The Boeing 737-700 was still parked at a gate with 108 passengers on board when the incident occurred at Denver International Airport, according to Southwest.
Passengers in the back of the plane fled using the rear emergency slides, and passengers toward the front left through the front door via the jet bridge, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and the airline.
Preliminary reports show one passenger had a minor injury during the evacuation, and the passenger whose phone caught fire is currently being treated for burns, the Dallas-based airline said in a statement. Crew members were able to extinguish the seat fire, the statement said.
“Southwest’s customer care team is working to accommodate the passengers on another aircraft to their original destination of Houston,” an airline spokesperson said. “Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of its customers and employees. The incident remains under investigation.”
The flight arrived three hours later to its destination at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, according to data from FlightAware. The FAA said it will investigate the incident.
The airline has given the technology a test-run at Albuquerque International Sunport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Tucson International Airport over the last month to fine-tune the process before a wider rollout.
Passengers who board before their assigned group will trigger technology that makes a sound to alert the gate agent.
“In these instances, the American team member will invite the customer to rejoin the line when their boarding group is called,” the airline said in a release.
Use of the technology could help cut down on the crowds of people who hover near gates, creating confusion and congestion and at times blocking concourse thoroughfares. The crowds have been referred to by some frequent flyers as “gate lice” — an unflattering term that has its own Wikipedia page.
The airline has received positive feedback from both customers and workers, according to Julie Rath, senior vice president at American.
“We’ve heard from our customers that the ability to board with their assigned group is important to them because it’s a benefit associated with their AAdvantage status or fare purchase,” Rath said.
Among the 100 airports that will see the new technology is Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport based on passenger traffic. American also plans to expand the technology further to hubs and other airports.
The airline says the technology offers other benefits as well, saying in the release that it “provides team members with more insight into the number of customers in each boarding group, which helps agents pace the boarding process.”
American says it plans to fly nearly 8.3 million people across over 77,000 flights over the Thanksgiving holiday, which runs November 21 to December 3.
