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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Patrick Grafton-Green

Woman who fell asleep on flight wakes up alone in dark, locked plane

The woman said the ordeal on the Air Canada plane felt like a "bad dream" (Picture: PA Archive/PA Images)

A woman has described her horror after she woke up alone in the dark on a locked plane after falling asleep on a short-haul flight.

Tiffani Adams said she went through the “terrifying” ordeal on an Air Canada flight from Quebec to Toronto earlier this month.

She described what happened in a lengthy message that she posted on the airline’s Facebook page.

She wrote: “I fell asleep probably less than halfway through my short 1.5 hour flight.

“I wake up around midnight (few hours after flight landed) freezing cold and still strapped to my seat in complete darkness (I’m talking pitch black).

“As someone with an anxiety disorder… I can tell you how terrifying this was… I think I’m having a bad dream [because] like seriously how is this happening!!??”

Ms Adams said she managed to call a friend but her phone then ran out of battery. She was unable to re-charge it because the plane had no power, she added.

“I’m trying to focus on my breathing and control my panic attack”, she said.

While clambering around in the dark trying to figure a way out, Ms Adams said she found a flashlight in the cockpit before finding the plane’s main door.

She opened the door but could not exit the plane because of the “40-50ft drop” to the pavement below, she said.

Finally, the driver of a luggage cart spotted her.

“He is in shock asking how the heck they left me on the plane… I’m wondering the same,” she added in her post.

She said since the ordeal she has suffered from “recurring night terrors”.

A spokesman for Air Canada has confirmed Ms Adams’ story and said they were in contact with her.

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