Southwest Airlines Evacuated When Flight Attendants Smelled Smoke In Cabin

A Southwest Airlines flight from Denver to Tampa diverted to Colorado Springs on Monday night due to crew smelling smoke in the cabin, though it’s not clear whether the source was ever found. Upon landing, passengers were evacuated onto the tarmac and eventually bused to the terminal.

According to Southwest Airlines,

Southwest Flight 1070 diverted safely to Colorado Springs Monday evening after the Flight Attendants reported a possible smell of smoke in the cabin. The aircraft was flying from Denver to Tampa. The Flight Crew followed established procedures and Customers safely exited the aircraft. We are working to accommodate Customers on another aircraft to Tampa while maintenance personnel evaluate the original aircraft. We apologize for the inconvenience; nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees.

The best piece of coverage of the incident comes from local Colorado Springs KKTV11, “We are learning that according to a Southwest website, the company uses Boeing aircraft. I have not yet confirmed that this was a Boeing plane involved in this incident tonight.”

Passengers were told not to leave the terminal because they wouldn’t be able to re-clear TSA. Southwest operated another flight two and a half hours after the diversion bringing customers from Colorado Springs to Tampa.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Given how badly I see our media covering aviation incidents like this one, is it any wonder I can’t trust them to properly inform me about subjects for which I have no expertise? A few months ago, when a couple of Boeings had a collision in Japan, CNN had the statement that it was too early to determine if the design or quality issues at Boeing contributed to the collision.

  2. At one time, smoke in the cabin was the normal state of operations. Then airplanes became nonsmoking.

  3. John in GA

    Is that the education you get in the South? Neither plane was a Boeing. Just because it says CNN, is no reason to believe everything they say.

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