A United flight was forced to divert after a passenger became stuck in a lavatory.
Ready for a laugh?
Let’s cut right to United’s statement on the incident:
Flight 1554 from Washington D.C. to San Francisco diverted to Denver to assist a customer who was in the lavatory when the lavatory door became inoperative. The passenger was safely removed from the lavatory after landing, and customers have since continued on to their destination on a new aircraft.
United’s congested bathrooms are bad enough when the locks are functioning, especially the tiny one behind first class onboard the 737-800 that operated this flight from Washington National (DCA) to San Francisco (SFO).
It’s not clear how the passenger became trapped, but the lavatory lock became so stuck that a team of flight attendants could not open it. The passenger was forced to remain seated…on the toilet…during the diversion to Denver (DEN).
It was only on the ground in Denver that an engineering team was finally able to open the door. The flight landed in Denver at 7:21PM local time and continued at 9:55pm local time.
And yes, the passenger is just fine, though remains anonymous.
You have to love United’s reason for the delay online and on its app:
Your flight departed late because we had to address a technical issue on your plane.
CONCLUSION
I’ve never thought lavatory locks were all that secure. All you have to do is flip up the silver “lavatory” sign beside the occupied/unoccupied indicator on the door and you can easily lock and unlock the door from the outside. I thought it was just a simple slide mechanism.
I’ll save the bathroom puns for others, but that’s quite a story for the grandchildren…
Just a matter of time before a widebody gets stuck in one of those narrow lavs on DL or AAs 739’s.
What United failed to mention was whether the passenger stuck in lavatory was a person of size. Would have been helpful to better determine who was at fault – the airline or the passenger.
It was probably the airline as the lock was stuck. I’m not sure how a person of size could cause the lock in the lavatory to be stuck.
I had this happen before on a United flight from SCE to ORD. Thankfully, it occurred about 30 minutes from landing so we didn’t have to divert. The passenger remained seated – on the toilet – for landing. They deplaned all the passengers, and then maintenance personnel at ORD went on to bust down the door.
“especially the tiny one behind first class onboard the 737-800 ”
I thought only the 737-900’s had the lavatory in the front of economy where seats 7ABC should be?
That’s correct. Only the -900s have a lav behind first class.