Stuck in the Lavatory
It happens a couple of times a month, and it happened again last night. A passenger coming out of the lavatory asked me: “Could you get stuck on that thing?”
After assuring her that it wasn’t possible, she still looked at me with disbelief on her face. She asked me if I was “really, really” sure that it couldn’t happen, adding that she was certain that she had recently read somewhere that it had happened. Then she added that her traveling companion never used the lavatories onboard because she was so afraid of something like that happening.
Despite my calm and reassuring explanation, I’m not sure that she ever believed me.
Where do these rumors start? It turns out this one was based on a reporting from a reliable source.
Reuters originally ran a story in January 2002 claiming that a passenger on a SAS 767 got stuck to a lavatory toilet somewhere over the Atlantic, remaining stuck until ground personnel freed her after landing in New York.
After the Reuters report, other news agencies picked it up, and the story began a life of its own.
Eventually, a SAS spokesperson issued a statement denying the validity of the story. When asked how a story like this could have gotten started, the spokesperson suggested that it may have been used as an example in a training class.
Or, it may have started as a silly comment or wishful thinking of a Flight Attendant pushed beyond their breaking point.
You can check out this, and all urban legends at Snopes.
Photo credit: Jessi
Tags: airlines, flight+attendants, travelRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Air Travel
1 opinion for Stuck in the Lavatory
Roy
Mar 23, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Shocking! -rodlh44h
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