British Airways Flight Delayed After Emergency Slide Deployed at Heathrow

A British Airways crew member accidentally triggered the emergency evacuation slide on a flight bound for Washington DC from Heathrow on Saturday. The incident occurred moments before the scheduled departure and left around 336 passengers confined to their seats for three hours.

Emergency services attended the grounded aircraft as a precaution while the situation was resolved. Passengers were later required to disembark from the plane.

The incident marks the third time in recent years that British Airways staff have accidentally deployed an emergency slide. Last year a similar mishap on an Airbus A321 service from Heathrow to Brussels resulted in the flight being cancelled and passengers waiting three hours for an alternative aircraft.

In February 2024 a British Airways captain triggered an emergency slide on flight BA886 to Romania shortly before departure. That error caused substantial delays and cost the airline an estimated £50,000. A spokesman for British Airways said: "We have apologised to customers for the delay to their journey.

" A source described the latest incident to The Sun as "a brainless act," explaining that the slide was deployed when a crew member accidentally opened the door just seconds before the scheduled departure.