SEATTLE- A 216-pound passenger and his three-year-old child were trapped in a lavatory for over 30 minutes on a Delta Air Lines (DL) flight from Taipei (TPE) to Seattle (SEA) when the door mechanism jammed.
Initially compensated with only 4,000 SkyMiles, the family later received $200 travel vouchers after escalating their complaint about the traumatic experience that occurred last month during their long-haul journey.
Delta Passenger Stuck in Lavatory
The ordeal began approximately eight hours into the ten-hour transpacific flight. The father and his toddler entered the lavatory. Still, after washing their hands and attempting to exit, they discovered the accordion-style door wouldn’t budge despite the lock being unlatched and the indicator light turning off.
“I laugh to myself and try the lock again, light ON, light OFF, OK nothing, the door won’t budge. Pushing on the door, I felt barely any flex,” the passenger explained in a detailed Reddit post describing their experience.
Communication proved nearly impossible through the lavatory door due to the combination of aircraft noise, engine sounds, and a distressed crying child.
The situation initially caused confusion among the cabin crew, who first believed only the child was trapped inside. It wasn’t until the father managed to tear a rubber strip from around the door frame that he could be heard properly, alerting flight attendants that both he and his child were stuck.
Flight attendants attempted various techniques to free the passengers, including using a metal knife to manipulate the mechanism. The pilots reportedly consulted with Delta’s maintenance team in Atlanta to identify solution options, PYOK reported.
The breakthrough came after repeatedly rocking the door back and forth. Eventually, the lock popped open, causing the door to fling open and come completely off its tracks. Following the incident, crew members cordoned off the damaged lavatory for the remainder of the flight.
The passenger expressed disappointment with Delta’s initial compensation offer of 4,000 SkyMiles. After pushing back, the airline increased the offer to 15,000 miles, then 17,000 miles, before the family ultimately accepted $200 travel vouchers for each person in their party.
Similar Incident
This isn’t the first such incident for Delta. In December 2023, another passenger became trapped in a lavatory during a flight to New Orleans (MSY), with that situation was ultimately resolved when a pilot physically kicked down the door to free the trapped individual.
The incident began when Brent visited the airplane lavatory during his flight from Salt Lake City. Upon attempting to exit, he discovered the door would not open. The situation worsened when unlocking the door caused the bathroom lights to turn off, creating a disorienting environment despite his efforts to force the door open.
Once crew members understood Brent was genuinely trapped, they mobilized assistance. The flight attendants recruited a male passenger for help and eventually involved the pilot. Following multiple coordinated attempts with pushes and kicks against the accordion-style door mechanism, Brent finally regained his freedom approximately 35 minutes after becoming trapped.
While praising the efforts of the flight crew and pilot, the couple expressed dissatisfaction with Delta’s compensation offer. “The offered compensation was 2,000 SkyMiles, which is the equivalent of $23.
This flight cost upwards of $300 one-way,” his wife noted. “We’ve seen on multiple occasions Delta offer passengers hundreds of dollars worth of flight vouchers to take a later flight when they’ve overbooked, so he felt this $23 token failed to adequately address the situation.”
Both incidents involved space-saving lavatories featuring bi-fold or concertina doors that push open from the outside and pull open from the inside. These doors typically include emergency release mechanisms designed to free the entire door panel from its track regardless of lock status—a feature that apparently failed in both cases.
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