On his first day at work: a flight attendant accidentally opened the emergency door on the plane - voila! tourism

British Airways Airbus A350-1000 (British Airways PR)

A British Airways flight attendant who worked on his first day at the company accidentally activated the emergency slide when he opened the door while the plane was in motion on the ground - an action that cost the airline £50,000 (about NIS 210,000).

The flight attendant was working on his maiden flight BA75 from London to Lagos, Nigeria, when he suddenly accidentally opened the exit door on a Boeing 777. As a result, the emergency services rushed to surround the plane, before realizing that there was not really an emergency, but a mistake, and the passengers were not evacuating him.

The incident happened when the plane was pushed from its parking position at Heathrow Airport, and was minutes away from takeoff last Friday. Shocked passengers were then told they faced a four-hour wait until takeoff. Engineers were called to lift the emergency slide from the runway - but the plane needed a new slide. As a result, a replacement plane completed the flight with the same crew - without the rookie flight attendant, who was immediately replaced.

The steward was lucky, and so were the passengers.

The plane and the opened emergency slide (photo: screenshot, AIRLIVE)

The distraught flight attendant, whose name is withheld from the British SUN website that published the case, was sacked by furious British Airways bosses and ordered back to training.

The mistake cost the airline at least £50,000, after it missed its take-off slot, ordering a new slide and changing aircraft.

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• flight attendants

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