Southwest air hostess's misjudged joke goes badly wrong

"We would like to ask passengers to check excess luggage because. . . there's a STEWARD IN THE OVERHEAD BIN."

Passengers boarding a Southwest flight to Philadelphia were surprised and perplexed to discover a member of the cabin crew in the overhead compartments.

Veronica Lloyd, one of the passengers boarding the plane from Nashville, wasted no time in taking photos of the hapless steward in the bins above. "Is this a dream?" she asked Twitter, alongside a photo of a head protruding from the bins above.

She had to ask, as few of the other passengers bound for Pennsylvania seemed to pay any attention to the overhead steward.

Perhaps they were just embarrassed for the poor woman who was struggling to escape from her inexplicable position.

I can’t get over how weird I find this. @SouthwestAir please get it together pic.twitter.com/bEHkMMgGXU

— Veronica (@Disko_InVERNo) July 29, 2019

Talking to Fox News Lloyd said she was "perplexed" at first and grew even more concerned as the cabin crew member continued to roll around for "a solid 10 minutes".

"I think she was doing it to try and be funny and make the passengers laugh," she reasoned.

Mortified, few passengers seemed to see the funny side. Instead they scuttled to their allotted seats and pretended not to see.

Eventually freeing herself from the bin the air steward seemed perfectly nice - if a little embarrassed - for the rest of the flight.

It appears this bizarre incident was a misjudged joke.

Southwest issued a statement to Fox News regarding the event, saying that their employees are known for their sense of humour and the steward would not be disciplined.

"Southwest employees are known for demonstrating their sense of humour and unique personalities. In this instance, one of our flight attendants attempted to have a brief moment of fun with customers during boarding.

"Of course, this is not our normal procedure, and Southwest crews always maintain safety as their top priority."