Passenger locked in plane after falling asleep on flight
Louisiana man wakes up in dark, empty cabin
Talk about a deep sleeper.
A Louisiana man woke up alone on a dark, locked plane after taking a nap on his flight from Lafayette to Houston.
Tom Wagner said he was on a United ExpressJet flight Friday headed for California to visit family when he decided to catch some shut eye before his connecting flight.
"I woke up and the lights were out. I was like, what's going on?" Wagner told ABC station KTRK-TV in Houston. "I thought maybe it was a layover, still on the same plane.”
Somehow no one noticed that Wagner, who was sitting near the back of the plane, was left on board.
He says he immediately tried the door, but it was locked. He then called his girlfriend, who phoned the airlines. Crew members showed up about 30 minutes later to free him.
Wagner says once the crew showed up, they were less than apologetic, telling ABC, “they were, like, try to hush-hush, keep it quiet.”
Wagner said United gave him a $250 voucher to help him reach his final destination, an airline amenities package and a motel room for the night.
The airline issued a statement on Saturday: "An ExpressJet passenger remained on board flight 4245, operating as United Express from Lafayette, La. to Houston on Friday, Dec. 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."
Wagner warned that others might not be so lucky if this happens again. "What if I had a medical condition or something? What if I had a heart attack and I was dead?” He told KTRK-TV, “You just shut the plane and leave someone on there? It's the way I look at it.”
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