British Airways Delay Tops Six Hours After 777 Slide Deployment
A British Airways flight attendant accidentally deployed an emergency slide on a Boeing 777 at London Heathrow on Saturday, delaying british airways Flight BA217 to Washington Dulles by more than six hours. The aircraft was pushing back from Gate B47 in Terminal 5 when the slide on Door 3L was triggered.
Emergency services attended the scene before the carrier replaced the deployed slide. The flight later arrived in Washington at around 21:30 EDT.
Gate B47 at Heathrow
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 777-200ER, registration G-VIIY, which can seat up to 235 passengers. British Airways said, "We have apologised to customers for the delay to their journey. Our teams worked hard to get them on their way as quickly as possible."
A Fly Guy's Cabin Crew Lounge said the Door 3L slide was accidentally deployed by an inexperienced flight attendant on their second day in the role. It said the attendant heard the command "doors to automatic," armed the door, then opened it, automatically triggering the emergency slide.
British Airways 777 incidents
British Airways has experienced multiple similar inadvertent slide deployments in recent years. One of the highest-profile earlier incidents happened in 2023 before a Heathrow flight to Lagos, when a flight attendant on their first day of work accidentally deployed a 777 slide. A similar inadvertent slide deployment also occurred onboard an Airbus A321 in January 2025.
The latest case adds to a pattern that has already forced the airline to change procedures after earlier slide deployments. In inadvertent cases, the slide may need to be repacked or replaced, and passengers may be owed delay compensation, which is why the cost can climb well beyond the initial repair bill.
On this flight, the immediate question for passengers was not whether the aircraft could continue, but how long the disruption would last and whether the delay would trigger compensation. British Airways put the answer in two numbers: more than six hours on the ground, and a cost that could reach $200,000 once compensation is included.
