Air Canada investigates after woman wakes up alone on darkened plane

[MULTIZ321]

Air Canada investigates after woman wakes up alone on darkened plane.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/23/air-canada-woman-wakes-up-alone-darkened-plane.


Richard

 

[CanuckTravlr]

Very bizarre story. First thought is how can the crew leave the aircraft without checking to ensure if anyone or anything is still on-board? Too concerned about getting to that party, maybe?

Second thought is how tired do you have to be to fall so sound asleep on such a relatively short flight (about 1½ hours)? Not trying to blame the victim, but really, maybe you aren't safe to be travelling if you are that tired?

And third thought is why no other passengers thought to wake her or let the crew know she was still there sleeping? All self-absorbed pushing to get off the plane with their heads buried in their phones, perhaps?

Air Canada is apparently now investigating. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/air-canada-sleeping-passenger-1.5186858

It will be interesting to see what comes of this, especially the explanations from the crew.

 

[Luanne]

I also wondered why she wasn't found by the flight crew. Then I saw it was Air Canada. I took a morning flight from Vancouver to San Francisco a few years ago. They had started boarding, then all of a sudden stopped and had the passengers who had already boarded get off. Turns out the night crew hadn't cleaned the cabin before they left. So, I can see how if a crew leaves without cleaning, they could leave without checking to make sure everyone was off the plane. I also wondered why the heck it had taken the morning crew all that time to discover the plane needed to be cleaned.

 

[CanuckTravlr]

I also wondered why she wasn't found by the flight crew. Then I saw it was Air Canada. I took a morning flight from Vancouver to San Francisco a few years ago. They had started boarding, then all of a sudden stopped and had the passengers who had already boarded get off. Turns out the night crew hadn't cleaned the cabin before they left. So, I can see how if a crew leaves without cleaning, they could leave without checking to make sure everyone was off the plane. I also wondered why the heck it had taken the morning crew all that time to discover the plane needed to be cleaned.

Certainly not my experience on Air Canada, but it can obviously happen at any time...thankfully seemingly rare.

I, too, was also referring to the flight crew leaving without checking. But the overnight cleaning of the aircraft is normally done by a dedicated ground crew. In your case, it seems somehow the plane was never cleaned while it sat overnight. Not the same as the flight crew not doing a final check of the aircraft before leaving.

And in this case the plane had been rolled away from the gates to a storage area. So the night cleaning crew had probably not come aboard yet, if they were scheduled to do so.

 

[Passepartout]

I also wondered why she wasn't found by the flight crew. Then I saw it was Air Canada. I took a morning flight from Vancouver to San Francisco a few years ago. They had started boarding, then all of a sudden stopped and had the passengers who had already boarded get off. Turns out the night crew hadn't cleaned the cabin before they left. So, I can see how if a crew leaves without cleaning, they could leave without checking to make sure everyone was off the plane. I also wondered why the heck it had taken the morning crew all that time to discover the plane needed to be cleaned.

Doesn't need to be any particular carrier. We were boarding an American flight early one morning. The plane had overnighted there, so we were among the first aboard. As people filed into the CRJ airplane, this dark blue liquid flowed forward up (down?) the aisle. They had everyone get off the plane and after much head shaking and finger pointing, they decided that the ground crew had put the recommended amount of toilet chemical in the head without draining it first. (EWWW!) They just drained it down, reloaded the passengers and off we went. No attempt at vacuuming the wastewater. I have never been one to take off shoes on a flight, but this experience reinforced that.

Jim

 

[VacationForever]

On a recent flight, our flight was delayed because the previous night crew did not clean the plane. It sounds like an endemic problem.

 

[VacationForever]

Second thought is how tired do you have to be to fall so sound asleep on such a relatively short flight (about 1½ hours)? Not trying to blame the victim, but really, maybe you aren't safe to be travelling if you are that tired?

When I was flying for work, I would sleep on flights, long or short, due to working long hours and getting insufficient sleep. I can see someone being tired and sleeping on short flights.

