A mistake worth Rs 50 lakh: Stewardess opens plane door, delays flight by 5 hours

A British Airways crew member accidentally opened the plane door before take off (Representational image)

The first day on a new job can be a bit stressful, especially if hundreds of passengers are depending on you to reach safely from one point to the other. Perhaps it was the stress of a new job that got to a British Airways crew member who caused a five-hour delay after mistakenly opening the emergency exit on her maiden flight.

According to the Daily Mail, the unnamed stewardess left passengers “traumatised” after accidentally opening the emergency slide shortly before take-off on Sunday, June 11. The unnamed crew member opened the rear plane door on one of British Airways’ Airbus A350 jets, that was supposed to take off from London Heathrow Airport to Austin, Texas on Sunday afternoon.

Her blunder cost British Airways more than £50,000 (Rs 52 lakh approximately), besides delaying the flight by five hours and inconveniencing hundreds of passengers. It also sparked a massive emergency response as authorities and emergency personnel rushes to surround the flight on the runway.

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— Dr. Sridevi Rao (@sribee11) June 13, 2023

“I was in the very back row by the door when it flew open as we were moving towards the runway. It was so loud and scary as the cabin depressurized and the slide inflated,” she wrote in a now-deleted Twitter post, according to Daily Mail. She also added the hashtag #traumatized.

The stewardess has been de-rostered from future flights and asked to go back to training, according to The Sun.

A spokesperson for British Airways said the passengers were disembarked normally after the debacle. “We arranged a replacement aircraft for them to continue their journey the same day and have apologised for the inconvenience caused,” the spokesperson said.