MONTANA — When you gotta go, you gotta go.

A Delta flight travelling from New York City to Seattle on Dec. 3 made the ultimate pit stop for its passengers when it landed in Billings, Montana for a quick bathroom break.

According to the Billings Gazette, the direct flight diverted hundreds of miles south to make the emergency stop after the plane’s toilets stopped working. A typical flight from New York City to Seattle takes about six hours, much too long for the poor bladders of passengers.

Delta says that upon landing in Billings just after 6 p.m., the plane had to taxi to a cargo area because a gate was not available. Ground crews then rolled a stairway to the airplane so that passengers could “disembark to find relief of built-up pressures”.

Talk about service!

While passengers relieved themselves, the toilets were fixed and the plane was refuelled. In total, the flight wad delayed 3.5 hours.

A Delta spokesman said in a statement that the issue was resolved before the plane took off for Seattle and that “Delta apologizes for the inconvenience”.

With file from The Associated Press