A female passenger on Islamabad-bound Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from Manchester accidentally opened up the emergency exit thinking it is the toilet, causing the emergency chute to activate. The incident took place when the plane was on the runway, ready to takeoff. During the investigation, the woman revealed that she thought the emergency exit door was the toilet.
As per standard procedure, all the passengers and their luggage was offloaded. The passengers were then adjusted on the next available flight. PIA chief Air Marshal Arshad Malik has ordered inquiry into the incident.
Activating an emergency chute can cost an airline anything between USD 25,000 to USD 30,000. In 2016, when a United Airlines flight attended decided to quit her job in a dramatic fashion by opening the emergency exit and sliding out of the plane without any explanation, experts had said that it may cost the airline as high as UDS 30,000. In 2010, another flight attendant with JetBlue made such an unexpected exit through the emergency exit after an argument with the passenger. That, too, cost the airline USD 25,000.