We’ve probably all been there – you get on your flight, feeling so tired that you pass out before the plane takes off.
But in most cases, you’ll be awake right after you miss the drinks service. Air Canada passenger Kris Lines must have had the nap of his life, because he passed out right after taking off, and was awoken by a maintenance engineer inside a hangar at Vancouver airport.
Apparently none of the Air Canada flight crew members took the time to check whether they had left anyone on board, and simply got off the plane leaving Mr. Lines fast asleep.
When he complained to the airline, they offered him a “generous” 20% off voucher for a future flight. Mr. Lines is not satisfied with that offer, and calls it “absolute craziness”. I’m not entirely sure what else the airline could do for him, other than making sure their staff are retrained to check the plane for sleeping passengers. Still, if this happened to me, I too would probably fight for a little more than a useless discount voucher.
So, next time you feel like you are going to fall asleep on your flight, you may want to ask a seatmate to nudge you awake upon landing. Mr. Lines was lucky that the plane was moved to a hangar, at the end of the day, many planes are just parked for the night.