On April 28 a passenger onboard a flight from Sanya to Mian Yang, China thought the cabin was too stuffy and decided to get some air. He mistook the emergency exit door for a window, opened it and popped the slide.

Credit: The Cover

Credit: The Cover

The man received 15 days of administrative detention and reportedly the incident cost the airline ~ US$11,000.

Chinese media reports I’ve seen haven’t reported the airline but it looks to me like Lucky Air, though perhaps readers can weigh in. Shanghaiist mistakenly reports the incident occurred prior to departure from Mian Yang.

Flight attendants have been known to ‘peace out’ by popping an aircraft slide on arrival and running away down the tarmac. (Although sometimes they just set fire to the lav.)

Sometimes passengers open the aircraft door and head off themselves to avoid deportation or simply because as on this China Southern flight they can’t find the bathroom so try all the doors.

In December 2014 a 50 year old man on a Xiamen Airlines flight in Hangzhou opened the emergency exit door because he “just want to breathe before taking off.”

These incidents do seem to happen most frequently in China, likely a function of the size of the aviation market and the unfamiliarity of many passengers with air travel.

(HT: D.J.)