South Korean carrier Asiana Airlines said it will no longer sell certain exit row seats on all of its Airbus A321-200 jets after a passenger opened an emergency door in flight, Al Jazeera reported.
According to Asiana, it has two versions of its 14 A321-200s — 11 that have 174 seats and three configured with 195 seats. On both planes, certain exit row window seats on the left-hand side of the cabin will no longer be bookable. This includes seat 26A on the 174-seater jet and seat 31A on the 195-seater.
"However, sales of seats on the emergency door side of other models that do not have this problem will continue," AeroTime Hub reported.
The new policy was implemented "as a safety precaution" after a passenger opened an emergency door inflight, and "will apply even if the flights are full.
Asiana subsidiary Air Seoul has also implemented the policy, while Air Busan — another Asiana subsidiary — is still toying with the idea, according to AeroTime. Meanwhile, South Korean low-cost carriers Jin Air and Air Premia are considering the policy as well.
What happened when a passenger opened a plane door
On Friday, a man in his 30s was flying between the South Korean cities of Jeju and Daegu when he opened an Asiana A321 door during landing into Daegu.
The flight landed safely, though there were 12 people with minor injuries, the Associated Press reported. The plane was about 700 feet off the ground when the event occurred.
—The Associated Press (@AP) May 26, 2023
Other travelers on the plane were reportedly terrified during the event, with one telling Yonhap, "I thought the plane was blowing up. I thought I was going to die like this."
While opening an aircraft door is impossible at higher altitudes due to the immense exterior pressure, opening one at 700 feet isn't, according to the airline.
"The airplane is automatically set to adjust the pressure of the cabin according to the altitude of the aircraft," an Asiana spokesperson told CNN. "When the aircraft is high up in the air, it is impossible to open the door but when the altitude is low and close to landing, the door can be opened."
Aviation expert and Airline Ratings editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas told CNN that "it seems implausible that the door could be opened in the first place," noting the door had to be opened into a strong airstream passing the aircraft as it landed.
"But somehow or another it has happened," he said.
"It is particularly dangerous during landing and takeoff, so someone from the flight staff should have stopped that passenger," Sohn Myong-hwan, an aviation professor at Sehan University in South Korea, told Reuters. "To me, it seems difficult for the airline can get away from any potential responsibility here."
