A passenger woke up to find himself alone and locked up inside a dark, empty plane in Houston after falling asleep while flying from Louisiana, the Associated Press reported.
Tom Wagner, 51, said he was supposed to change planes Friday at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, but no staff noticed he was still sleeping in a window seat at the rear of the flight to Los Angeles before they closed up the jet.
Wagner called his girlfriend who asked the airline to rescue him, the AP reported.
"I looked down the aisle, there was nobody on the plane," Wagner said Monday from California, where he's visiting his sister. "It was locked up. Lights were off. No motors running. It was like it was secured for the night."
Wagner, captain of an oil platform supply boat in the Gulf of Mexico, said he was used to sleeping through bumps, so it was no surprise that the landing bounce didn't wake him.
"That's the norm for me," Wagner said. "A little jolt wouldn't bother me."
Wagner said he didn't panic.
"I had a little smile: I've got to get off here," he said.
He picked up his cell-phone and called his girlfriend, whom he described as "kind of a joker."
"Get me off this plane!" Wagner told his amused girlfriend. "Stop laughing. It's getting cold."
She called United Airlines in Lafayette, Louisiana, where Wagner had boarded United Express Flight 4245 on Friday evening to make a connection in Houston, and was told there was "no way" he was stuck on that plane, according to the AP.
Back on board, Wagner walked to the front of the aircraft.
"I grabbed the (entrance door) lever," Wagner said. "I thought: I better not do that. Let them get me of the plane. So many things go through your head."
Moments later, a couple of maintenance workers coincidentally opened the door and found Wagner inside, according to the AP.
"What are you doing on this plane?" he said they demanded. "Where's your badge?"
Wagner explained that he was a passenger who had been sleeping, and that he awoke to discover the lights off, the doors closed and everybody gone. One of the workers got on his radio and Wagner was escorted to the terminal.
By then, he'd missed his connection to Los Angeles, although his checked bags made it. He spent the night at a motel near the Houston airport, the AP reported.
Regional carrier ExpressJet, operating the flight for United, said in a statement it apologized to Wagner for the inconvenience.
"ExpressJet is investigating to determine how this occurred," the airline said in a written statement. "We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this caused for the passenger."
Wagner, whose adventure first was reported by Houston television station KTRK, said the airline gave him a $250 voucher and picked up the motel bill.
