History Main / AirVentPassageway

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Subverted in ''Series/TwentyOneJumpStreet'' episode "Gotta Finish the Riff". Aoki sneaks into the high school through a heating duct, and is doing fine until, at the worst possible moment, [[spoiler: he suddenly falls through the ceiling into the room where the bad guys are]].
* ''Series/TwentyFour'' enjoys playing around with this. Sometimes played straight and other times, the villains are quick to seal them to prevent the cliche from happening. One notorious use of air ducts was seen in a fifth season episode, as agent Jack Bauer uses duct tape to seal a shaft and prevent nerve gas from seeping into a safe room.
* ''Series/The100'' has Bellamy repeatedly use air vents to get around in Mount Weather without being seen. Possibly {{justified|Trope}} since Mount Weather is a large facility that needs a huge air filtration system to filter out radiation from the surface; if any place is going to have person sized air vents, it'd probably be them.
* ''Series/{{Alcatraz}}'': Rebecca uses a air vent to sneak into a bank during a hostage situation in "Cal Sweeney".
* ''Series/TheAmandaShow'': In one episode Penelope tries to see Amanda by gaining access to her dressing room via the air vent. She not only finds a discarded sandwich left behind in the air duct, but takes a wrong turn and winds up falling through a vent onto the main stage, far from the dressing room, and right into security's view.
* Spoofed on ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'': in one episode, George Sr. finds an entrance to the air ducts behind the refrigerator and attempts to escape house arrest. Not only does he fail to find a way out of the house, Buster pushes the refrigerator back into place and traps him inside.
* ''Series/TheATeam'': Several episodes, including "[[Recap/TheATeamS2E12TheWhiteBallot The White Ballot]]", where Murdock escapes from a locked room, with his hands bound no less, through a ventilation shaft. Hannibal and B.A. boost him into the shaft while Face keeps an eye on the guard.
** On one occasion Murdoch sang "Ceilings - woah woah woah Ceilings" to the tune of "Feelings" while climbing into a vent.
* Comes up rarely on ''Series/BabylonFive'', once when Garibaldi and two other characters are being pursued by telepathic assassins (rather than try to follow them, the telepaths simply pick up on their target's thoughts and try to ambush them at their destination instead, until Garibaldi uses PsychicStatic to send the telepaths to the wrong place). Later, in the fifth season, an AdorablyPrecociousChild crawling through the vents spots the episode's villain preparing to assassinate Sheridan. The villain promptly opens fire on the ceiling, mortally wounding the kid[[note]]It was rare bordering on impossible for a cute kid to have any impact on an episode's plot without soon being killed off due to Creator/JMichaelStraczynski having a stated hatred of cute kids and robots in science fiction television[[/note]].
* 1960's ''Series/{{Batman}}''
** Episode "Smack in the Middle". The Riddler uses an air duct passage to infiltrate the Moldavian Pavilion party.
** Episode "A Riddle A Day Keeps The Riddler Away". Batman and Robin use air ducts to infiltrate a building where the Riddler is holding a kidnapped king hostage.
* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', "Blood on the Scales". Chief Tyrol spends most of TheMutiny crawling through shafts to get to the FTL drive. Unlike some examples of this trope, these are shown to be narrow, unpleasant (especially when going past the urinals), and bloody tiring to crawl through — when Tyrol is caught at one stage, he invites his captor to shoot him then and there as he's too exhausted to clamber out and be taken prisoner.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. In "Redemption", Blake is apparently cornered when an elderly man opens a hidden door and urges him inside. "It's an old service lift. Those young guards, they don't even know it exists."
* Contra Security of ''Series/BreakingIn'' has large roomy air ducts... with booby traps. Knowing Oz, he may have had them built that large just to trap intruders inside.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''
** Buffy and Xander use this method to escape from vamp Jesse and his new friends in the electrical tunnels in "The Harvest".
** In "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", Marcie Ross lives above the school's music room in a space accessible only by climbing up through the drop ceiling.
** In the episode "School Hard" Buffy gets out of a locked classroom and gets the drop on Spike by crawling though the space above the drop ceiling (she is at least shown traversing a wooden catwalk). Also worth noting, Spike notices, and in a singsong voice says “some-one's-in-the-cei-ling”.
** Subverted in "Gingerbread", where Xander and Oz can fit into the vents but become lost and only reach the rest of the cast after the monster of the week is already dead. "We're here to rescue you..."
* ''Series/BurnNotice''
** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d and subverted in an episode. When trapped in an office building, Michael wryly notes that air vents are viable escape routes... if you happen to be size of a four year old. He does state, however, that instead of using air ducts, you can instead use the sub-ceiling of an office building to escape danger.
** His mother remembers he crawled through an air vent so he can go to the theatre and watch ''Star Wars''.
** Justified in a later episode (and spelled out in the narrative) that they were in a medical experimentation lab and the ventilation system had to be sufficiently large to facilitate a quick full air turn around in the event that something bad happened allowing him to climb to a higher floor in the building (in the narrative he says that normally it's not possible to use the airvents due to their size and lack of strength as well) (the system ventilated through the roof, he cut through it to get onto the second floor).
* In ''Series/{{Chuck}},'' there was once an ''incredibly'' roomy network of air vents, with ''lights.''
** Averted, however, in a season one episode, where Chuck crept around the area between the ceiling tiles and the high Buy More roof, and had to clamber over the air ducts while he was in there.
* Parodied in ''Series/LeCoeurASesRaisons'': in the third episode of the show, Ashley, Brett and Peter want to leave the hospital as fast as possible. Having to chose between the door ("simple, efficient, probably infallible") and the air-vent passageway ("complicated, completely inefficient and potentially dangerous") they chose the latter. Worst, after that escape, they find themselves at the starting point and chose the air-vent '''again'''.
* In ''Series/{{Community}}'', [[spoiler: Señor Chang]] moves into the air vents for a while. And is joined by a monkey. This makes sense more than it sounds because the college is later shown to be the home of an A/C Repairman cult, which presumably would have worked their arcane arts on the school buildings.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'': In "Karma to Burn", when Finn and D.B.'s granddaughter Katie are kidnapped, Finn is able to pry open a vent cover to allow Katie to crawl out (her being small enough to fit in the vent). However, she is immediately recaptured.
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Series/DarkSeason'' episode 5 where Marcie escapes and says, "A ventilation shaft. Marvellous, I'm a cliché."
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** Played straight in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E2TheTenthPlanet The Tenth Planet]]". Ben even has a ''map'', albeit one drawn by the man who designed the ventilation system.
** Also played straight in the Third Doctor episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E2InvasionOfTheDinosaurs Invasion of the Dinosaurs]]", where Sarah Jane is locked in a closet and escapes through an air duct.
** Used straight in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E2TheArkInSpace The Ark in Space]]" (albeit realistically: Sarah Jane Smith is the only one small enough to fit and even she get stuck).
*** This got a CallBack in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]": The Doctor finds an improbably tiny vent. Sarah asks, "Are you suggesting I–" "–No, I'm ''not'' suggesting you climb down there!" the Doctor snaps. Instead, he uses it to send poison gas to Dr. Solon, who's in the next room.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E4TheSunMakers The Sun Makers]]", the Doctor rescues Leela from a PublicExecution by steaming by crawling through the steam vent.
** Used by the Fourth Doctor and company in Tom Baker's second Dalek story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks Destiny of the Daleks]]" — notable for the Doctor pausing to mock the Daleks' inability to follow them...
--->'''The Doctor:''' If you're supposed to be the superior race of the universe, why don't you try climbing after us? Bye bye!
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld "The End of the World"]]: Platform One has vents large enough for maintenance workers to enter them. The spider robots used by the villain also use the ducts to traverse the place, but they're much smaller.
** {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in the episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E9TheSatanPit The Satan Pit]]"; Rose suggests escaping through the maintenance ducts, to which Security Officer Jefferson replies: "[[ActorAllusion I appreciate the reference]][[note]]Danny Webb, who plays the role, also appeared in ''Film/{{Alien 3}}''[[/note]], but there's no ventilation. No air, in fact, at all. They were designed for machines, not life forms." They're able to escape through them anyway, though, by manipulating the air-pressure controls to "flood" certain ducts.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd Journey's End]]", Captain Jack crawls through miles of ducts tracking three lifeforms that turn out to be Mickey, Sarah Jane and Jackie.
** The Doctor and companions use one of these to escape from Area 51 in the animated special ''[[Recap/DoctorWho2009ASDreamland Dreamland]]''. The Doctor {{lampshade|Hanging}}s their captor's {{justified|Trope}} GenreBlindness.
--->'''The Doctor:''' I love 1958, no one's seen ''Film/DieHard''. Or ''Film/{{Alien}}''. Or ''Film/DieHard2'', or ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', or ''[[Film/DieHardWithAVengeance Die Hard 3]]''...
** Done to the point of being {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E5TimeHeist Time Heist]]". All the vents have the warning "No Entry Under Any Circumstances". The Doctor and crew entirely ignore said notices.
** The Cybermen's Cybermat devices could infiltrate target installations by going through ventilation ducts. Justified, since Cybermats are about the size of a rat.
* The Australian series ''Series/{{Escape from Jupiter}}'' features a moonbase and space station/makeshift rocket that both feature large air ducts. They're also likely some sort of Jefferies tubes — just built in case of need for extended residence.
* Played with in one episode of ''Series/FallingSkies'' where three characters are trapped in the basement of a hospital. Only the smallest character can fit through the vents (barely) so he goes to get help in clearing the hallway so the others can escape. [[spoiler:The alien creatures infiltrating the hospital, being much smaller than humans, have no such problem.]]
* Justified in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' where the diminutive Rygel often uses air ducts and service tunnels to travel when the ship is being invaded or he's feeling particularly paranoid.
* Used in the Hulu series ''Freakish'' to navigate the school and get into a chemistry lab without running afoul of the "freaks" (basically zombies). Justified in that the people crawling through the vent are Zoe and Amber, the smallest members of the cast, and the vents in question lead to a chemistry lab, which would need somewhat larger vents than the rest of the school.
* On the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' episode "The One With the Birth", Phoebe, Susan and Ross get locked in a janitor's closet in the hospital. Phoebe tries to escape through the vent but gets stuck, while Susan and Ross just get let out by the janitor.
* In ''Series/{{Helix}}'', once he escapes from isolation, Dr. Peter Farragut, a research scientist infected with TheVirus, holes up inside the vent systems at the arctic research facility where he works, and {{Exploit|edTrope}}s their extensiveness to make his way around the facility once his RFID chip has been disabled. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Major Balleseros during an attempt to trail Peter:
-->'''Balleseros:''' Now I know what a TV dinner feels like.\\
'''Alan Farragut:''' Didn't think you were old enough to remember that one.\\
'''Balleseros:''' ''Film/DieHard''? Sure, saw it in third grade.\\
'''Alan Farragut:''' ''Ouch.''
* Hiro and Ando attempt one on ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', but their captors show up at the cell before they make it into the vent.
* ''Series/{{Hustle}}'': Sean and Emma break into a gallery via the vents in "Eat Yourself Slender".
* The unaired pilot ''Series/IMan'' subverts and {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this one: Scott Bakula references it as an escape plan... and then finds out that the room only has a regular air vent.
* Played with but ultimately averted in part two of the ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk'' episode "Prometheus", where the blind girl who is leading Banner (stuck in a demi-Hulk state that severely limited his intelligence) suggests to him that he remove the grating covering an air vent to escape the underground government research facility they're trapped in, but they don't get the chance to actually try it before they're caught. Possibly double-subverted when they wind up escaping through a large ventilation shaft to the surface anyway.
* Roomy air vents were used in at least one episode of ''Series/ISpy'', one of the more 'realistic' 1960s spy shows.
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': In "Sightings", Harm and Meg escape the oncoming Colombians by climbing through an air vent.
* In one episode of ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'', four of the Gokaigers are captured and put in a cell with an obvious one of these. They try to use it to escape, only to find the villain who captured them standing at the other end.
* Parker of ''Series/TheKicks'' seems to consider this a viable form of travel: In "Head Games", she suggests crawling through the school vents to search for Devin's headband. She suggests it again in "Go Big or Go Home" as a method of looking around for Devin and Mirabelle.
