# Can you really access the cargo hold from the cabin on commercial aircraft? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-access-the-cargo-hold-from-the-cabin-on-commercial-aircraft/671857 "2013-10-21T20:12:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-access-the-cargo-hold-from-the-cabin-on-commercial-aircraft/671857/21 "2013-10-22T12:01:09Z")
A Heathrow airplane loader was very happy some 10-15 years ago that he was able to reach the cabin from the cargo hold of a plane bound for the West Indies when his colleagues didn’t notice that he was still in there and closed the door. His employer wasn’t as happy, though, when they were presented with an invoice from British Airways for a round ticket to Trinidad (or wherever the plane was headed). ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-access-the-cargo-hold-from-the-cabin-on-commercial-aircraft/671857/22 "2013-10-22T13:20:57Z")
Of course snakes are cold-blooded. A main reason we need oxygen is to burn the calories that keep us warm, which is why we eat a lot - while snakes eat a lot less often. So I assume they also use a lot less oxygen and would take longer to feel the effects of low oxygen… So I assume, as others pointed out, the snakes will slow down due to cold. Meanwhile, they will seek out warm… you. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-access-the-cargo-hold-from-the-cabin-on-commercial-aircraft/671857/23 "2013-10-22T15:25:59Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > I would think they are pressurized - they put dogs there. I will await a more learned member of the board here to confirm. Legendarily, the cargo compartment temperature control in the cockpit is called the Dead Dog Switch. I would be sorely disappointed to learn that the scene in _The High and the Mighty_ where John Wayne goes into the belly of the crippled DC-4 to get luggage to throw overboard couldn’t really have happened. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-access-the-cargo-hold-from-the-cabin-on-commercial-aircraft/671857/24 "2013-10-22T18:35:12Z")
The really fun “secret” route on the 777 is the escape hatch from the aft overhead crew rest area (bunks and private area for the crew). One of the stowage bins above the passenger seats is a dummy (locked on the outside) that is really an emergency escape from the crew rest. An attendant could, from inside the crew rest, open the stowbin door, flip out a little ladder, and climb down right into the lap of a passenger 🙂 “Don’t mind me. sir, I’m just a carry-on” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-access-the-cargo-hold-from-the-cabin-on-commercial-aircraft/671857.md?page=1)