United Airlines flight makes 'emergency landing' after passenger gets trapped in bathroom halfway through the journey
A United Airlines flight from Washington, DC to San Francisco was reportedly diverted to Denver, Colorado on Wednesday night after a passenger got stuck in the bathroom of the plane. The flight, which was in the air at the time of the incident, had to be diverted in an effort to free a female passenger who was trapped inside the lavatory,
United Airlines released a statement in regards to the incident, saying that "the lavatory door became inoperative" during Flight 1554. "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," United spokeswoman Andrea Hiller said.
"The passenger [in Denver] was safely removed from the lavatory after landing, and customers have since continued on to their destination on a new aircraft," according to CNN.
A video of maintenance technicians working on the door to free the passenger was posted online by Twitter user @taylorkkimber. In the clip, one of the men working on the door can be heard saying to the trapped passenger: "We're just working on opening up the door at the moment, ma'am. We'll get you out soon, OK?"
Another passenger on the flight took to Twitter to document the incident, writing: "@united flight 1554 just diverted to Denver because passenger is stuck in the bathroom. I've been on many flights but this is a new one. Bring on the bathroom humor."
Reports state that the particular flight, which was originally scheduled to arrive in San Francisco at 8:38 p.m. Wednesday night, arrived in the city after 11pm.
"We are reaching out to all customers onboard and the customer in the lavatory to apologize," the United Airlines statement said. The airlines has not yet mentioned any possible compensation to the passenger who was trapped inside the plane's bathroom.