* In one episode of ''Series/LasVegas'', some bad guys take over the Montecito security centre. Danny [=McCoy=] uses the airvent system to try and get some intelligence on them. Right after the audience starts wondering why the hotel with "the best security on the strip" has such a gaping security hole, the vent collapses, conspicuously dumping Danny in the middle of Security. On his own desk, I believe. [[FridgeBrilliance Given that his predecessor, Ed Deline, had a bit of a mischievous streak, it's entirely possible he rigged the whole thing up]].
** There's also the time a guest's pet rat went missing from their hotel room. It had apparently done so via this trope, as it eventually did emerge from a ventilation duct.
* In an episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', Elliot hides inside an air vent in order to spy on a woman holding hostages in autopsy. Then his phone goes off...
* ''Series/{{Leverage}}''
** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d: "Looks like Parker's going to have to climb through the air duct again..." Somewhat justified in that Parker is a) a master thief with an extensive knowledge of building layouts, and b) petite.
** This is apparently standard procedure for master thieves in the Leverageverse. In one episode where the team takes on another team Parker ends up running into her counterpart when both are inside the air-ducts. They are both irritated by the interference, but seem to show a mutual respect.
** Played with in one season three episode, when Parker encounters difficulties trying to do this as there are lasers blocking her path. Why it wouldn't be cheaper to simply make the ducts too small to crawl through is never addressed.
* In ''[[Series/LoisAndClark Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman]]'''s DieHardOnAnX episode "Fly Hard", Jimmy Olsen manages to escape unseen into the air vent system when terrorists initially take over the Daily Planet. Once he exits the system, however, it doesn't take long before he's found and neutralized.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}''
** In the second season, this is a legitimate way of getting around in the Swan station. Kate uses the ventilation ducts to escape imprisonment in the food storage room in the episodes "Adrift" and "Orientation", and in the episode "Lockdown", Ben (then going by the alias of "Henry Gale") can escape from being locked inside ''by blast doors''.
** Locke later sealed the vents to put an end to this kind of thing, which didn't work out so well later once he and Jack found themselves locked inside.
* In the ''Series/MiamiVice'' episode "Baby Blues", crooked adoption lawyer Famiglia crawls through a very spacious ventilation system, complete with ladders between floors, so he can shoot the mother of one of his victims through the grate.
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d and subverted in ''Series/TheMiddleman'' episode "The Clotharian Contamination Protocol":
-->'''Wendy:''' We're coming from an isolation chamber in a secret headquarters built by an organization so covert we don't even know who they are, yet somehow we have vents large enough to crawl through, with accessible registers everywhere. Was this building designed by TV writers or what?
:: The subversion being that normally the vents are only a few inches in diameter, but they expand during an alert for this exact purpose. The Middleman explains that the "[[Film/DieHard Nakatomi Protocol]]" specifically enlarges the vents and turns off the surveillance.
* ''Series/MissionImpossible''
** The master of air duct navigation is clearly the jack-of-all-trades Barney Collier. And one of the few times he wasn't doing it, he was coaching the woman who was.
** Somewhat justified and subverted in some episodes, particularly early ones. In one they had to employ a contortionist (played by Eartha Kitt): only she was small and limber enough to crawl through the ducts, and they even gave her a CoolTool so she could unfasten, from inside the duct, the screws that hold the grille on from the outside. At other times they sent a miniature remote controlled hovercraft and a small trained dog through vent ducts and similar. But most of the time, yeah.
* ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'': Earl engineers a jail break using this method. Unfortunately, the duct collapses in the warden's office.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''
** Famously {{lampshade|Hanging}}d:
-->'''Joel:''' You know, it's funny how movie directors always make air vents big enough to crawl around in.
** And later, ''much'' later parodied in the episode ''[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E09IWasATeenageWerewolf I Was a Teenage Werewolf]]'' as an ''Alien'' parody where Tom Servo attempts to fight an invading alien, armed to the teeth, by going after it in an air vent; but gets stuck and after a few moments of nervous singing, bursts into tears. He does free himself soon afterwards, no thanks to Mike and Crow.
* ''Series/MythBusters'' tested this trick along with a variety of other cat-burglar techniques. Jamie used the common technique of using powerful hand-held magnets to climb the vertical shaft, only to cause a ''thunderous'' sound as they connected to the vent walls, defying the point of it being a "stealth" technique. It was so ridiculously loud that ''everyone on set'' - including Jamie- broke up laughing after the first step. Adam, on the other hand, used vacuum "cups" on his hands and feet that would grip the vent. Though it wasn't nearly as noisy, it was far from silent, and the equipment lacked reliability (breaking down several times during the course of the show) and it was tricky to use. Adam himself said that he wouldn't trust his life to such machinery.
-->'''Adam:''' Why, Thor, the God of Thunder, is trying to enter my building!\\
'''Tory:''' Somebody needs to check that air conditioner!
* ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'': Many ASimplePlan requires use of the school's elaborate, labyrinthine air ducts, which eventually gave out in the GrandFinale.
* The air duct was used to get Robin Hood out of a Norman castle in the TV series ''Series/TheNewAdventuresOfRobinHood''. The series was a bit on a ''Series/{{Hercules|TheLegendaryJourneys}}'' and ''[[Series/XenaWarriorPrincess Xena]]'' level of authenticity but (sadly) not meant as a spoof.
* ''Series/TheNewAvengers'': In "The Deadly Angels", Purdey gets into the maze in the health farm by crawling through the vents.
* In ''Series/NickyRickyDickyAndDawn'', it was used to sneak and spy on their siblings. The air vent system was large enougjh for the father to erect his toy train set. It could also fit the four kids to fit nicely in the same place. Of course, the ceiling also failed when they were together.
* On ''Series/{{Nikita}}'', this is used in "Innocence" ([=3x02=]) to place a bomb beneath its target. Realistically, it's incredibly hard to get in-it required some serious gymnastics-and claustrophobically small once you are, and that's for a brainwashed 12-year old ex-gymnast {{Child Soldier|s}}. Nikita doesn't even ''consider'' following, instead opting to intercept her after she exist the vents.
* Not "escaping" anything, but the "steam tunnel spelunkers" aspect shows up on ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'', when it is revealed that Larry had been ''living'' in the tunnels on campus for awhile.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. In "Razgovor", Shaw and the POI escape into the air vents of an old apartment building, only to be flushed out when the villains puncture the air conditioning system, causing [[KnockoutGas chlorodifluoromethane to flood into the vents]].
* Done by the entire main cast in ''Series/{{Pixelface}}'' when the zombies from Claireparker's game invade the console. Of course, the vents aren't designed to take that much weight and they end up crashing through the ceiling.
* This is used on several episodes of the first season of ''Series/ThePretender''. During the first season finale Jared does this to break into and escape the Centre.
* Used on ''Series/{{Primeval}}'' when Abby and Connor needed to get to a certain floor in a skyscraper. Since taking the stairs/lift would have been incredibly dangerous (there was fog coming out of an anomaly that obscured the floor, and moving in the fog were giant worm things that were hard to see), they had to use the air vents.
* ''Series/{{Psych}}'' plays it straight with the sheer size of the ducts, but compensated by making the ensuing chase look awkward and ridiculous.
* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Duct Soup", the crew spend most of the episode crawling around the ship's exceptionally large heating ducts to fix the thermostat. This, unfortunately for them, includes a badly claustrophobic Lister and the ducts being washed down and then air-dried...
* The frequent use of this trope in its [[Series/DoctorWho parent show]] is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' story "Death of the Doctor".
-->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Ventilation shafts, that takes me back. And forward.
* ''Series/{{Scorpion}}'': In "Shorthanded", Happy and Toby break into the Crimson casino by crawling through the air vents. Toby ends up falling through the ceiling.
* In ''Series/TheSecretWorldOfAlexMack'', the eponymous heroine did this a few times, and at least once escaped captivity via the plumbing. It helped that she could turn into a liquid.
* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', when George uses an air vent to break into his office after his boss tries to get him to resign by barricading it.
-->'''George:''' (on phone) Hello Margery, George Costanza. How are you sweetheart? Listen, can you give Mr. Thomassoulo a message for me?... Yes. If he needs me, tell him "''I’M IN MY OFFICE!''" Thanks.
* On ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', Clark travels through the [=LuthorCorp=] air ducts when he is BroughtDownToNormal. In a later episode, this is also part of Jimmy's spy tactics.
* ''Series/Space1999'': The Alpha Base air vents are of realistic size, and their openings quite tiny, but this is not a problem for Maya, since she can [[VoluntaryShapeshifting turn into a mouse]] before crawling into them.
* Along with many, many other tropes, this one is parodied in ''Series/{{Spaced}}'' when Mike and Tim are trying to escape from the offices of Dark Star comics: "Ah, the air vent. Simple, classic."
* In an episode of ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Zelenka crawls through a vent to turn the city's power back on, although in this case the air vents are the same size as you'd find in the real world so he did have a very hard time moving around.
* In ''Series/StargateSG1'', the eponymous team uses this trope ''every'' time they're on a Goa'uld mothership.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has the "Jefferies Tube" maintenance tunnels criss-crossing the ship. They're actually designed for human access, but are quite often used in this way.
** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''
*** In "Dagger of the Mind", Dr. Helen Noel saves the day by using a passage to get to the power room and shut off the Tantalus Colony's force field.
*** In "Miri", the children use an air vent to infiltrate the lab where the Enterprise crew is working and steal their communicators.
*** In "The Trouble With Tribbles", Scotty speculates that the tribbles got into the food processors on the ''Enterprise'' via the actual air vents. Spock realizes that the grain the ''Enterprise'' is guarding on the nearby space station is in storage compartments with similar vents, prompting Kirk to beam over and leading to the episode's [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Crowning Moment of Funny]].
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' had a few DieHardOnAnX episodes where the Jefferies Tubes come in handy this way.
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''. The ship is taken over and everyone is locked in their rooms. Hoshi, being the smallest person on board (and a regular) manages to wriggle out through the vents. Presumably, Hoshi is the one called upon when something in the vent needs fixing. Or she was chosen so we could have a gratuitous {{Fanservice}} moment where her [[ShirtlessScene shirt gets pulled off]]. Especially since the ducts didn't seem that narrow anyway. If anything, that was at least acknowledging that the Jefferies Tubes would be guarded by the bad guys. That vent existed solely during construction and was closed off upon completion, it was never intended for people to pass through.
*** In the MirrorUniverse episode "In A Mirror, Darkly", the crew of Mirror NX-01 Enterprise pursue a [[TheDreaded Gorn]] through the Jeffries tubes of an Original Series vessel.
** Not exactly an air vent, but in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' they once had Jake crawl through a disused ore-processing chute that was too small for a grown man, but not for a scrawny fourteen-year-old.
** It would be easier to list the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episodes that don't involve Jefferies Tubes.
* ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'': Zack and Cody easily spend more time traversing the Tipton's air vents than just using the hallways and doors.
* Still shows up regularly in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', with Sam and Dean playing RockPaperScissors to see who'll go down in the ductwork. (It's always Dean. Dean is really bad at RockPaperScissors.) Although it was [[TheBigGuy Sam]] who crawled through the vent to the old cell block in [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E19FolsomPrisonBlues "Folsom Prison Blues" (S02, Ep19)]].
* Played straight in Season 5 of ''Series/TrueBlood''. Turns out when you can shift into a fly, air vents are quite accommodating.
* Subverted on ''Series/{{Undeclared}}'', where Steven, finding himself trapped in a room, attempts to crawl through an external ventilation duct, which breaks from the wall and falls as soon as he enters.
* ''Series/UnnaturalHistory'' subverts this. Jasper tries to think of a creative way out of the room he's trapped in, and the camera focuses on a air vent duct. The next shot shows him struggling futilely to pry the vent free.
* The old ''Series/VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea'' series was rife with this trope, especially in the later seasons, when it seemed every third episode had a villain or Monster of the Week or regular character evading a villain or [=MotW=] getting into the ventilation system at some point. Played straight for the most part, although somewhat subverted in that the ducts themselves were quite roomy, and the vents were about a yard square or more in size, hinged like a door with a latch that anything brighter than a rock could operate, allowing convenient access.
