Everybody makes mistakes, but this was an expensive one. A Delta Airlines flight attendant accidentally deployed the emergency slide before their departure. Not only was this a costly $100K mistake, but it also cost the passengers their time, forcing them to be stranded overnight.
Delta Flight Attendant Makes $100k Mistake
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An agitated passenger on the flight shared the encounter on Reddit, along with a photo of the deployed slide. "The flight attendant accidentally triggered the emergency slide," they wrote. "Everyone's entire night just became a cluster f**k." The user did admit that the Delta flight attendant apologized and appeared quite flustered, but, naturally, not all passengers were pleased with the outcome.
Then the passenger wanted to know how exactly this could occur. They admitted that while they understood that accidents happen, "shouldn't it be something with quite a safety check for making this kind of mistake?"
The NY Post had the answers. They shared that the Delta flight attendant "unintentionally raised the door handle while arming the door for departure." This triggered "the emergency power assist response."
Passengers Are Trapped And Irritated
Furthermore, the outlet shared that after the emergency slide was deployed, "passengers were temporarily trapped onboard until engineers manually detached the chute." That process took nearly an hour. However, even after the slide was detached, the passengers were unable to continue their flight. Instead, they were asked to disembark via a jet-bridge.
Then the flight was delayed by 4 hours, causing many passengers to miss their connecting flights. Unfortunatley, that meant that they were then stranded in the airport overnight. Although the passengers were rebooked on other Delta flights, it is currently unknown if they will be compensated for the $100k mistake.
Fellow flight attendants and passengers shared their experience on the Reddit post as well.
One user wrote, "A woman friend of mine made this mistake early in her flight attendant career. Needless to say, she was fired, and the mistake took a toll on her career."
Another added, "If the flight attendant accidentally triggers the slide, you should have the right to accidentally use it."
A third chimmed in, "I would be way less angry about the situation if they let me use the slide."
