Southwest pilot climbs through cockpit window to unlock plane just before flight

SAN DIEGO — A Southwest Airlines pilot had to take an unusual route to board a plane Wednesday just before a flight from San Diego to Sacramento, CBS Sacramento’s Bradley Halbleib reports: Had to climb through pit window.

Passenger Matt Rexrode was there and told the station what happened.

It started before the passengers left.

“It’s definitely something you don’t see every day and I travel a lot of miles and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Rexrode said.

He was returning to Sacramento after visiting his daughter in San Diego.

According to Rexroad, while waiting at his gate, the flight agent said over the loudspeaker, “Someone who was coming into the flight, was the last person off the plane and closed the door and locked it.”

The agent said the flight would be delayed and someone would need to open the door from inside the cockpit.

And sure enough, Rexrud said, he looked out the window and, “this pilot, to his credit, crawled through the cockpit window and opened the door.”

Rexroad tweeted about it:

In a statement to CBS News, Southwest Airlines said, “During the boarding process, a customer opened the forward lavatory door and inadvertently pushed the flight deck door shut (which locked) while the pilots scheduled to operate the flight were preparing to board the aircraft. One of our pilots opened the door through the flight deck window, and the flight departed as scheduled.”

While the flight was briefly delayed, Rexroad says he was impressed with how quickly it was handled.

“From my perspective, credit to the pilot and the team for being able to do this,” Rexroad said.