* ''Series/WonderWoman'': Used by Havitol to steal IRAC in "IRAC Is Missing".
* ''Series/TheWorstYearOfMyLifeAgain'': Used by Alex in "Maths Test" to break into Norris' classroom to either steal (the first time round) or retrieve (the second time) the test papers. Neither time ends well.
* ''Series/TheXFiles''
** Justified in episodes "Squeeze" and "Tooms", since the killer — Eugene Victor Tooms — is a mutant whose power is to be capable of squeezing through tiny openings.
** Used with absolutely no justification in "Ghost in the Machine". Though there is a slight subversion when Scully learns firsthand the downside of trying to climb through the airducts when an [[AIIsACrapshoot insane AI]] controls the ventilation system...
** A conspiracy theorist trying to spy on a defense contractor's meeting in "Three of a Kind" gets caught when the duct audibly flexes under his weight.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/SpiderMan'', Spider-Man has to escape from an underwater base using the air ducts... ''which are big enough for him to web-swing through''. Talk about shoddy design....
* ''VideoGame/Battlefield2142''. The Titans have vents on the top that provide an alternate way to enter, however, unless the other team if full of idiots, they are usually boobytraped or being guarded by someone armed usually with a shotgun or a LMG.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' in numerous places, most notably in Shinra tower when the player eavesdrops on the evil corporate meeting from a ventilation duct connecting to a bathroom.
* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', you can sneak around the Blackbird by using airducts. Or you can bring Ayla to your party and avoid the issue of [[NoGearLevel lacking weapons]] altogether.
* ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin2'' has Sebastian flee from Stefano's Gruesome Giggling Guardian by doing this, barely avoiding a GroinAttack in the process!
* Frequent in the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'', said vents are occasionally guarded by the [[MemeticMutation memetically infamous]] Poisonous Zanzibar Hamsters.
** One of the first areas in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' has an otherwise level air duct with a lowered section in it. Said lowered section is ''flooded'', which would render the duct useless for ventilation. Perhaps justified given the Shadow Moses base shows many signs of poor maintenance.
** Very blatant in ''Portable Ops'', which opens up with Snake escaping from a prison by crawling through the air vents.
* ''VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'', in which the ducts were used so widely they actually had directions scribbled inside them. ''Assault on Dark Athena'' continues this.
* ''VideoGame/Grandia1'' had this, including a side-trip to the women's locker-room...
* ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'' did this so often that there is a small monster almost designed to be placed in the vents. In the expansion pack, the game has a nod to the famous air vent scene in the first ''Film/MissionImpossible'' movie.
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife''
** Subverted in ''VideoGame/HalfLife1''. At one point, the character is forced to crawl through an airvent. In a scripted scene, soldiers below hear the player, yell "Sir, I hear something!" and shoot into the air duct, causing it to collapse. Whether or not you're in it is a matter of timing. If you have the sense to immediately stop when they yell that line, you'll have a consummate OhCrap moment as you see the vent in front of you getting perforated.
** In another instance, the guards hear you and toss a satchel charge in for an OutrunTheFireball sequence. Some of ''Half-Life'''s vents have ladders in them, suggesting that they may have been designed to allow people to go through them. Mr. Freeman crawls through the vents wearing what is a [[PoweredArmor high-tech suit of platemail]]. But considering how [[ElaborateUndergroundBase deep]] the Black Mesa facility stretches, perhaps it is not quite unrealistic that it would use people-sized vents.
** ''VideoGame/HalfLife2: Episode 1'' mentions that Freeman used to participate in races to break into Dr. Kleiner's office when he locked his keys inside. Naturally, the air vents are now full of headcrabs. And subverted in the same game, where one vent you crawl through collapses, landing in a room filled with ExplodingBarrels and laser-tripwire mines.
* Some ''VideoGame/CounterStrike'' maps feature this. E.g. on cs_assault, there is a large air vent that leads from the hangar roof to the room with the hostages. Appropriately, walking through it makes a lot of noise and it can be shot through to kill whoever is inside.
* ''VideoGame/DeusEx''
** The game often includes alternate paths through air vents, which usually double as maintenance tunnels, complete with ladders and hinged grates. One of the {{N|onPlayerCharacter}}PCs even explicitly suggests it as a stealth route in the first mission, saying that "these 20th century buildings always have ventilation shafts". However, unlike ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'', there's also always a straight way.
** Mildly subverted in ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar''; all the vents are comfortably navigable, but inevitably are patrolled by small, spider-like security bots armed with electrical shock-based weapons. According to characters, the bots are to combat any vermin that might enter the vents.
** And just because it was such a big part of the first game, in ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', air vents abound, often leading to rooms with a couple of neat little bonuses, or an easy way around the guards. This is even {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in an early conversation, where someone asks if the reason you took so long getting to his office is if you got stuck in an air duct. And not too long after, during the first mission, if you sneak in, when asked how he got in, the player character explains that he used the air-duct, and is going to include them in his presentation about security loopholes.
%%* ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' does this too.
* ''VideoGame/SystemShock''. The second game almost starts with one, and the first game had whole maintenance tunnels in addition to vents.
* ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'', ''BioshockInfinite/BurialAtSea'' DLC. Elizabeth can use air vents to access areas not available to normal travel and avoid enemies.
* ''VideoGame/SecretOfEvermore'' had an escape through the ventilation system take up a ''dungeon''. Fortunately, to make up for the confusion of navigating the vents, the game followed the trope pretty well by having no enemies inside them.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'' began one level with the player infiltrating a Russian base via the air vents.
* Which reappeared in ''VideoGame/PerfectDark''. Gunfire in toilets. Always classy.
* ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'' requires you to travel through air ducts several times per level in order to advance deeper into the facilities you're penetrating, whose covers are quite easily bashed in. Strangely, despite the game's horror atmosphere and the obvious darkness and claustrophobia factors, you are never once subjected to any sort of scare sequence within one. ''Except'' one. During one particular part, you turn the corner, and Alma does the spider-crawl towards you -- before vanishing a foot away from you. Alma seems to use this, popping out of an air vent right in front of you on one occasion. While you're utterly defenseless. On a ladder.
* Played straight in ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}: Fall of Man'' when Parker uses a vent that pops open to escape from the conversion center, leaving Hale to find his own way out.
* Apparently, design standards in the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' universe include a provision that all facilities and spacecraft must have access tunnels, air shafts, or other openings big enough for Samus Aran's Morph Ball form. (Expanded and partially subverted in ''Zero Mission'', wherein after losing her armor, Samus must negotiate said tunnels on her hands and knees, which is dead slow, and Space Pirates can also use the tunnels, largely negating their escape value.) More accurately, it seems all maintenance robots (which use the tunnels) are the same size as the Morph Ball.
** There's a prevailing theory (with some canon evidence) that nearly all modern technology is based on that of the [[{{Precursors}} Chozo]] unless stated otherwise and most races are too afraid to tinker with the design fundamentals unless their whole project blows up. Naturally, the Chozo would have no problem making their vent shafts just the right size for their PoweredArmor warriors to take a shortcut through.
* Most videogames based off the ''Alien'' franchise will naturally have this option accessible for both Alien and human characters at some point, but special mention should be made for ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'', where this method of getting around becomes the standard once Sevastapol has gone to hell, both to avoid Working Joes and violent civilians. They're noisy to open and move around in, which will draw the xeno's attention; they're dark as hell and can have multiple dead ends; they disrupt your tracker and make it impossible to know if the xeno is nearby; and if the xeno gets in with you (which it will), you'd better hope you had the sense to bring a molotov.
* ''VideoGame/AliensVsPredator 2'' (the game, not the movie) featured liberal amounts of duct crawling. The first few levels of the [[SpaceMarine Marine]] campaign required constant duct crawling, including a situation where Frosty has to jump into a duct vent that a Xenomorph recently launched out of in order to avoid being eaten. The Alien campaign, however, was almost entirely composed of duct jumping for most of the early half of the game.
* Though technically not an air vent, one mission in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 2'' involves a group of Russian soldiers infiltrating a German-held railway station via a long, damaged fuel pipe. The Germans are quick to catch on, though, and if he player isn't careful he can get caught by gunfire or hand grenades.
** In the final act of ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'', you infiltrate Zakhaev's [[YeOldeNuclearSilo missile base]] through the vent system.
* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' has Mario go through air ducts twice in the course of plot in order to eavesdrop. He may also go through a third in order to gain an item.
* One level of ''Series/TwentyFour: The Game'' has Kim Bauer, armed only with a taser, having to crawl through ducts to get around a room full of bad guys. She has to move very slowly, though, or they'll hear her and shoot.
* The titular character of the ''Franchise/SlyCooper'' series can do this in all his games. He usually does to break into places.
* In ''VideoGame/TheThing2002'' videogame, at one point Blair acquires access to another room by walking hunched through a four-foot-wide air duct.
* Lots of duct-crawling goes down in ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil''. Jade makes use of air vents once or twice in order to break into a few facilities, but Double H tends to do it whenever he and Jade [[LetsSplitUpGang split up]] in order to follow her. He ''slides out of one'' during the third boss fight, [[BigDamnHeroes rocketing to the rescue.]]
* The online game ''Infantry'' has a "Bug Hunt" map, allowing players to play as humans or aliens, the aliens granted the advantage of traveling by air ducts and launching ambushes from them.
* In episode one of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'', Strong Bad must use the air vent to sneak past The Poopsmith while infiltrating the King of Town's castle. However, unlike some other examples here, you can get caught if you aren't careful.
* Partially subverted in ''VideoGame/{{Wild ARMs|1}}'': only Hanpan, the little mouse sprite belonging to one of the main characters, is small enough to navigate the air vents.
* ''VideoGame/DeadSpace''
** The ship in which the game takes place is blanketed with enormous, easy access vent shafts that the Necromorph enemies use to move around at will. This allows them to bypass security lockdowns and quarantines with impunity, rendering such measures useful only as an obstacle to the player. This continues into the design of the space station where the sequel is set, and protagonist Isaac Clarke gets to crawl through a few special engineer-only vents himself to get from place to place.
** In the RailShooter prequel ''Extraction'', you do get to crawl through the vents and similar locales several times, but it's {{lampshade|Hanging}}d that they are tight, cramped and hard to move quickly in. The fact you only face Leapers and Crawlers in them only makes it worse.
* ''VideoGame/{{XIII}}'' has this a lot. Justified in that the player tends to machine gun all the bad guys ahead of time so there's nobody left to hear him clunk clunk through the shafts.
* This happens a lot in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum''. Whenever opening doors, stealth or jumps are impossible, a conveniently placed vent will always be there to be busted open to save the day, and help you proceed. Sort of justified by the fact that Arkham Asylum is famous for having horrible security. Also, many of the buildings in Arkham are very old (The asylum as a whole dates back to the mid 19th Century), so the vents are likely from an old ventilation system. Every building in later Arkham games got their air vents from the same contractor, especially when there's a Predator mission in the building.
* During Wolverine's escape from the Weapon X facility in the ''VideoGame/XMenOriginsWolverine'' game, he has to crawl through ventilation shafts a few times to avoid attention (thanks to his healing factor being temporarily disabled). In one of them, a guard down below yells about hearing something and starts riddling the shaft with bullet holes. Another guard tells him to stop being jumpy, and that it's ridiculous that Wolverine would be up there.
* ''VideoGame/ShadowComplex'' uses vents where Metroid uses morph ball tunnels.
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' universe we have a justified version of the mine example: D'ni is an underground city, and its Great Shaft is a huge air exchange shaft. But it's also used as the primary method of reaching the surface (or vice versa).
* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' has a series of air vents (with ladders leading to them, no less) in the garage in the Downtown area. During the mission for Fat Larry that takes you there, a stealthy character can make good use of them and avoid combat entirely- a good idea, as the enemies there are heavily armed and quite numerous. Later in the game when a mafia bouncer blocks your progress, Malkavian characters can ask the bouncer if there are any vents that they can use instead.
* In ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank'' you never actually climb inside the vents, although Clank would certainly be small enough to have one of his missions in there, but at one point you break into a building by climbing on the outside of external air vents with Magnet Boots.
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'', Felix and gang sneak into the Great Gabomba Statue, a clockwork statue worshipped as a god by a stereotypical Subsaharan African-like tribe, through the ventilation shaft, since the original builder's entrance has been sealed with a big rock.
* Most of the air vents in ''Videogame/TeamFortress2'' are inaccessible and just for decoration, but there are a few in Hydro that are big enough for players (even the Heavy Weapons Guy) to stand up in. Custom-map-made-official Turbine has a system of these that's more of a cramped hallway than a vent.]
** One sadistic mapmaker made a version of Turbine [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1UgiFPgLyE where the vents are literally a maze leading from one spawn to the other]].
* Valve [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this trope in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' with the ever-epic lines of Ellis; In Dark Carnival, he says "if there's one thing video games have taught me, it's that good shit comes from crawlin' through vents". Though unlike in ''VideoGame/HalfLife'', the vents in the level he utters the line in do not lead to anything more important than an alternate route. On the other hand, some [[GameMod custom campaigns]] make them the mandatory route.
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}''
** A variant on this: At one point, Chell uses the ductwork of old Aperture [[spoiler:to apply conversion gel in otherwise unreachable locations. She also uses access shafts and tunnels at some points.]]
** The Perpetual Testing DLC features [[http://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/0/03/Cave_Johnson_dlc2_0520_altcave_penal_science02.wav a clip]] of an AlternateUniverse Cave Johnson warning people not to try this inside his space prison.
--> '''Cave:''' Attention, test prisoners attempting to escape through the air ducts. [[ThisIsReality I don't know what nonsense you learned on TV, but in real life,]] air ducts [[RealityEnsues just go to the air conditioning unit.]] It's also pretty dusty, so if you've got asthma chances are you're gonna die up there. And we'll be smelling it for weeks, because, again, the air ducts aren't a secret escape hatch; they're how we ventilate the facility.
* Both played straight and subverted, for unsettling effect, in ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'', where Ethan Mars is guided by a serial killer through series of ''Film/Se7en''-style trials. One of them involves deliberately crawling into something that resembles both a system of wide air ducts and a dangerous exhausts vent (it sounds stupid, but looks appropriately menacing). The vent system is one foot high and branching, it's absolutely dark and hard to breathe there, and its floor is ''covered with broken glass''.
* This is how VideoGame/{{Rayman}} escapes the [[SpacePirates pirate's]] [[CoolAirship prison ship]] in ''Rayman 2''. Considering that was an air vent, which is never really explained. Judging by its size, it's more likely to be where the smaller warships are sent from, if not from the deck.
* Sam Fisher of ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' has an odd ability to encounter ridiculously large vents with grates off to get into areas that would otherwise be unreachable. Somehow, a guy carrying a large gun as well as a few pounds worth of other weapons and gadgets doesn't make enough sound to alert anyone. There's a particularly bizarre instance in the first game where Sam makes his way into a walk-in freezer. Given that the vent in question is connected to a regular part of the building, it means the vent is just wasting coolant.
* The demon in ''[[VideoGame/{{Reincarnation}} Reincarnation: Riley's Out Again]]'' does this to get around the school without being spotted by humans. but it's so "[[ScrappyLevel tedious and unfun]]" that later versions added an option to skip the sequence altogether. He's seen doing it again in a mini later in the series.
** Also used in ''In the Name of Evil,'' but thankfully without the maze.
* Used in a level in ''VideoGame/{{Geist}}''; Raimi [[GrandTheftMe possesses]] a dog to get through the vents. It appears to be a boxer-type dog, and can't stand up in the vent.
* ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'' has the player chase after terrorist mechs who have escaped through air tunnels. In two-story tall mechs. It's sort of {{justified|Trope}}, as these are the vents that are supposed to serve an underground city. Just don't [[FridgeLogic think about how that would actually work]].
* ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'' features a number of extremely large (and life-saving) air vents. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in one instance when Faith does this and a guard can be heard below exclaiming "Wow, the rats must be ''huge'' in here!"
* Occurs at least once in most of the ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' games, such as the last level of Mission 2 in ''Allied Assault''.
* Twice in ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter2'', first in the Pharcom Expo Center, then in the Agency Biolab.
* ''VideoGame/PajamaSam 4'' has the titular character doing this at the end of the game, even though it simply leads to the ceiling of the same room.
* ''VideoGame/SpyFox'' starts with this in the third game, ''Operation Ozone'', infiltrating an enemy base through the restroom's ceiling vent.
* Phil does this to escape his room at the beginning of ''VideoGame/RiddleSchool 5''. He's a child, so the size issue isn't relevant.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Erie}}'', these adult-man-sized ducts are the player's saving grace. The game heavily consist of sprinting away for your life from mutant monsters and luckily, they can't fit in vents.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect''
** While Shepard never has to enter a vent in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', there are a few instances or references of vent use in the game.
*** Thane Krios uses one during his recruitment mission. You can actually hear a clunk while he's in there before he makes his big entrance.
*** During the suicide mission, the chosen Tech Expert has to move through a duct, while the player has to fight off the Collectors in order to open the valves for them. That instance should probably count as a subversion, in that the game makes very clear how ''very'' dangerous it is, and that the tech expert would have died, hideously, were it not for Shepard's help. At some points you can see them and the ducts are actually tall enough to let them ''walk through''.
*** Most disturbingly, during Thane's Loyalty mission, Captain Bailey mentions Duct Rats, homeless children who travel in the Citadel's ventilation system. Played straight, as some of the vents can lead to [[DeadlyRotaryFan razor sharp fans]], [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou sheer drops]], [[StewedAlive protein vats]], [[ContinuousDecompression depressurized vents]], or being [[ThrownOutTheAirlock spaced]].
** Used by Liara in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' to escape from some Cerberus troopers. True to their real-life counterpart, they are extremely noisy - the player can hear the vents being banged around by Liara and the Cerberus troops clear across a large parking garage. While the vents are very large, the troopers have trouble getting around in their bulky armor; they repeatedly try to shoot her, but aren't able to aim and just further ventilate the shaft. There's a little boy on Earth in a smaller vent at ground level. The sound of him moving around in there is actually the only reason Shepard detects him.
** During the Citadel DLC, [[spoiler:temporary ally Maya Brooks has to crawl through the vent of a casino to disable the door to the panic room, all the while avoiding alarms until Shepard disables them.]]
* A series of maintenance tunnels in ''VideoGame/ThePerilsOfAkumos'' prove to be this. A separate series of air vents also prove plot-relevant.
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'' subverts this when Max scrambles into an air duct just big enough to fit him to escape a room full of tear gas. After awkwardly maneuvering himself along for a few moments, he finds out the hard way that just cause it ''fits'' him doesn't mean it can ''support'' him...
-->'''Max''': I was trying to work out what direction I was headed in when I discovered some more Brazilian architecture not designed for the "American physique".
* ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' uses this trope in a quite realistic way : you can use air ducts to infiltrate buildings and, in one case, to escape captivity, but you need a special power that allows you to possess a rat to do so.
* ''VideoGame/{{Messiah}}'' has vents big enough for Bob (who is the size of a baby) to crawl through. There are also smaller vents, which you can explore while you're possessing the body of a rat.
* ''VideoGame/{{Monaco}}'', being largely an homage to heist films, features air vents as a very convenient way to get around each floor unnoticed, assuming they go where you need them to. Hilariously, not only will nobody hear you as you walk through them, but if an NPC decides to enter one, they can ''pass directly through you'' without so much as raising any suspicion. If you play as The Cleaner, you'll even knock them out as they pass by.
* The [[HoldTheLine base-defense mission]] in ''[[VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown XCOM: Enemy Within]]'' has the aliens using air vents to gain access to part of the XCOM base. {{Justified|Trope}} in that the aliens coming through the air vents are either Sectoids or Thin Men; the former are very small, while the latter are incredibly flexible.
* ''VideoGame/ContagionMonochrome'' has them in the Escape map, Roanoke Police Department. Zombies can use them as shortcuts to get through different parts of the map.
* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2'' ups the ante on the danger posed by the killer animatronics by including a pair of vents leading right to the security room, which you also have to keep an eye on. At the very least there are cameras in both vents and lights at the bits leading into your office - though why they're even big enough for the massive animatronics to crawl through is another matter entirely.
** Continued in ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys3'', as there are two ventways into your office that BigBad Springtrap can crawl through, but this time you are able to shut off individual vents to slow his progress. However, they tend to malfunction constantly, giving you {{Hallucinations}} if not careful.
** In ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'', however, ''you'' are the one doing this instead. Nothing can actually get you in there, though the game certainly pulls no punches in suggesting something might. [[spoiler:The secret alternate night also has vents that Ennard can crawl through, serving the same purpose with the same mechanics as in ''3''.]]
** ''VideoGame/FreddyFazbearsPizzeriaSimulator'' takes this to its logical conclusion - the ''entirety'' of the map is vents, bar your office at the back and the [[spoiler:fake]] Pizzeria in the middle of it. It is a literal maze that animatronics can freely travel through - and there're no cameras, forcing you to use other forms of detection (specifically audio and motion tracking) to keep them away. The Ultimate Custom Night also contains a couple of vents for animatronics to roam around in - Springtrap returns to crawling through them, as does Ennard, and joined by a whole batch of the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters 50-plus characters]], each with their own mechanics.
* In ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTheGame'', Jess uses one to access the geothermal generator in the third episode, much to Gerry's anger. [[spoiler: The ''Troodon'' use them to get around the facility, and try to break in to the room containing the heroes by using vents.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DarkFall: Lights Out'', Parker must crawl through an air duct to reach [[spoiler: the future-era laboratory complex. As he must navigate the high-tech duct system using a 1910s bullseye lantern to illuminate his path, it's a real AnachronismStew of a scene]].
* The ''VideoGame/{{Penumbra}}'' games have these from time to time within the series. The first game has a few in the mine's storage cells, and from the textures, they actually look pretty dusty. In the second, Philip has to take the screws off a vent's cover to go in; apparently one of the scientists, Niel Oswald, had gone that way as well and left notes and red marks for someone to follow. And near the end of the second game, a third is hidden behind [[ConcealingCanvas a rather out-of-place landscape painting.]] At one point, Philip also mentions that the air smells rotten even though the air circulation is on.
* Justified in ''Videogame/StyxMasterOfShadows''. Styx, being a goblin significantly smaller than a human, can crawl through many ventilation shafts and pipes that are way too small for a human. [[spoiler: Although this may sound like a security oversight, when the Atrium was built, there was no such thing in existence as a goblin.]]
* In ''Phantasmat 7: Reign of Shadows'' the main character has to ''answer riddles'' in order to properly navigate the air ducts leading to Dr. Corvine's private section of the Arcadia Resort.
* Used extensively in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel II'' and ''III'' where the party has to go through the vents to proceed through the levels. Various levels of enthusiasm vary with at least one character commenting on using these.
* ''AntiVillain'' has some in the facility Rory has to escape to prove himself as a villain initiate. A bulletin board notice from management states that employees should stop using them due to safety issues, no matter how fun it is.
* ''VideoGame/TheDarksideDetective'':
