Flying has a strange way of turning into the perfect stage for bizarre, unexpected moments.
One day, it’s a flock of pigeons sneaking into the cabin and grounding everyone for an hour. Another passenger creates midair chaos, making the entire plane feel like a horror movie. And in other sillier moments, a flight attendant will break out into song because there’s no working A/C and everyone’s miserable.
In this latest incident, a Southwest flight took a turn when a passenger found himself locked inside the airplane bathroom, leading to the pilot literally kicking the door down to get him out.
Man Gets Stuck In Bathroom Mid-Flight
TikTok user Cody Prokop (@codyprokop), who was an observing passenger on the flight from Florida to Baltimore, caught the rescue on video. His clip has since been viewed over 31,500 times.
“So there’s a guy trapped on Southwest Airlines,” Prokop narrates as the camera focuses on the jammed bathroom door. A flight attendant can be heard saying, “No, don’t film that.”
Seconds later, the pilot appears and forcefully kicks the door open. The trapped passenger finally emerges, looking rattled but unharmed. A flight attendant wraps an arm around him, offering comfort as the cabin breaks into murmurs of surprise.
“Southwest Airlines pilot kicks bathroom door open during flight,” Prokop added in the caption of the post.
What To Do If You Ever Get Stuck Inside An Airplane Bathroom
For most of us, the thought of being trapped in a tiny airplane bathroom is nightmare fuel. But there are steps to take before things get as dramatic as a pilot drop-kicking the door.
First, the most important thing is to stay calm. Try the lock from the inside and apply steady pressure—it may just be jammed.
If that doesn’t work, use the crew call button that’s built into the bathroom or bang on the door loudly enough to get a flight attendant’s attention.
Once notified, flight attendants are trained to handle the situation. They usually try to talk to the passenger through the door to keep them calm.
Then they’ll use the emergency release latch hidden on the exterior of the door to pop it open, and in cases where the latch fails or the mechanism is jammed, the crew may have to escalate to more serious measures, like calling in maintenance after landing, or in rare cases, bringing the pilot in for backup.
During the ordeal, staff will do what they can to reassure the trapped passenger, sometimes slipping notes through the gap to let them know help is on the way.
As this Southwest story shows, they will find a solution, even if it means brute force.
Commenters Share Their Thoughts
Viewers couldn’t stop reacting to the strange video.
“The way she was hugging him after… Gotta love SouthWest,” one person wrote.
“There is another way to open it without doing that,” another insisted.
Others backed the crew’s choice: “I think the people that work on this plane every day know that there are alternative ways to open the door when it’s jammed. Kicking it was probably the only option at the time.”
@codyprokop Man trapped in bathroom on SouthWest Airlines Florida ✈️ Baltimore @Southwest Airlines #southwest #southwestairlines #flight #flights #airplane
One person joked about what kind of compensation might come of it: “Knowing SWA he will get like a $100 travel voucher if he tries his best to escalate to relations.”
BroBible has reached out to Prokop via TikTok direct messages and Southwest Airlines via email for further comment.