Belin, what a disaster: a passenger 'confuses' the emergency exit with the bathroom door
It was not too long ago that in another article I briefly recounted my first time aboard [...]
Air China
It was not too long ago that, in another article, I briefly recounted my first time aboard an airplane. It must have been, yes or no, 15 years ago: I was little more than a child and I was flying, from Cagliari to Rome, aboard the legendary MD80 of the equally mythical Sundial. Everything went smoothly: very pleasant flight and on time. You may be thinking, "and what should have gone wrong?" Nothing, of course; but first times are not always a good memory (no jokes, please).
In this article:
A Chinese woman's first time aboard a plane, for example, was not the best: in fact, let's face it, it was a disaster. It is 8:45 p.m. on Thursday, July 4: the flight CA2754 of Air China, operated by a Airbus A320, is about to take off from the airport in Quzhou (JUZ) to Chengdu International Airport (TFU). The boarding procedures are almost over when a woman-the protagonist of this obviously absurd story-decides to get up from her seat to go to the bathroom. Arriving in the tail of the plane, however, she makes a mistake that will cost her dearly: opens the wrong door. No, she did not enter the occupied bathroom: it could have happened, it is true, considering that there are two toilets in the queue.
Photo: @fl360aero via X
As the South China Morning Post reports., the woman confused the rear emergency exit with the bathroom door: once the tailgate was opened, of course, it also opened the emergency slide. The consequences are easy to see: $28,000 fine for the woman and flight cancelled (Passengers, given the hour, were offered an overnight hotel stay and compensation of $55).
How was it possible for a passenger to confuse one of the doors with the bathroom door? And, most importantly, how is it possible that all this happened without any of the flight attendants noticing? Questions, these, that for now remain unanswered.
This affair-which, let's face it, borders on the absurd and could have ended much worse-teaches us, once again, how important it is to listen to cabin crew during the safety demonstration at the beginning flight; especially if it is our first time aboard an airplane....
