China Southern Airlines flight CZ3456 was delayed over two hours last Friday at Chongqing Airport after an unidentified 50 year-old woman opened the emergency door, deploying the plane’s emergency escape slide.

After the plane was boarded, the woman wanted to use the lavatory before take-off.  However, instead of the bathroom, she mistakenly pulled the red handle of the emergency door. The door flew open, deploying the emergency slide which quickly filled with air.

Eyewitnesses say the woman’s boarding pass and personal identification were confiscated by the airliner’s flight attendants, and she was quickly ushered off the plane by police. The rest of the passengers and crew also had to be evacuated so that airline personnel could deal with the slide.

When leaving the plane, passengers say they heard the woman explain to police that she was a first-time passenger, and didn’t know where the washroom was.

Passengers that interfere with the operation of an airplane in China face fines, administrative detention, and jail time of up to ten days. The woman remains in police custody, and an investigation is pending.

This is the second time this month, a passenger has opened an emergency door onboard a China Southern Airlines flight. Earlier this month, a flight was delayed at Chengdu Airport when a passenger opened the emergency door, thinking he could roll down the window using the door’s large red lever (see below). The passenger explained that he opened the door because he “wanted to get a breath of fresh air before takeoff“.

Last year, a passenger on yet another Southern Airlines flight explained that opening the door was “no big deal” shortly before he was arrested by police. In 2014, a passenger in a plane that just landed in Hainan opened the door before reaching the boarding gate because he “wanted to get off the plane quicker“.