We don’t think we have ever heard a person comment about the luxurious accommodations in an airplane bathroom. But, if nature calls at 35,000 feet, you might have to do your business in the air. Even though they are pretty cramped, it’s nice to have the option to use a bathroom during a flight, as long as you don’t have to be in there too long, which could get pretty uncomfortable.
A family of four recently traveled on a Delta Airlines flight from Salt Lake City to New Orleans, and the dad had to use the bathroom. He left his wife and their two young kids and promised to be right back. Instead, he reportedly ended up trapped inside, and the pilot had to rescue him.
More from CafeMom: I Was a Flight Attendant & This Is the Best Hack for Keeping Kids Busy During a Flight
His wife thought it would be a quick bathroom break.
She wrote in the Delta subreddit that her husband, Brent, left her with their 4-year-old and 1-year-old, but it wasn’t a big deal because she knew he’d be back in a “jiffy.” When Brent was still gone five minutes later, she got a bit suspicious.
“Was he using this time as a much-needed break from my children’s whiney demands and frequent tantrums? I didn’t blame him,” she wrote. And the kids were questioning where their dad was, too.
Everyone was getting antsy.
The family was all moving around in their seats when Mom heard a flight attendant say “stuck.” She knew right then and there that Brent wasn’t just missing in action; he was trapped. Of course, this alarmed her.
“My attention diverted to the rear of the plane, where, sure enough, two Delta flight attendants were yanking the bathroom door handle in an attempt to free my trapped husband,” the woman wrote. “Soon, the two flight attendants (both women) recruited a random male passenger to help dislodge the door. He gave it his damnest, but it was to no avail. It had now been 20 minutes. Brent had been stuck in a 3.5 x 5ft pee and poop box for almost a half hour.”
No one could get poor Brent out.
If the story wasn’t crazy enough, it was about to get more wild. No one seemed to be able to get Brent out of the bathroom, so they grabbed the pilot to see if he could help.
“Next up to try his luck, and I kid you not, was THE PILOT. Don’t ask me who was flying the plane LOL. I think they may have needed his permission to potentially damage the door to get Brent out,” she explained. “The pilot was really giving it [h]is all, as you can see in the videos. But it wasn’t until Brent kicked the h— out of the door while the pilot was pulling as hard as possible that Brent finally made his escape.”
The thankful mom wrote that if anyone had to be stuck in the bathroom, she was glad it was her 34-year-old husband and not a child or elderly person.
The airline allegedly did nothing extra for the family.
Even though Brent was trapped for at least 35 minutes in the tiny bathroom, his wife claimed no one offered them anything for their trouble. The airline, however, reportedly had a request.
“Delta Air Lines asked that I wouldn’t share the videos a fellow passenger took for me on social media (I couldn’t leave my kids in their seats alone to take my own pictures/videos). But customer service wouldn’t even refund our, as you can imagine, terrible flights. So … here we are,” she wrote.
Not everyone thought it was such a big deal.
Although people were glad the family made it to their destination safely, they thought posting video and wanting a refund was a stretch.
“I’m glad you got to your destination safely and I’m sorry your husband was stuck in the lavatory However, asking for a refund is a stretch and a bit excessive. Yes, there was a malfunction and your husband was stuck for 35 min. However, this wasn’t life-threatening nor did it result in any kind of injury,” one person wrote.
Many other commenters agreed.
“I’m just kind of sick of people taking videos and posting them on social media. I applaud the FAs and the pilot in this video for helping your husband,” another comment reads.
And this person wondered about the other people involved.
“I understand it’s an awful experience, but I don’t think you should share the video online without consent from the crew members. How do you like your images being shared online w/o consent with negative context? Maybe you got their consent, I don’t know. But …” the person wrote.
The image did made some people laugh.
“Am I thinking properly that a full size man could probably just koolaid man their way out that folding door. Taking plastic, latches and all. Oh, yeah!!!”” another person wrote.
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
