Man Details How a Series of Coincidences Let Him Avoid Ethiopian Airlines Crash

Antonis Mavropoulos is pointing to the "invisible threads of luck" after narrowly missing the flight, which crashed shortly after takeoff.

March 12, 2019

A man is pointing to the powers of "the invisible threads of luck" after narrowly missing the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed over the weekend.

In an impassioned Facebook post titled "My Lucky Day," Antonis Mavropoulos—a recycling company operator from Greece—recounted how a short connection time between his Addis Ababa and Nairobi flights ultimately forced him to miss flight 302.

"I'm posting because I want to tell everyone that the invisible threads of luck—the unplanned circumstances—knit the web of which our life is caught on," he said in his post, as spotted by BuzzFeed Monday. "There are millions of small threads that we usually never feel, but if one breaks, that whole web unwinds instantaneously."

Mavropoulos was en route to Nairobi, flight 302's final destination, for a conference. When he arrived at his connecting airport, he only had a less-than-30-minutes window to catch his next plane. When he made it to the gate, the flight had already been closed. "I yelled for them to let me in, but I wasn't allowed," he said.

A few hours later, Mavropoulos started prepping for his new connecting flight when airport staff told him he would be unable to board due to security reasons. As he waited for his identity and reason for missing the flight to be verified, he read the news. As Mavropoulos noted, his decision to fly without checked bags likely also contributed to him ultimately missing the flight.

"I'm slowly coming to terms with what happened and how close it came," Mavropoulos told Skai Television Monday. "On the other hand, I'm also very upset—I'm shattered—for those who were lost."

157 people, including 149 passengers and eight crew members, died when the plane crashed shorty after takeoff Sunday morning. Following the tragedy, usage of the Boeing 737 Max 8—which was also the model of a plane that crashed in October—has been debated. For a full rundown of which airlines use that specific craft, check the Boeing site.