In a bizarre and unexpected event, a British Airways flight from Lagos, Nigeria, to London on July 29, 2023, witnessed an incident that left both passengers and crew astonished. An overweight passenger found himself trapped in a first-class seat on the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft during the 6-hour journey.
Seated in the capacious 1A first-class seat, known for its luxurious amenities including 78 inches of legroom and a generous seat width of 22 inches, the passenger unknowingly became ensnared by the seat’s structure.
The flight touched down at London’s Heathrow Airport at approximately 05:00 local time. However, it was upon arrival that the passenger discovered the problem, prompting swift action from flight attendants who helped him out of the seat while keeping him calm.
As the situation proved more challenging than anticipated, an unconventional engineering solution was devised to facilitate the passenger’s extraction. The decision was made to remove the door of the suite housing the first-class seat and employ a hoist mechanism to carefully disentangle the passenger from his snug but inconvenient position in seat 1A.
An airline spokesperson revealed, “The passenger was mortified. It’s astonishing because the seats are the most spacious available. It was as embarrassing as it can get for him — especially when a door in the cabin had to be removed.”