** In the chapter "Police Farce", [=McQueen=] accidentally breaks a section of air duct in the precinct house while attempting to mend it. He remarks that if anybody asks him what happened to it, he's going to claim it was broken by a maverick police officer crawling around inside the duct.
** [=McQueen=] gets to do some actual duct-crawling in the ChristmasEpisode, as part of a shout-out to ''Film/DieHard''.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', sneaking through air vents is sometimes the only way to advance from one area of a palace to another.
* ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' has Frank West use air vents as passages to and from the safe rooms, as Otis welds the actual door shut to keep the zombies out. As Dead Rising takes place in a mall as well, it's likely a homage to ''Film/DawnOfTheDead''.
* Danny in ''VideoGame/AngelsofDeath'', after iniciting the building auto-destruction and the stairs just coudn't be an option. He appears out of nowhere and [[spoiler: shoots Rachel]].
* A cutscene near the beginning of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'''s sci-fi chapter shows the crew of ''Cogito Ergosum'' inspecting an airduct which [[ChekhovsGun predictably]] the RobotBuddy protagonist uses in the climax to evade the behemoth on the loose.
* The ''Jim Dandy'' from ''VideoGame/MDK2'' has a few air-vents that the protagonists can comfotably walk through without even needing to crouch. They are also wide enough that two people could walk abreast.
* Shows up in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', of all places, when the heroes visit the world of ''Franchise/ToyStory''. As they're all transformed into LivingToys, the vents have plenty of room for them and the Heartless they're fighting.
* In ''VideoGame/TheFeebleFiles'', Feeble has to crawl through a bunch of vents in the last sequence of the game in order to solve a number of puzzles.
* In ''Fran Bow'' Fran has to use one to escape from the psychiatrist's office after Phil locks her in. Since she's a child, it's semi-plausible.
* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': Both Grineer and Corpus maps have plenty of air vents big enough for a warframe to walk through (Infested maps have them as well, but they're overgrown with MeatMoss). Grineer maps tend to require them to progress through the level, while in Corpus maps they're usually optional for stealth.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TenCloverfieldLane''. When Michelle wakes up trapped in the bunker, she doesn't try to use the air vent as the hatch is too small, though she does light a fire in there to get Howard to open the door. Later the air filtration system stops working, and Michelle is the only one small enough to crawl through the vent to fix it. There's a larger access hatch in the living room, but the duct itself is extremely cramped; Michelle doesn't crawl through it so much as she inches her way into it. This is played for drama [[spoiler: when she makes her escape through the vent and Howard (who's much too big to fit in the vent himself), tries to kill her by stabbing a knife through the duct.]]
* Referenced in ''Film/TwelveMonkeys'' when the staff of a mental hospital find Cole has vanished from his restraints, in a locked room. Their eyes turn to the tiny air vent way up on the high ceiling. After all, there's no other way out. Unless he was snatched through time...
* ''Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater'' has Andy using this to escape a room in which the ranks of the infected are growing exponentially. Partially justified in that Andy is supposed to be only around ten or eleven and therefore is small enough to fit inside the vent with little trouble.
* In ''Film/FourteenOhEight'', protagonist Mike Enslin attempts to escape from the titular room by crawling through the air duct... only to discover that one of the room's many long-dead occupants has taken up residence there as well. He manages to escape the ghoul by quickly backtracking out of the vents, but the attempted escape in the first place didn't do anything, as most of the airvents leading to different rooms simply lead to various memories he's had throughout life, making it a pointless effort to begin with, not that he knew that until he tried.
* Deconstructed in the "A is for Amateur" segment of ''Film/ABCsOfDeath2'' where the assassin's planned entrance through the air vents is foiled by close quarters, protruding nails, and massive amounts of dust. [[spoiler:He eventually takes out his target anyway, when the vent is opened to find the source of the corpse-stink, and the gun falls out, going off when it hits the floor.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'':
** In ''Film/{{Alien}}'', the ''monster'' actually uses the air duct escape against the protagonists
** In ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', Ripley and the marines use ducts to escape the monsters (which likewise use the ducts to invade). Likewise the aliens bypass the walls and doors by sneaking through the ceiling plenum ''à la'' ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'', correctly using the structure to carry their weight and cross the lay-in-ceiling.
** It's only explained in the movie's extended director's cut, but the character of "Newt" earned that nickname because she was so good at playing hide-and-seek in those same ducts.
* Naturally ''Film/AntMan'' finds this trope easier than other heroes, but a ProperlyParanoid BigBad puts micromesh across the ventilators, so our hero has to get inside the building first [[DownTheDrain via the water pipes]].
* In ''ComicBook/BadKidsGoToHell'': Matt attempts to use the ducts to escape the library, but they collapse under his weight. The lighter Tarvek is later able to use them to actually get outside. For all the good that does him.
* ''Film/BadSanta 2'' features a character crawling up both a garbage chute and an air-vent to spy on someone. He's discovered when his phone rings and starts to play ''Pop That Pussy''.
* Played completely straight in ''Film/BlueStreak'', where Logan manages to hide a huge diamond right before the cops find and arrest him. Years later, he is released from prison and comes looking... only to find out that the building is now a police precinct.
* Subverted in ''Film/TheBoondockSaints'', when the brothers break into Copley Plaza Hotel to assassinate Russian mobsters, but get lost ''and'' break the vent... granted, they happen to near-fall into the correct room. Agent Smecker than explains how this trope is only ever seen in "bad television":
-->'''Smecker:''' Little assault guys, crawling through the vents, coming in through the ceiling — that ''Film/JamesBond'' shit never happens in real life! Professionals don't do that!
* Subverted in ''Film/TheBreakfastClub''. After John Bender is locked in a broom closet by Principal Vernon, he tries to escape through an air duct, which collapses just as he is muttering the punchline to an obscene joke to himself (and [[FourthWall the audience]]).
* Memorably parodied in ''Film/TheBrothersBloom''. Penelope needs to smuggle a MacGuffin out of a church while the police are thoroughly distracted. She fits in the air vents well enough, but they are not concealed in the least, and the clamor she makes attracts the police to her. The duct has very little support, so it breaks open ''right in front'' of a SWAT team, and she picks herself up into a FightingStance.
* Subverted in the B-movie ''Film/ChoppingMall''. The teens attempt to escape the shopping mall's malfunctioning killer robots through the airvent. Only the girls get in before the guys are forced to flee for their lives. The girl end up abandoning this plan when it seems the computer has turned on the heat, forcing them to leave the vent and re-enter the mall.
* In ''Film/{{Colombiana}}'', Cataleya sneaks through a prison's air vents, helped by the fact that she is ''very'' skinny. She had to disable the vents' fans before starting her journey.
* Slightly altered in ''Crossfire'', where the main characters are able to escape an army of police by crawling through an air duct of a building.
* ''Film/{{Cyberjack}}'': Nick uses the giant air ducts to navigate around the office building and hide from the terrorists.
* A variation happens in the Italian movie ''Film/DangerDiabolik'' (featured on the last episode of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''), where the title character scales up a castle wall using a pair of devices consisting of three hand-activated suction cups attached to a handle. Mike and the Bots have a field day with it.
-->'''Servo:''' Diabolik's only two feet down the tower, moving as fast as he can...
* In ''Film/{{Dawn of the Dead|1978}}'', the main characters drywall use the mall's air vents to access the stores that are locked with gates. They also drywall and paint over the door to their hiding area so it looks like there was never a door there and rely on the air vents to access the area instead, figuring that marauding survivors may target the mall and would be a bigger threat than zombies. [[spoiler:An assumption that proves ''very'' valid.]]
* ''Film/{{Daylight}}'' has Creator/SylvesterStallone get into a caved-in tunnel through a air vent. Since the air vent was meant to supply air to a car tunnel, its huge size is justified. However, the architecture of the system is still not completely realistic.
* Subverted in the ''Film/DayOfTheDead2008'' remake, as one of the zombies catches the heroes trying this and actually follows them into the vent.
* In the HBO Movie ''Deadly Voyage'' (depicting the murder of 8 African stowaways on a Europe-bound cargo ship), the 9th stowaway manages to escape from the ship and his would-be killers by shimmying up one of these. Made all the more harrowing by the fact that movie is based on a true story and that this isn't AdaptationDisplacement — this is EXACTLY how the man was able to get away.
* In ''Film/{{DEBS}}'', Lucy Diamond uses the air vents to infiltrate the building in which Endgame is occurring, but it turns out that Homeland Security has been briefed about the possibility that spies could enter illegally through such routes.
* In ''Film/DenOfThieves'', Donnie escapes from the basement of the Reserve by crawling up an air vent to the second floor.
* In ''Film/DesperateMeasures'', the villain Peter [=McCabe=] can take a medical facility over by himself once he gets to the control room, able to lock and open doors at will and talk via the police intercoms to the movie's main character, Frank Connor. An agent attempts to listen into [=McCabe=] and Connor's conversation by situating himself in an air vent above the control room and lowering a small mic, but he is soon found out by [=McCabe=]. He shoots into the ceiling and waits until he sees blood drip from the bullet holes in the ceiling. When asked by Connor what happened, he simply replies "Just a rat, Frank. Just a rat."
* ''Franchise/DieHard''
** Used quite famously in the [[Film/DieHard first film]]: the villains quickly realize the hero John is using the ventilation system, and come perilously close to catching him inside. Also {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in that John [=McClane=] is rather muscular and the vents are small; he remarks, "Now I know what a TV dinner feels like." Plus, he gets really dirty.
** In the [[Film/DieHard2 second film]], [=McClane=] crawls through a ventilation shaft on directions from the janitor to reach an area where he believes mooks are waiting to attack an airport SWAT team escorting the engineer to a backup radio system to establish contact with planes circling the airport. [[CassandraTruth He turns out to be right, but gets there after the SWAT officers have been taken out permanently]].
* Played with in ''Film/EightLeggedFreaks'', when a character narrowly escapes the giant spiders by diving into a rooftop air duct into a mall's ventilation shafts... only to slide helplessly down a ''slanted'' vent, then get trapped when the grill at the bottom won't come loose.
* ''Film/EscapeFromAlcatraz'': Morris, Charlie, and the Anglin brothers mount an escape by digging out the back of their cells to get into the ventilator shafts and escape Alcatraz prison through the roof.
* ''Film/TheFifthElement''
** Subverted when the villain sweeps the ceiling with a machine-gun, perforating Leelo, who is hiding in the ceiling duct.
** Played straight earlier, when she escapes from the cloning lab by running through rather massive air ducts to get outside.
* Seen in ''Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane''. On board a 747 of all places.
* Another ''[=MST3K=]'' film, ''Film/FutureWar'', subverts this trope. A minor character climbs into an air vent to avoid a rampaging killer cyborg. The vent promptly collapses through the ceiling under the weight of her average-sized body and she gets killed.
* The starship in ''Film/GalaxyQuest'' has a spacious duct system plus a team of fanboys able to navigate the heroes across. Justified as the starship is based on one used in a TV show, so this trope would come into play.
* ''Film/{{Garfield}}''. Garfield goes through the air vent of the Telegraph building in order to find Odie. Justified since, even though Garfield is obese, he is still a cat and thus much smaller and lighter than a human. However, once he enters it, security guards turn on the air, causing him to fly around the air vents. He then slams into the end of the ducts, but doesn't get out. Eventually, he goes around to where he finds Odie.
* ''Film/GingerSnaps2Unleashed'': Used by Ghost and Brigitte. Somewhat justified since they are both skinny teenage girls.
* The 1998 American ''Film/{{Godzilla|1998}}'' movie has this, where Audrey Timmonds and Animal Palotti are sneaking through the vents of Madison Square Gardens in order to escape Godzilla's babies. Also subverted in the movie, since it turns out the vent can't hold their weight after all.
* As evidenced in ''Film/Halloween5TheRevengeOfMichaelMyers'', Michael does not take too kindly to this trope. He proceeds to relentlessly stab the outside of the air vent when a would-be victim (his niece) tries to escape through one.
* Subverted and {{lampshade H|anging}}ung in ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'', when Kumar calls in an incident as a diversion and crawls through a heating duct to get Harold out of jail, making a racket, having an argument with Harold (who doesn't want to escape) while still in the duct, getting stuck in it and eventually causing the duct to collapse, falling onto a table and hitting his head on a file cabinet. He does manage to grab the bag of weed and get Harold out due to {{lampshade H|anging}}ung PoliceBrutality, though.
* ''Film/HeroAndTheTerror'': After his escape from prison, [[SerialKiller Simon Moon]] chooses to hide out in a popular opera house. He captures new victims by hiding in the air ventilation system.
