On a flight Qingdao to Harbin, China on Saturday, a flight attendant had to physically secure the emergency exit door following a passenger’s attempt to open it as the aircraft prepared to depart. The crewmember had one hand on the plane’s roof and another on the emergency exit lever. Naturally, the passenger was drunk.
The female flight attendant was observed gripping the emergency exit lever firmly while bracing herself against the cabin’s ceiling. This was necessary after a male passenger attempted to manipulate the exit door’s lever. A male flight attendant intervened, questioning the passenger “Sir, did you open this?”. The man ignored the questions at first, looking down at his cell phone, and then appearing confused. He began gesturing at the lever without initially verbally responding.
The male flight attendant continued to press the passenger with questions about his actions, asking, “Why did you open it? Didn’t you know it is prohibited to open this kind of thing?” He eventually confessed to his drinking.
Shortly before takeoff from Qingdao, a flight attendant had to hold an emergency exit door (handle cover) shut onboard a Chinese flight after an allegedly drunk passenger tried to open it in a flight bound for Harbin, in the northernmost province of Heilongjiang, China.#travel pic.twitter.com/N7lrwDWXll
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) March 11, 2024
Crewmembers directed the passenger and another passenger nearby to switch seats. Remarkably, the passenger was permitted to remain on board. The two hour flight took off and continued its journey without further complications.
Asian airlines and their FAs are great. They expect people to do stupid things, try to prevent them from actually executing on their stupidity, expertly not escalate the situation, and save their customers’ “face” while keeping them out of trouble. All with a smile. And they even help you with your carryon, and in J they sometimes insist on stowing it for you. On my last UA transpacific flight, we had an FA in J who was similarly going out of his way to tactfully / discreetly keep a stupid passenger from getting into trouble. Except for the food, my UA international J flights have rivaled the Asians.