A Southwest pilot crawled in through the plane's window after being locked out of the cockpit before takeoff

• A Southwest Airlines pilot was captured crawling through the window of a plane.
• The passenger who took the photo said the pilot was locked out of the cockpit.

A passenger captured a photo of a pilot crawling through the window of a Southwest Airlines plane after being locked out of the cockpit.

Matt Rexroad posted a photo on Twitter showing the pilot standing on an airstair at the side of the plane's windscreen. The pilot's upper body was outstretched inside the plane as he attempted to open the door.

"No joke… yesterday last passenger got off plane with no one else on board, he shut the door. Door locked," Rexroad tweeted on Thursday.

Rexroad told CBS News that he was a passenger on the Southwest flight headed to Sacramento, California, from San Diego.

—Matt Rexroad ✌ (@MattRexroad) May 25, 2023

Southwest took a jab at the photo, replying to Rexroad's post that it was "definitely something you don't see everyday."

"We love you, Matt!," the airline wrote in another reply, after Rexroad commented that he loved the airline.

A few Twitter users responded in disbelief, with one user named Ryan Clumpner commenting that they "had no clue cockpit windows even opened."

Another user, Rob Stutzman, questioned why the pilot "didn't try a coat hanger first."

It's not the first time a pilot has gotten locked out of the cockpit. In a TikTok posted in July last year, an American Airlines pilot was shown climbing into a plane through the windscreen.

@traveltmz be better tomorrow #traveltmz #traveltiktok #americanairlines #pilotsoftiktok #pilotlife ♬ gford._ gets no maidens - $avøry-$adisticpai

Rexroad and Southwest Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside normal business hours.