Man wakes up on dark, locked plane in Houston after falling asleep

Dec. 9 (UPI) -- When a Louisiana man awoke on Friday night after falling asleep on a United Express flight to Houston, he found himself alone inside a dark, locked plane.

Tom Wagner thought he was dreaming.

"I was coming from Louisiana to see my sister in California. We had a layover in Texas," Wagner said. "I just took my hat off and I took a nap. I woke up and the lights were out. I was like, what's going on? I thought maybe it was a layover, still on the same plane."

All of the other passengers and staff on the flight deplaned and no one bothered to wake Wagner.

"I called my girlfriend, and she thought I was crazy. I said, 'Debbie I'm locked on the plane.' I said, 'I'm telling you the truth; you better go somewhere and get me off this plane.' They didn't sweep the plane. I mean, who shut the door?"

Workers came to rescue Wagner after more than half an hour.

"I said, 'Don't put the blame on me. I didn't do anything wrong here.' And then they were, like, try to hush-hush, keep it quiet. And they gave me this little package here in a motel room."

ExpressJet released this statement about the incident:

"An ExpressJet passenger remained on board flight 4245, operating as United Express from Lafayette, La. to Houston on Friday, Dec. 6, after all passengers had deplaned. ExpressJet is investigating to determine how this occurred. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this caused for the passenger."

Wagner was none too pleased with his rude non-awakening.

"What if I had a medical condition or something? What if I had a heart attack and I was dead? You just shut the plane and leave someone on there? It's the way I look at it," Wagner said.

[KTRK]