* ''Film/{{Inception}}'' had the group breaking into an ice fortress using a air vent system. Justified since they had created those air vents to be big enough to let people move around.
* ''Film/InLikeFlint''. While in Moscow, Flint escapes from Russian agents, opens an air vent cover and goes inside. He then crawls down the tunnel and spies upon the Prime Minister (presumably they meant the Premier).
* One of the scenes in ''Film/INowPronounceYouChuckAndLarry'' involves the main characters (who are firemen) having to rescue a would be thief who got stuck trying to sneak through an air duct.
* Done in ''Film/IronSky'' by James Washington when escaping from the Nazis on their Moon base (ItMakesSenseInContext). We're not shown how he actually get into the vents, all so that we can be treated to a {{pun}} by Klaus Adler, when he comments to Renate that she is a "knockout"... just as a vent cover is falling on him from the ceiling. Slightly justified in that the Nazis never expected to be invaded or infiltrated. And all their technology is of the SchizoTech variety.
* ''Film/JamesBond''
** Subverted in ''Film/GoldenEye''. TheDragon pursues Natalya Simonova into a breakroom and, seeing the air vent cover pulled down, opens fire into the air vent. After she's left, Natalya emerges from a cabinet, having used the air vent as a DecoyHidingPlace.
** Double-subverted way back in the film ''Film/DrNo''. When Bond tries to escape his cell through the vent, he gets electrocuted when he touches the grill. However, he tries again by using his shoe to push it out and succeeds in escaping. One part of the vent had red-hot surfaces and Bond gets swamped by a huge wave of water at one point. As a nice touch, he experimentally taps the grill at the other end with his feet to make sure ''it'' isn't electrified.
* In ''Film/JohnnyEnglishReborn'' they use the Garderobe to infiltrate the castle.
* In ''Film/TheJourneyOfNattyGann'', Natty escapes from a reform school via ''some'' kind of vent which she gets into by removing a grate from the bottom of the bathroom wall.
* Alan, Lex and Tim do a variation of this in the original ''Film/JurassicPark''. They're in the Visitors' Center kitchen, and can't get out the doors because of the raptors running around. So, they make their way to the center's lobby by removing ceiling panels and climbing up inside. Not into the actual air vents, though.
* ''Film/TheKillingRoom'' (2009). Several volunteers are locked in a room for a psychological experiment, only to be killed off one at a time. One man is able to smash through the ventilation duct in the ceiling. The researchers react calmly as this has all happened before (in fact, the protagonists had heard someone scrambling through the duct earlier). He reaches a roof duct, but is blocked by a steel grill. Two labcoated researchers with clipboards are shown standing over another rooftop duct [[NightmareFuel from which can be heard a woman screaming]]. They walk over to the other grill, hit the man with knockout gas and drag him back to the Room.
* Several of Krampus' minions crawl about the vents of the Engel household in ''Film/{{Krampus}}''.
* In ''Film/{{Masterminds}}'', Ozzy has an extended sequence where he dodges the hostage-takers in air vents. Done realistically in that the school is huge but only covered by a small group, the ducts are barely large enough for him to fit in the first place (and he's not that big in the first place, being a kid), and he makes enough noise that they can follow him once they stumble upon his location.
* In ''Film/MenInBlackII'', the worms get to the power control of MIB headquarters through the air vents.
* ''Film/MissionImpossible'': Ethan Hunt infiltrates the CIA headquarters this way (along with Creator/JeanReno's), which leads to the famous "[[MissionImpossibleCableDrop dangling in the ultra-secure white room]]" scene.
* ''Film/MissionImpossibleIII'': Ethan escapes IMF headquarters like this. Given they are the masters of the air vent entry, you would have thought they'd had better security, but no. He didn't so much "escape" as "get into another office in the same building that shared the vent system". The vent Ethan crawls out of is in a room with pamphlets for the Virginia Department Of Transportation, his cover job, implying that he uses that room frequently and either knows of -- or set up -- that opportunity, should he ever need it.
* ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol'': There's an offhand comment that "infrared sensors" prevent Ethan from infiltrating the server room in the Burj Khalifa, so he has to get there by [[OhCrap climbing up the outside of the world's tallest building]]. Played straight later on in the movie when Brandt has to enter another server room through the heat vents, which of course are rather hot and contain a DeadlyRotaryFan he has to leap onto and hope his metallic suit will keep him suspended above a remote-controlled robot with a large magnet. As a RunningGag in the movie is the failure of the various gadgets the IMF team is equipped with, this plan does not fill him with confidence.
* In ''Film/{{Morgan}}'', after Lee is locked in Morgan's cell, she crawls up the air vent and kicks out the skylight to escape.
* Played with in ''Film/MrAndMrsSmith2005'', where assassin Jane Smith's place of work has security lasers everywhere to keep intruders out, ''including the vent system'', as Mrs. Smith is the owner of the company and has used such tactics herself in the past.
* Used and subverted in ''Film/TheNegotiator'', where the SWAT team uses small vents for running fiber-optic cameras and larger vents for team members. When the title character barricades himself into an office, one of the precautions he takes is to close off the vents as best he can with available materials. Later played straight in his attempt to escape the office building.
* Subverted in ''Film/{{Outpost}}'' [[spoiler:when the last remaining team member escapes through an air vent, only to end up in the testing chamber where he's swarmed by its undead occupants]].
** But played straight in ''Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz'' where a powerfully-build Russian escapes from the underground lab by climbing a convenient ladder in a vertical air vent. There are no locks or bars whatsoever, in a secret military installation where prisoners and zombies are confined, targeted by American spies and Soviet commando groups.
* In ''Film/PaulBlartMallCop'' Blart attempts to use an air duct to escape from some {{mooks}} but only ends up completely giving away his position by all the noise and all the dents showing up, leaving him open to attack. In the end the air vent just breaks loose anyway, proving to not be a stable place to climb in in the first place. It doesn't help that Paul is a little on the heavy side (played by Creator/KevinJames).
* ''Film/PoliceAcademy'': Several officers use this method (among others) to infiltrate a building held by criminals.
** The obese officer "House" {{lampshade|Hanging}}s it when he complains about having to take the stairs (when one infiltration team got to take the elevator [[JanitorImpersonationInfiltration while disguised as maintenance personnel]]) and is reminded that he was offered the vents.
** In ''2'', Mauser co-opts Lassard's plan to take the Scullions by surprise via the air vent on top of the zoo enclosure's roof. Unfortunately for him, he chooses [[TheKlutz Fackler]] to help him. HilarityEnsues.
* The cast of ''Film/ThePool'' try to do this, but the killer will have none of that nonsense, and starts stabbing them from beneath, killing two characters.
* ''Film/{{Poseidon}}'': Used as a means of navigation in the remake. Handled a bit more realistically than most examples of this trope: the ducts are wide enough to crawl through without very much effort, but one character does get stuck in a compressed section and has to be helped out. Another one suffers from claustrophobia, and the heroes nearly drown due to the rising water because it takes a ''lot'' of effort to get the panel on the other side open.
* Also used in the sequel to the original movie ''Film/ThePoseidonAdventure'', ''Beyond the Poseidon Adventure'', complete with internal lighting fixtures.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil''
** ''Film/ResidentEvil''. After leaving the Red Queen's chamber the 2nd time, at one point the surviving team members go through air vents to evade the zombies.
** In ''Film/ResidentEvilApocalypse'', Alice escapes Nemesis via a random spacious disposal chute.
** In ''Film/ResidentEvilExtinction'', one of the Alice clones jumps into an air vent to escape a replica of the Laser Grid deathtrap from the first movie. Creator/MillaJovovich ends up in Air Vents a lot.
* In ''Film/SantaClausConquersTheMartians'', the creepily jolly St. Nick and some Earthling kids escape from a spaceship's ''air lock'' through the ventilation duct — employing Santa's long-established ability to fit through chimneys. ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' adds an appropriately Bondian line: "So, Mister Claus, you have a nasty habit of surviving!"
* ''Film/ScarecrowSlayer'': After the Scarecrow kills Caleb in the hospital, Mary escapes from her room into Judy's by crawling through a ridiculously large air vent.
* ''Film/{{Serenity}}''
** Minor subversion when the Captain must get a wrench and properly remove the duct cover before executing the trope to get past a locked door.
** After escaping the space battle in an EscapePod, the Operative infiltrates Mr. Universe's complex via its air ducts.
** Played for laughs at the end, when Simon and Kaylee are taking the "unresolved" out of their [[UnresolvedSexualTension UST]]. They begin removing their clothes, then start kissing, then they fall down out of sight... and the camera pans up to show [[CovertPervert River]] watching from an air duct overhead.
* The famous ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'' escape although instead of an air vent, it's a sewage pipe.
* Used, more realistically than usual, in ''Film/SkyHigh2005''. One character's power (glowing in the dark) comes in handy here, allowing the others to see. And only the character who can become a rodent can reach the place needed to save the day. [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway Lame power? What's a lame power?]]
* Done in the Lorenzo Lama vehicle ''Snake Eater II: The Drug Buster'': as Lama's character [[FanService wiggles his denim-clad gluteal region]] through the mental asylum's air duct, he meets two characters going ''in'' — a hired woman, and a pizza delivery guy!
* ''Film/{{Sneakers}}''. One of the team infiltrates an enemy-controlled building through the ventilation system, and tries to get out the same way after the job is completed. Though somewhat subverted in that he is caught as the guards are smart enough to look and find him.
* ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman''. Variant, as Snow White escapes the castle through the privy, and the Dwarves use that same privy to sneak in and open the gates.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** The famous [[TheWallsAreClosingIn trash compactor scene]] from ''Film/ANewHope'', which is a subversion because in that case, attempting to escape [[FromBadToWorse led to an even worse situation]].
** Still in ''Film/ANewHope'': while it is generally regarded as the arch-[[AerialCanyonChase Aerial Canyon Chase]], the Death Star penetration scene is much of an Air Vent Passageway occurrence of TheInfiltration, with plenty of Canyon Chase topping on it. The combination of the two tropes is precisely the trick that fools Darth Vader and gets Luke that HappyEnding.
** Yoda's escape through the vents in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. Justified by Yoda's small size.
** Played straight in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', when Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon do this flawlessly to escape the Neimoidians' ship. "They've gone up the ventilation shaft!"
* Used in ''Film/TenaciousDInThePickOfDestiny'', complete with a rooftop airvent to enter through and enough lighting inside to see. The shaft does however break apart and fall through the ceiling once two people are inside it, crashing to the floor below and alerting the guards.
* In ''Film/TheThieves'', Yenicall escapes from Park's hotel room by crawling through the ceiling crawlspace.
* ''Film/TheThing2011''. The heroine temporarily escapes the alien monster on the FlyingSaucer by fleeing down a vent it's too big to follow. Instead of [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfMass morphing back to human size]], the alien gropes for her with its CombatTentacles, [[spoiler:eventually {{Ankle Drag}}ing her into the open. Unfortunately she's used to time to get her hands on a hand grenade.]] She got into the spaceship in the first place by (accidentally) falling through the intake vents as the ship powered up.
* Parodied in ''Film/TopSecret''. While incarcerated in Flugendorf Prison, Nick Rivers tries to escape through the air vent system. He ends up sticking his head out of a medicine cabinet and a toilet before finally sliding back out through the vent into the cell.
* In ''Film/ToySoldiers'', the main characters use the air vents to get from the bathroom to the headmaster's office.
* In ''Unaccompanied Minors'' the four kids escape from the four separate rooms where Mr. Porter is holding them by waiting till he is distracted, switching the surveillance cameras with recordings, and then climbing into the air vent in each room.
* Astronaut Digger Reed in the ''Series/WaltDisneyPresents'' movie ''Hero in the Family'', who was [[FreakyFridayFlip in the body of the chimpanzee Orville at the time]], uses the vents to escape from NASA's animal cages, then later uses them along with his son Ben to take the crystal that had caused the mind swap in the first place.
* ''Film/WarGames''. While escaping from NORAD, David gets into the ventilation system. He uses it to reach the War Room, where he infiltrates a tour group.
* ''Film/WhosHarryCrumb'' has the titular detective attempt to spy on his client's GoldDigger wife and her lover (whom he suspects to be the kidnappers of the client's daughter) by pretending to be a repairman and crawling in the vents, which are big enough to accommodate someone the size of Creator/JohnCandy. Subverted in that he actually can't get a good look inside the room due to the awkward positioning of the airholes, so he resorts to using a camera (and then doesn't bother to look at the pictures to find out that the kidnapper is [[spoiler:his boss]]). When the kidnapper turns up the A/C, Harry is rapidly propelled along the vents to the point that he literally flies out at the end.
* In ''Winning London'', Riley and Brian help the hostages escape using the air vents.
* ''Film/WrongfullyAccused'' uses this. Leslie Nielsen uses the vents to get into the hospital's computer room.
[[/folder]]

