Law Prof Gets Left on the Plane

The head of sports law at England’s Staffordshire University is fuming at Air Canada for leaving him asleep on a plane last month. The professor, Kris Lines, says he awoke in a hangar 90 minutes after the flight landed at Vancouver International Airport.

“The last thing I remember was taking off from Calgary,” Mr. Lines, who was en route from London, told Canada’s National Post. “I knew I was safely on board and there was no further destinations and it was all good. … Somebody would wake me up at the end.”

That the “somebody” would be a plane mechanic in an otherwise empty aircraft came as a shock to Mr. Lines.

“If I’d been a vulnerable passenger, a young girl or elderly, it could have been a lot worse,” he said. “The other implication is that if I was a terrorist, then I’ve got an hour-and-a-half after the plane’s landed, all by myself, in a secure area on a plane.”

After complaining to Air Canada, he was told that the flight attendant who should have checked the plane was instead assisting passengers in wheelchairs. By way of apology, the airline offered Mr. Lines 20 percent off the cost of four future flights.—Don Troop