"Get me off this plane", Man locked in dark cabin in worst layover ever

[jimmy olsen]

Sounds like the beginning of a Twilight Zone episode. 

http://www.today.com/travel/get-me-plane-man-locked-dark-cabin-worst-layover-ever-2D11708456

Get me off this plane': Man locked in dark cabin in worst layover ever
Scott Stump TODAY contributor
10 hours ago

A man who dozed off during a connecting flight Friday was not dreaming when he woke to find himself alone and locked in a darkened cabin.

Tom Wagner, a Louisiana boat captain, nodded off on a flight from Lafayette, La., to Los Angeles on United Airlines with a stop in Houston when he got a different kind of layover.

"I woke up, and I looked up at the ceiling, and I saw the lights were out,'' Wagner said on TODAY Monday. "Looked down the aisle, ain't nobody was home."

Wagner tried to open the door to exit the plane, but it was locked. He quickly called his girlfriend, who thought he was joking.

"She started laughing,'' he said. "I said, 'You gotta call United and get me off this plane.'''

His girlfriend quickly called the airline.

"She says, 'My boyfriend's on that airplane, you gotta get someone to get him off,''' he said. "And he said, 'Ma'am, we sweep those planes. There's no way he's on that plane.'''

After a half hour, maintenance workers opened the door and were stunned to find him inside.

"They said, 'Where's your badge?''' Wagner said. "I said, 'Dude, I don't work here, I'm a passenger on this airplane.' And he said 'Hold on, hold on.' He didn't believe it."

"It's obvious in this case that the crew exiting the airplane did not do a sweep,'' aviation expert Michael Boyd told TODAY. "Whatever they say, you can't miss this."

United offered him $250 and a hotel room in Houston for the night, according to Wagner. ExpressJet, the company that operated the United flight, issued a statement to TODAY.

"ExpressJet is investigating to determine how this occurred. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this caused for the passenger."

Wagner was puzzled as to why no one tried to wake him.

"I just don't know how it happened, I really don't,'' he said. "I mean, passengers get off, you'd think somebody would have rubbed me or pushed me and said, 'Hey buddy, we're here.'''

Wagner is set to return to Louisiana on United next week. This time, he said, he'll get a good night's sleep before the flight.

[garbon]

He ugg and therefore, I don't care.

[Eddie Teach]

He ugg and therefore, I don't care.

True humanitarian you are. 

[jimmy olsen]

He ugg and therefore, I don't care.

You've truly embraced the Christmas season

[garbon]

People seem excited about ExpressJet though...

Delta bumps full flight for Florida basketball team

A full flight of passengers got bumped Sunday so that the University of Florida men's basketball team could get to Storrs, Conn., on time for a Monday night game — which they ended up losing.

Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant confirmed that the 50-passenger flight, Delta Connection 5059, flying out Florida's Gainesville Regional Airport was canceled after the Express Jet plane the team had chartered for the flight experienced a mechanical issue.

"The charter jet was supposed to leave at 3 p.m., and Express Jet thought they could quickly fix the mechanical issue," said Durrant.

The mechanical problem was not easily fixed, however, so to protect the on-time departure of the charter, Express Jet put the Gators on a Delta Connection plane that was supposed to leave for Atlanta at 3:36 p.m.

Express Jet, which operated both the charter as well as the regularly scheduled flight, is a regional airline that operates through capacity purchase agreements as American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express.

Passengers on the Delta Connection flight were rebooked. Most passengers got out on Sunday, and Durrant said a few may have waited to depart until Monday. The passengers were offered travel vouchers as compensation.

"The team didn't know this was happening," said Durrant. "All they knew was that when they got the airport, they had an aircraft and departed. They were unaware of the consequences."

Team spokesman Denver Parler told NBC News via email, "We do not have anything further to add."

A passenger on the canceled flight told the Gainesville Sun that they were told their plane had a mechanical difficulty — and at the same time, some of them looked out the window and noticed the Gators basketball team boarding the plane meant for them.

"It just felt like the wrong decision made by somebody who didn't think it through," she said.

The Connecticut Huskies ending up beating the Florida Gators 65-64 with a buzzer-beating jump shot.

[Ed Anger]

Mike Leach works for ExpressJet now.

[Caliga]

WHaaaaaaaa?????

I've been on flights where there was a layover and I was going to the same plane's next destination.  The very first thing they do afterward is sweep thru the cabin and see who is left and check boarding passes to verify you should still be on there. 

[Admiral Yi]

Maybe he used his secret invisibility spell learned in a Tibetan monastery.

[Eddie Teach]

Or wearing his cloak from Hogwarts.

[Capetan Mihali]

LOL schmuck passes out on plane, misses disembarking, stuck for 20 minutes..

[grumbler]

LOL schmuck passes out on plane, misses disembarking, stuck for 20 minutes..

Did you get compensation from the airline?

[Capetan Mihali]

LOL schmuck passes out on plane, misses disembarking, stuck for 20 minutes..

Did you get compensation from the airline?

I did.  What's your excuse? 

[KRonn]

Sounds like the beginning of a Twilight Zone episode. 

Did he also see the goon on the wing, tearing out wires??    

[Darth Wagtaros]

I'd be pretty pissed about the ExpressJet thing.