-->'''Obi-Wan Kenobi:''' [[SarcasmMode Brilliant Idea.]] This is a much narrower space. No room to maneuver, we'll be shot for sure.\\

This is practically a DiscreditedTrope by now, and requires some effort to {{justif|iedTrope}}y if it's to be used seriously. Despite that, [[TruthInTelevision it's actually happened at least once in real life]]. Frank Morris and his accomplices escaped from Alcatraz using the large ventilation duct that led them to the roof. And that leads to knowing that large industrial, commercial and construction complexes need to have enough air flow to manage their needs (like hot equipment or extremely deep locations for personnel use), which often requires a large ventilation system. It's not practical in general use though, still, as grates bolted in place still block your entrance and getting towards office space will shrink the vents.

Some large universities (MIT and Caltech in particular) have longstanding "steam tunnel spelunkers" clubs, who often use air ducts (among other things) for exploring, getting around campus quickly, or pulling pranks. Readers of this trope should be advised that this is [[DontTryThisAtHome extremely]] {{d|ontTryThisAtHome}}angerous, not to mention illegal — steam tunnels are usually hot, cramped, and frequently criss-crossed by scalding-hot piping, and explorers face trespassing charges and possible academic sanctions if they're discovered within[[note]]In other words, [[Literature/HarryPotter you could get killed — or worse, expelled!]][[/note]]. Disney, meanwhile, has taken the concept of utility tunnels and turned them into the Utilidor system used at their parks, which allows staff to quickly move from one area to another without ever needing to break the suspension of disbelief by wandering about in their uniform on the surface.

