Passengers Report Bleeding Eardrums and Noses, Headaches on Delta Flight

Some passengers aboard a recent Delta Air Lines flight reported experiencing bleeding eardrums and noses, as well as headaches, prompting an investigation from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Over the weekend, a Delta flight traveling from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Portland, Oregon, was forced to make an emergency landing due to cabin pressure issues.
“The crew of Delta Air Lines Flight 1203, a Boeing 737-900, returned to Salt Lake City International Airport after reporting a possible pressurization issue. The flight landed without incident at around 8:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024,” the FAA said in a statement. “The flight’s original destination was Portland International Airport in Oregon. The FAA will investigate. Please contact the airline for further details.”
While speaking with the Salt Lake City news station KSL, several passengers reported injuries, including bloody noses and ears, due to the issues with the cabin pressure.
“I looked over at my husband, and he had both of his hands over his ears, you know, kind of leaning forward,” passenger Caryn Allen told KSL. “I looked about a row behind me, over on the other side of the aisle, and there was a gentleman that clearly had a very bad bloody nose, and people were trying to help him.”
Jaci Purser, another passenger, detailed a similar experience.
“I grabbed my ear, and I pulled my hand back, and there was blood on it,” Purser told KSL.
Paramedics met the passengers at the gate and identified at least 10 people from the 140 on board who required medical attention. The airline said they advised anyone with bleeding injuries to go to the hospital for further evaluation and offered to cover the transportation costs.
Delta issued a statement saying, “We sincerely apologize to our customers for their experience on flight 1203 on Sept. 15.”
“The flight crew followed procedures to return to SLC where our teams on the ground supported our customers with their immediate needs,” the statement added.
Newsweek reached out to Delta via its website for further comment.
Delta said the aircraft was taken out of service on Sunday due to an issue preventing it from pressurizing above 10,000 feet. After technicians addressed the problem, the plane was cleared and returned to service on Monday.
The Boeing aircraft involved in Sunday’s emergency landing is not part of the manufacturer’s newer MAX fleet, which faced scrutiny earlier this year when a door plug blew off during a January 5 Alaska Airlines flight at 16,000 feet over Oregon.
In late January, the FAA recommended more thorough inspections of several Boeing aircraft, including the 737-900ER involved in the Salt Lake City incident, due to its shared door plug design with the MAX jets.
This article includes reporting from the Associated Press.