 

[CanuckTravlr]

When I was flying for work, I would sleep on flights, long or short, due to working long hours and getting insufficient sleep. I can see someone being tired and sleeping on short flights.

Oh, I fully understand the concept of sleeping or even catching a nap on a short trip. But the flight from Quebec City is so short you are basically just climbing to altitude, staying there for maybe 20 or 30 minutes and then starting your approach into YYZ (Toronto Pearson).

What I am having difficulty understanding is that she has fallen into such a deep sleep in that short period as to remain so for several hours. From the pressure change on descent, through the landing on the tarmac, the joggling into position at the gate ramp, the multiple PA announcements on arrival, the jostling and noise of nearby passengers on exit, and finally the towing of the aircraft away from the gates to the storage apron.

That is some deep sleep!!

 

[pedro47]

Is this a true story or fake news?
Passenger was flying alone. No Problem. No one missed passenger after hours on the plane.
Passenger phone needed to be charged. Phone was Dead.
Passenger decline limo service to hotel late at night by airline.
Passenger found a flashlight on a dark plane; She used the flashlight to signal for help;but her SOS signal was not seen by anyone.
The plane was dark; but passenger was stronger enough and was able to unlock a door on the plane and scream for Help.
Passenger was then seen by ground crew and rescue.

 

[DRIless]

I've had this almost happen to me on a one hour flight on a USAir commuter jet. I can sleep on planes. I was exhausted after working all day. I fell asleep before take off and woke up as the last crew off the plane was switching everything off to close the door. I woke with a tremendous back spasm and was in so much pain that I could not move, could not reach call button, could not even make a sound or call out. Luckily, they saw me at the back of the plane they got me out of the seat and motivating toward the concourse. It can happen, you wonder what the people that had been sitting near me were preoccupied with.

 

[andysnovel]

Is this a true story or fake news?
Passenger was flying alone. No Problem. No one missed passenger after hours on the plane.
Passenger phone needed to be charged. Phone was Dead.
Passenger decline limo service to hotel late at night by airline.
Passenger found a flashlight on a dark plane; She used the flashlight to signal for help;but her SOS signal was not seen by anyone.
The plane was dark; but passenger was stronger enough and was able to unlock a door on the plane and scream for Help.
Passenger was then seen by ground crew and rescue.

I agree with you Pedro, this all sounds like a BS story, not to say others have not experienced similar things, just this story has too many holes in it, to be believable, dead cell phone, my favorite was her unscrewing the bolt holding the door on, that was too much for me lol

 

[moonstone]

The woman's cellphone died after she texted her friend several times asking for help. The local news showed screen shots of those texts last evening. I wonder why the woman didn't just call 911 for help, especially if she knew or could see that she had very little battery left on her phone. The whole story does sound a little far fetched but I guess we'll see in due time.


~Diane

 

[stmartinfan]

I questioned how she could have slept through a landing, but then remembered that I once slept through a take off! We had to go through customs and change planes at JFK on a flight back from Europe. Between the long flight, a long wait at JFK and jet lag, I was exhausted. I fell asleep while we were waiting to take off and was shocked when I woke up again sometime later to realize we were in the air.

 

[CanuckTravlr]

Is this a true story or fake news?
Passenger was flying alone. No Problem. No one missed passenger after hours on the plane.
Passenger phone needed to be charged. Phone was Dead.
Passenger decline limo service to hotel late at night by airline.
Passenger found a flashlight on a dark plane; She used the flashlight to signal for help;but her SOS signal was not seen by anyone.
The plane was dark; but passenger was stronger enough and was able to unlock a door on the plane and scream for Help.
Passenger was then seen by ground crew and rescue.

This is a true story. It has been confirmed by Air Canada that the woman was left on the plane, as reported by the three major networks here in Canada: CBC, CTV and Global. All of those networks fact-check and do not generally report "fake" news. Air Canada is currently investigating the incident and will not comment further until it has completed the review. At the very least some flight crew did not follow proper protocol, as prescribed by the airline, prior to leaving the aircraft. Whether all of the details described by the passenger are fully accurate is yet to be determined.