Passenger wakes up to find plane empty and doors locked
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 apologize for the inconvenience this caused for the passenger."
The airline said there was a post-flight walk-through that was done, but the company couldn’t explain how they missed Wagner.
Not surprisingly, he missed his connecting flight, but United Express ensured he reached his destination in California.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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