Passenger locked on plane after falling asleep

Tom Wagner was left trapped inside the cabin after passengers and staff failed to wake him when the plane landed

An airline passenger got the fright of his life after he woke up to find himself locked inside a plane.

Tom Wagner was on a flight from Louisiana when he nodded off on the United Express plane. He woke to find himself in the cold, dark aircraft cabin after the plane landed in Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport for a stop over.

He says the last thing he remembers was taking off his hat and dozing after boarding the flight in Lafayette. Mr Wagner was sat in a window seat near the back of the aircraft. When the vessel landed he was not woken up by any of the passengers or the cabin crew.

At first he thought he was dreaming before realising he was stuck. The American traveller frantically called his girlfriend to tell her he was trapped alone on the vessel. She initially thought he was joking but eventually called the airline to alert them. Mr Wagner released after half an hour when post-flight workers opened the plane and rescued him.

Mr Wagner said: "I woke up and the lights were out. I was like 'what's going on?'"

"They didn't sweep the plane, I mean who shut the door?"

In a statement to ABC News the airline said: "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."