I don't know the full circumstances relating to this story, but I too suffered a panic attack as the doors closed on a 737 flight from Manchester to Paris [I suffer from chronic severe claustrophobia]. I asked to see the pilot and explained the situation, I had no checked in luggage, and he allowed me to deplane to avoid any problem inflight. No problem for the flight, but it caused a massive issue trying to get out of the airport, the reverse way...apparently Manchester airport had no SOP to deal with this sort of issue . So a genuine panic attack can happen.
