Airplane lavatories can be kind of disgusting, and you don’t want to spend more time in them than you have to. Unfortunately for one SpiceJet passenger, this became their seat…
Man stuck in SpiceJet 737 lavatory for over an hour
This incident happened on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, and involves SpiceJet flight SG268, from Mumbai (BOM) to Bengaluru (BLR). The 67-minute flight was operated by a 13-year-old Boeing 737-800 with the registration code VT-SGV.
Moments after the flight took off (at 2:13AM), a male passenger seated in 14D went to use the lavatory. When he finished his business, he tried to exit, but discovered that the door was malfunctioning, and wouldn’t open.
While some passengers get confused about how aircraft lavatory doors work, usually it’s quite easy to open and close them, given that they can even be opened from the outside by crew members. Unfortunately in this case there seemed to be a real malfunction, and the crew couldn’t even figure out how to open the door, despite their best efforts.
The passenger even took a video of himself stuck in the lavatory, as one does…
After the crew determined that they couldn’t open the door, they ended up slipping the passenger a note, which read as follows:
“Sir we tried our best to open the door, however, we could not open. Do not panic, we are landing in a few mins, so please close the comode lid and sit on it and secure urself. As soon as the main door is open engineer will come. Do not panic.”
When the plane landed in Bengaluru, engineers managed to board the aircraft and break open the door, freeing the passenger.
Airline apologizes, refunds passenger
This incident has gotten a lot of media attention, so SpiceJet has issued an apology, and has refunded the passenger for his ticket:
“On 16 January, a passenger unfortunately got stuck inside the lavatory for about an hour on SpiceJet flight operating from Mumbai to Bengaluru, while the aircraft was airborne due to a malfunction in the door lock. Throughout the journey, our crew provided assistance and guidance to the passenger. Upon arrival, an engineer opened the lavatory door, and the passenger received immediate medical support. SpiceJet regrets and apologises for the inconvenience caused to the passenger. The passenger is being provided a full refund.”
Following this incident, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has launched an investigation into what happened. The aviation watchdog is trying to determine if this happened due to a maintenance issue, or for some other reason.
Bottom line
A passenger on India’s SpiceJet ended up getting trapped in the lavatory of a Boeing 737 for an extended period of time. He tried to use the bathroom just after takeoff, but the door malfunctioned, and wouldn’t open. He then had to stay in the lavatory for the remainder of the flight, and was even there for landing. Fortunately ground staff were able to break down the door once the plane was on the ground, though that still sounds like a really unpleasant experience.
What do you make of this SpiceJet incident?
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