an Austrian Airlines Boeing 777 bound for New York on Monday, it wasn’t the aircraft itself that caused a return to Vienna, the problem was the plumbing in its toilets – five of the eight facilities on board out of use due to blockages.

Two hours into the eight-hour flight came the announcement that none of the 300 passengers on board wanted to hear, with the flight forced to return to the Austrian capital for some much-needed maintenance work.

On the plus side, according to a spokesperson for the airline, this is the first time blocked toilets have disrupted one of its flights – no doubt a great comfort to all those affected by the disruption. Austrian Airlines confirmed that all passengers were rebooked on other flights and the plane in question was now back operational.

It’s not the first time blocked conveniences have affected air travel with a Norwegian Air service in January 2018 turning back to Oslo after one of its toilets became clogged; ironically, the plane had 85 plumbers on board, and when they investigated they realised they’d need to get to the airliner’s exterior to fix it.