SpiceJet has apologised for the inconvenience caused to the passenger.
A door lock malfunction left a flier trapped in the toilet of a SpiceJet aircraft for the entire flight yesterday. The passenger, flying from Mumbai to Bengaluru, had left his seat to use the washroom soon after the plane became airborne. Little did he know that for the remainder of the journey, the commode lid in the cramped toilet will be his seat.
When the passenger tried to exit the toilet, he found that the lock was stuck. On figuring out the situation, the crew tried to unlock the door from outside, but failed. The passenger was rescued from his confinement only after the plane landed at Bengaluru and an engineer managed to unlock the door.
SpiceJet has expressed regret and apologised for the inconvenience caused to the passenger. It has also said that the passenger will get a full refund on his airfare.
"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," a statement from the airlines said.
"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," it added.
The photograph of a short message on a piece of paper has now gone viral, with many claiming that the crew wrote this note for the trapped passenger and slipped it across from under the locked bathroom door. The message says that they had failed to open the door despite repeated attempts and that the flier will be rescued as soon as the plane landed. The note asks the passenger not to panic. NDTV cannot verify the authenticity of the note.
The entrapment of the passenger on the SpiceJet flight comes at a time when airline service providers are making headlines for the wrong reasons. Winter conditions in north India have delayed hundreds of flights over the past few days, with passengers complaining of poor communication and inadequate assistance from airline carriers.
In an unfortunate incident, a passenger attacked a pilot onboard an IndiGo flight while he was explaining the reasons for delay. Air India was in the news for a 17-hour delay that saw passengers eating their meals on the runway as they waited for their journey to begin.