Investopedia reports:
A week after United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) settled a lawsuit over baggage handler workplace injuries, a United worker was locked in an airplane's cargo hold.
The Washington Post reports that the worker spent over an hour locked in an airplane traveling from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Washington, D.C., on the afternoon of Jan. 1. The flight was operated by Mesa Airlines, an airline operating regional feeder flights for United and American Airlines Group Inc.
[...] The worker was unharmed in the incident and told The Washington Post that he was advised by his lawyer not to discuss the incident.
Less than a week earlier, on Dec. 27, United Airlines announced it settled a lawsuit brought by its baggage handlers. The workers alleged more than 600 musculoskeletal workplace injuries between 2011 and 2015.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by choose another one on Sunday January 08 2017, @02:07PM
I've seen internet rumours elsewhere that when the baggage handler was released from the hold he had no ID, and was held as a suspected stowaway for a while.
That suggests more to this than a simple procedure error. At the very least two errors lining up (airside without ID and getting locked in hold), but possibly something more, maybe lax security wrt. airside ID, maybe he got airside _without_ ID (shouldn't happen), or maybe someone took his ID and locked him in the hold where he would be unable to report it missing for a few hours. None of these are good.