Photo: ainonline.com
It’s one thing to rush to the bathroom at home and accidentally run into someone else, who’s already busy in there, and an entirely different matter when you mistake the emergency door for a bathroom door on an international flight.
A female passenger did just that on a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight out of Manchester, U.K., headed to Islamabad, last weekend, The Independent reports. Luckily, the plane wasn’t up in the air but still on the tarmac, getting ready for takeoff, but the mishap still caused a major delay at the airport and further disruptions at home base.
According to the report, the seatbelt lights were on and all the emergency doors on the plane had been secured, which means that opening any one of them would immediately deploy the inflatable slides. By all accounts, the woman should have stayed in her assigned seat and, even if she did get up, she should have been stopped by flight attendants, which are usually seated next to the emergency exits during takeoff and landing.
Neither of these happened, so the woman ran to the door, which she assumed was the way in to the toilet, and opened it. When she did so, the inflatable slide automatically deployed.
The pilot ordered everyone off the plane as a security measure and then decided to fly without the slide, so as to cut down on the time spent on the ground. However, one less slide means fewer passengers are allowed on board, so 38 people had to volunteer to be left behind – with promises they would be set up for accommodation and booked on other flights out of Manchester.
As of the moment of writing, some of those who agreed to deplane are still complaining that their luggage never made it out of Manchester, even though they’ve already reached their destination.
PIA has confirmed the mishap, saying it’s launched a formal investigation into it. It’s also asking for more time and patience to solve all the complaints and have passengers reunited with their luggage.
“A passenger erroneously opened the emergency door causing the emergency slide to activate,” PIA says in a statement to the publication. “All passengers were provided dinner. The offloaded passengers were provided with transportation and hotel accommodation and will be adjusted on the next available flight. PIA regrets the inconvenience caused to its passengers due to this incident.”
According to the report, the seatbelt lights were on and all the emergency doors on the plane had been secured, which means that opening any one of them would immediately deploy the inflatable slides. By all accounts, the woman should have stayed in her assigned seat and, even if she did get up, she should have been stopped by flight attendants, which are usually seated next to the emergency exits during takeoff and landing.
Neither of these happened, so the woman ran to the door, which she assumed was the way in to the toilet, and opened it. When she did so, the inflatable slide automatically deployed.
The pilot ordered everyone off the plane as a security measure and then decided to fly without the slide, so as to cut down on the time spent on the ground. However, one less slide means fewer passengers are allowed on board, so 38 people had to volunteer to be left behind – with promises they would be set up for accommodation and booked on other flights out of Manchester.
As of the moment of writing, some of those who agreed to deplane are still complaining that their luggage never made it out of Manchester, even though they’ve already reached their destination.
PIA has confirmed the mishap, saying it’s launched a formal investigation into it. It’s also asking for more time and patience to solve all the complaints and have passengers reunited with their luggage.
“A passenger erroneously opened the emergency door causing the emergency slide to activate,” PIA says in a statement to the publication. “All passengers were provided dinner. The offloaded passengers were provided with transportation and hotel accommodation and will be adjusted on the next available flight. PIA regrets the inconvenience caused to its passengers due to this incident.”
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