Some large universities (MIT and Caltech in particular) have longstanding "steam tunnel spelunkers" clubs, who often use air ducts (among other things) for exploring, getting around campus quickly, or pulling pranks. Readers of this trope should be advised that this is [[DontTryThisAtHome extremely]] {{d|ontTryThisAtHome}}angerous, not to mention illegal — steam tunnels are usually hot, cramped, and frequently criss-crossed by scalding-hot piping, and explorers face trespassing charges and possible academic sanctions if they're discovered within[[note]]In other words, [[Literature/HarryPotter you could get killed — or worse, expelled!]][[/note]].

* In ''Literature/LuckyStarr and the Oceans of Venus'', Bigman Jones sneaks through the air ducts in order to prevent a psychically-controlled man from opening the gates and flooding the UnderwaterCity. The Venusian leader points out that air ducts "aren't as big as all that," but the trope is slightly {{justified|Trope}} because, as Bigman [[GaggingOnYourWords painfully]] replies, "[[TheNapoleon I'm not as big as all that, either]]."

* ''VideoGame/{{Grandia}}'' had this, including a side-trip to the women's locker-room...

** And it's not like she was trying to rob the place or anything. She and another character, both recently hired there, show up to their opening shift and realize that neither of them have a key, on a day their boss is taking some personal time. Cue Raven's [[SarcasmMode exceedingly well-crafted plan]] to get in so they could open the shop.

** The Perpetual Testing DLC features [[http://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/0/03/Cave_Johnson_dlc2_0520_altcave_penal_science02.wav a clip]] of an AlternateUniverse Cave Johnson warning people not to do this aboard his PrisonShip.

* Most of the air vents in ''Videogame/TeamFortress2'' are inaccessible and just for decoration, but there are a few in Hydro that are big enough for players (even the Heavy Weapons Guy) to stand up in. Custom-map-made-official Turbine has a system of these that's more of a cramped hallway than a vent.

* Subverted in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''. In Volume 17 of the novels, Touma asks if he could use the ventilation ducts in the plane, but the flight attendant says that the ducts are too small. Instead, Touma asks for some hot tea and coffee to pour down the duct, causing thermal expansion and make the terrorist on the other side think that there's someone crawling through the ducts. As a result, the terrorist on the other side gets some boiling hot tea to the face when he checks the ducts.

--> '''Cave:''' Attention, test prisoners attempting to escape through the air ducts. [[ThisIsReality I don't know what nonsense you learned on TV, but in real life,]] air ducts [[RealityEnsues just go to the air conditioning unit.]] It's also pretty dusty, so if you have asthma chances are you're gonna die up there. And we'll be smelling it for weeks, because, again, air ducts aren't some secret escape hatch; they're how we ventilate the facility.

* Subverted in ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'' when Agent 355 and Yorick are breaking into a hotel in Sydney (surrounded by barbed wire and armed security due to the increase in drug-related crime after the plague).

* Franchise/WallaceAndGromit's ''WesternAnimation/TheWrongTrousers'' has air ducts to a museum big enough to stand in. They were realistically loud though, insofar as a pair of remote-controlled, vacuum-soled robotic trousers can be realistic.

* An earlier episode of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddAndEddy'' about the trio trying to watch a monster movie marathon had them use this to get out of the bathroom and to the TV around Rolf(who was talking their ears off with another outlandish story). They do briefly get stuck, but Ed is able to push them out with relative ease.

* Attempted unsuccessfully by Jamie Minor. She tried sneaking into her workplace by the air ducts but got trapped.

* This was attempted in 1994 by Cleveland Indians pitcher Jason Grimsley to try to switch out teammate Albert Belle's corked bat before the umpire could find out he was cheating. Going through 10 feet of ducts and a false ceiling, he might have even gotten away with it if he hadn't replaced it with [[http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/7338 an autographed bat]].
* Averted in real life: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitive_Compartmented_Information_Facility Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities]], a.k.a. [=SCIFs=], where top-secret intelligence information is handled in the United States have a list of regulations on construction of air vents, including grates to prevent entry and deliberate metal disconnects to avoid sound transfer.

* [[http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/jail-27519-film-crew.html Quantay Adams]] managed to escape from a jail by going into the subceiling ''and'' out through a vent. It was harder than it sounds; after getting a hacksaw blade to get through the ceiling, he had to both time the guards, evade the cameras-including the one ''in his cell''-and get to his accomplice outside. His grand total of freedom? ''Seven hours.''

However, most attempts to sneak in or out via air duct aren't very successful since people tend to be fairly large and ducts tend to be fairly small, plus the fact that air can bend at ninety degree angles and fit through grates much more readily. There have been numerous cases where enterprising criminals have attempted to rob a store by sneaking through the ducts and end up [[StupidCrooks getting stuck]]. The usual ending is the embarrassed criminal being either pulled or cut out of the duct by the fire department and then promptly handed over to the authorities.

Openings are within reach, covers require little effort to remove, the ducts themselves can support the weight of a person and are wide enough in diameter to allow an adult to pass through, there are no internal obstacles except for the occasional DeadlyRotaryFan blocking the branching corridors, they are free of normal sheet metal's dangerously sharp edges, they [[AcousticLicense are totally soundproof]], [[InsecurityCamera there are no security cameras]] and [[HollywoodDarkness there's never a lack of light]] or chance of getting lost unless the plot calls for it.