Man wakes up in cold, dark, empty plane
US airline United Express is investigating after an airline passenger woke up to find himself locked inside an empty, dark plane.
Passenger Tom Wagner boarded a flight at Louisiana to visit his sister in California and decided to have a nap while the plane stopped in Texas for a layover on Friday evening.
He was sitting in a window seat near the back of the aircraft and it is believed staff failed to spot him when the aircraft was emptied.
He told ABC13 Eyewitness News: "I woke up and the lights were out. I was like, what’s going on? I thought maybe it was a layover, still on the same plane."
He woke up in a cold and pitch-black cabin, and found the aircraft doors were locked.
He called his girlfriend, who alerted the airline, which operates ExpressJet.
ExpressJet issued a statement to Eyewitness News, saying: "An ExpressJet passenger remained on board flight 4245, operating as United Express from Lafayette, La. to Houston on Friday, December 6 after all passengers had deplaned.
"ExpressJet is investigating to determine how this occurred. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this caused for the passenger."
The airline said a post-flight walk-through was done, but the company couldn’t explain how staff missed Wagner.
Not surprisingly, he missed his connecting flight, but United Express ensured he reached his destination in California.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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