American woman falls asleep on plane and wakes up in a nightmare

An American woman is suing United Airlines for negligence, false imprisonment and distress after she fell asleep on a plane and woke up to an empty cabin at Philadelphia International Airport.

The United Airlines flight landed shortly after midnight and the plane had been grounded for hours before Ginger McGuire awoke to find her presence on board had been missed. She was locked in an empty plane.

Ginger walked up and down the cabin at 4am in a panic for around 15 minutes before the door was opened by cleaning crew. But police questioned her, demanded to see her ID and failed to let her off the plane until they were sure she didn't pose a threat. With security measures so high, particularly at American airports, the police had to make sure she wasn't a terrorist before letting her go.

Ginger fell asleep during the short flight from Washington DC to Philadelphia, but she hadn't been drinking or taking medication - she was just genuinely tired.

Ginger was amazed that no one saw her asleep on the plane to wake her up. She said: Waking up to an empty airplane and not being able to get out - it was very horrifying.

Her lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger, has filed the lawsuit. He described the situation Ginger found herself in as 'gross abuse'.

United Airlines have failed to comment about the incident because it has led to a lawsuit, but they are investigating the case thoroughly. Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration has stated that there is no regulation about leaving someone asleep on a plane.

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