Delta Passenger Gets Trapped Inside Plane's Bathroom Mid-Flight

A Salt Lake City resident has shared video footage of the moment he was trapped inside an aircraft bathroom during a flight to New Orleans in December 2023.

Brent was traveling from Salt Lake City to New Orleans on a Delta Air Lines flight when he visited the aircraft bathroom, but when he went to leave, the door would not open. By unlocking the door, the light had turned off in the bathroom, leaving Brent with a disorientating challenge. Despite attempts to force the door open, he remained stuck.

"He started to try and use force to open the door, when he heard a flight attendant say 'Woah, woah! Just unlock the door and push,'" Brent's wife, who did not want to be named, told Newsweek.

"She didn't realize he was stuck. She thought he just didn't know how the accordion-style door worked," his wife added.

A Delta Air Lines spokesperson told Newsweek: "We have been in contact with the customer following this situation with an offer of apology and are investigating the situation to better understand the root cause and make any changes, as needed, to address the matter going forward."

Brent was able to tell the staff he was trapped in the bathroom, flight attendants sprung into action to try and free him from the small space. Unable to open the door, the crew enlisted the help of a male passenger and eventually called on the pilot, too. With clear instructions from the latter, both Brent and the crew attempted to open the door.

After several attempts and synchronized pushes and kicks against the accordion-style door, Brent was finally free—around 35 minutes later.

His wife posted video footage of the ordeal to Reddit's popular r/Delta subreddit earlier this week, where it has over 23,000 upvotes and thousands of comments.

Alongside the video post, Brent's wife wrote: "We thank God that Brent didn't take our 4-year-old with him. We thank God that it was a 34-year-old man who got stuck and not an elderly person or young child. We thank God it wasn't someone who would have a panic attack over claustrophobia or germaphobia."

Despite being grateful for the help of the airline staff and praising the pilot and crew, Brent and his wife expressed disappointment with Delta's customer-service response.

"The offered compensation was 2,000 SkyMiles, which is the equivalent of $23. This flight cost upwards of $300 one-way," the wife said. "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."