A plane was delayed by an hour this week after a flight attendant accidentally deployed the aircraft’s emergency slide – and it could cost Delta Airlines up to $100,000 (£75k).
Passengers on Delta Flight 3248, which departed from Pittsburgh International Airport on Saturday 25th October, recall hearing a ‘boom’ as the slide hit the tarmac, shortly after landing in Salt Lake City.
One passenger wrote on Reddit: ‘The flight attendant accidentally triggered the emergency slide.
‘Everyone’s entire night just became a cluster f**k.
‘He did apologise and was quite flustered, cited over the 26 years of career, it never happened.’
Explaining the sequence of events, they continued: ‘The door is armed, jet bridge just left. As the flight attendant is making the announcement, I heard a moderate sound of boom, and saw the slide deployment.
‘Minutes later, another announcement of the situation. I remember that it was mentioned something wrong with the door.
‘My guess is that the intent was to fix it, but a wrong lever was pulled. I don’t know whether it was the FA or the pilot.’
A plane was delayed by an hour this week after a flight attendant accidentally deployed the aircraft’s emergency slide – and it could cost Delta Airlines up to $100,000 (£75k)
The Reddit member went on to explain that it took maintenance crew around an hour to unhook and remove the slide, before the staff brought the jet bridge to allow passengers to exit the plane.
A Delta spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider that the incident occurred on an Airbus A220 parked at the gate after it had flown from Salt Lake City.
They added it occurred after a crew member opened the door without first ‘disarming’ it.
Usually, the doors must be armed before take-off and disarmed after landing.
On many aircrafts, when the door is armed, if it’s opened from the inside, the emergency slide will automatically burst out immediately – which is what happened in this case.
Accidentally deploying an emergency slide is considered a serious mistake, as each slide can cost tens of thousands of dollars to repack and replace – and often renders the aircraft temporarily inoperable.
According to Business Insider, repacking an undamaged slide can cost up to $12,000 (£9k), with inspections and any necessary repairs or replacements adding an additional $20,000 (£15k).
Along with the costs of rebooking passengers, providing hotels, and taking the plane out of service while the slide is reinstalled, Delta’s total tab could reach $100,000, according to industry experts.
Accidentally deploying an emergency slide is considered a serious mistake, as each slide can cost tens of thousands of dollars to repack and replace – and often renders the aircraft temporarily inoperable
This emergency slide deployment mistake isn’t uncommon, with Airbus claiming 30 to 40 cases happen each year.
In January, a British Airways crew member accidentally set off a slide on an Airbus A321 — an error that The Sun reported could cost about £50,000.
And, in October, a United Airlines passenger accidentally triggered it when they tried to open a door after landing in Houston.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that emergency slide deployments cost airlines around $20 million (£15.04m) per year.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Delta Airlines for comment.
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Flustered cabin crew member makes ‘$100,000 emergency slide mistake’ on flight
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