Page 13 - IAV Digital Magazine #485

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United Airlines Flight Diverted After Passenger Gets Stuck In Toilet: “You Cant Make This Up
By Brendan Cole
United Airlines has issued an apology to pas- sengers on board a flight which had to be diverted when a female passenger got stuck in the bath- room.
The flight on Wednesday night was heading from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco when the toilet door became inoperable while
the woman was inside it.
The pilots divert- ed the plane to Denver International Airport and after it landed, fire department staff boarded the plane to free the woman, who joked about her ordeal, according to ABC Action News.
The unnamed woman, who had been trapped in
the bathroom for about an hour, was unharmed but embarrassed.
One passenger posted video of the incident on Twitter, writing: "Well folks it's never a dull moment on @united , we have to make an 'emergency land- ing' in Denver because a pas- senger got stuck in the bathroom.
"You can't make
this up...also the Wi-Fi is crappy and there is no way for me to charge my phone, happy travels."
Another passen- ger, Jennifer Gettman, told local news net- work KPIX: "The pilot announced, 'In case you haven't heard the rumor, we are going to be land- ing in Denver because some- one locked them- selves in the
bathroom and, of course, we are not going to make her stay in the bathroom until San Francisco.'"
"Fire, police, someone had a big pickaxe thing and they man- aged to get the door open after about 10 minutes.
"Everyone clapped, the woman came out, they all felt very bad for her. She seemed fine. I mean, I don't know how she was with landing in the bathroom. But she was fine."
All the passen- gers disembarked and then boarded a new aircraft to continue on their journey to San Francisco.
In a statement, United Airlines said: "Flight 1554 from Washington D.C. to San Francisco divert- ed to Denver to assist a customer who was in the lavatory when the lavatory door became inopera-
tive.
"The passenger was safely removed from the lavatory after landing, and cus- tomers have since continued on to their desti- nation on a new aircraft.
"We are reaching out to all cus- tomers onboard and the customer in the lavatory to apologize."
Earlier this week, an American Airlines flight had to divert to Denver as well after a male pas- senger caused trouble by punch- ing the seats in front of him and shouting at pas- sengers.
He lit up a ciga- rette and shouted "you're all screwed" to other passengers when he was in the toi- let on board the flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, Fox News reported.
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