First-Time Flier Confuses Toilet Door, Emergency Exit

Good thing the flight was still on the ground in Chongqing
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 29, 2016 12:16 PM CDT
First-Time Flier Confuses Toilet Door, Emergency Exit
A China Southern Airlines jetliner lands in the Spratly Islands.   (Cha Chunming/Xinhua via AP, File)

You'd think bright red lettering would be enough for a passenger to distinguish a plane's emergency exit from a bathroom door—not to mention the window offering a clear view outside. Yet a first-time air traveler in China says she mistook a cabin door for the entrance to a toilet on a China Southern Airlines flight on Friday, causing an emergency slide to deploy, reports Mashable. Thankfully the flight to Shenzhen was still grounded at Chongqing Airport, where it had to remain for two hours.

Passengers who were removed from the flight say a loud hissing noise could be heard when the 50-year-old touched the emergency door's handle. The woman later told officials that she had wanted to avoid the line for the bathroom and thought the door led to another toilet. An investigation is ongoing, but the woman didn't return to the plane, reports Shanghaiist. A man opened an emergency exit on a China Southern Airlines flight at the same airport earlier this month, per Mashable. His excuse: he wanted fresh air. (More China stories.)

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