British Airways stewardess on debut flight makes huge blunder delaying passengers by five hours and costing airline £50k

A NEWBIE British Airways stewardess activated the emergency slide as her plane taxied to the runway — costing the airline £50,000 and delaying passengers for more than five hours yesterday.

She was on her debut flight on an Airbus A350 and accidentally opened an emergency door at Heathrow moments from take-off to Austin, Texas.

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A novice British Airways stewardess activated the emergency slide as her plane taxied to the runway — costing the airline £50,000[/caption]

The bungle sparked emergency services to rush to Terminal 5 and surround Flight BA191.

The plane had to be replaced and a new slide found for the original jet.

The stewardess was “stood down” and ordered back to training.

The incident raised questions over training after the same thing happened prior to a BA flight to Lagos in January.

Engineers were called to lift the rubber emergency slide from the tarmac as the plane was towed back to the stand yesterday.

But the entire slide needed replacing by irate bosses.

A BA source said: “The stewardess has had a shocker.

“The most basic training teaches new recruits how not to blow a slide. It a worry just who is joining the airline.

“The cost of the bungle, including the delays, is around £50K.”

British Airways told The Sun it arranged a replacement jet and apologised to customers.