1. Musical Chairs
I was traveling on a six hour flight from Oakland to Hawaii when a family of six noticed that they weren’t going to be sitting together. They requested that the flight attendants see if they could make arrangements so all of them could sit together.
I’m a parent as well so I understood where they were coming from. While they were waiting for things to be sorted they had occupied a row of seats that belonged to other ticketed passengers. One of these seats happened to be mine.
I asked if they could go somewhere else while they waited so I could take my seat. They told me they were waiting to hear back from the flight attendant and that I could wait at the rear of the aircraft.
I just stood there folded my arms across my chest as I made the surliest face I could. I do feel bad that the passengers behind me were stuck in the aisle, but it wasn’t my fault. The family’s refusal to move is what caused the hold up.
They finally seemed to get the message and went to the back to wait. I hate how some people think that just because they have children that they are entitled to some form of special treatment.
2. Took A Punch
My hearing isn’t so good so I have a set of hearing aids that I wear frequently. When I’m flying I leave them in to hear the safety demonstration, and after that I take them out so I can take a nap.
I was coming back from a business trip and I was stuck in one of the worst seats on the plane. That’s what happens when you book a flight at the last minute.
Shortly after the plane had reached cruising altitude, the guy next to me started throwing a major tantrum. The WiFi is too slow for his liking, and he starts kicking and pushing the seat in front of him. All this movement causes his knee to hit my tray table which causes my hearing aids to fly in the air.
I try to stand up and catch my hearing aids in midair because I don’t want to have to scour the floor of the airplane to look for them. As I stand up one of his flailing arms hits me cleanly in the face. Mind you, I’m all of 5’2” and barely weigh 90 lbs soaking wet. This guy is well over six feet tall and easily over 200 lbs.
I crash to the floor hard. One of the flight attendants and a nearby passenger restrain the guy to prevent him from hurting anyone else. The captain had to turn the plane around and have the man kicked off the flight.
The flight attendants came over to check on me and another passenger helped me locate my hearing aids. The events of that day are still a blur. I guess that’s what happens when you get hit in the head. I do remember getting to move up to first class and being given an ice pack to help reduce the swelling.
3. That’s Not A Drink
I was on a flight from Dubai to Cairo and I noticed something really strange. A man next to me was trying to give the flight attendant what looked to be a cup of apple juice. However, upon further inspection the flight attendant discovered that it was actually a cup of urine. She was absolutely disgusted and told the man to take it to the lavatory and dispose of it.
4. Couples Sit Together
A couple of years ago my husband and I were traveling to Belize for a friend’s wedding. There was a young lady at the gate agent’s desk who looked very frazzled.
She wanted to sit next to her fiance. As we were getting our boarding passes scanned a flight attendant told my husband that his seat had been changed.
We knew exactly why and thought it was funny. We both have a good attitude about things so we didn’t mind sitting apart for the flight. Besides, it was only going to be for a couple of hours. The woman who had complained ended up sitting right next to me.
She complained that the airline almost didn’t seat her next to her fiance and it was such an ordeal to get them to make the change. I told her that my husband was actually supposed to sit in her seat but some people threw a hissy fit so they moved him to a different seat.
She quickly stopped talking after I said that and the rest of the flight was quiet.
5. Experienced Passenger?
I’m a flight attendant and some of my least favorite passengers are the ones who say that they fly all the time. Why is it that those passengers are the ones who need a refresher on the rules?
I always have to tell them that you can’t have bags in the exit rows and that cellphones need to be off or in airplane mode. Shouldn’t you know all these rules if you are flying all the time?
6. Encroachment
About 20 years ago my grandfather had passed away and I was taking a flight from Los Angeles to Ireland for his funeral.
I’m sitting there with red eyes because I’d been crying quite a bit, and the last thing I want to do is be on this long flight. I recline my seat so I can try to sleep for as much of this flight as humanly possible.
There’s this buffoon who’s sitting behind me that tries to push my chair forward by using his entire bodyweight. Then he tells his buddies who are sitting next to him that he’s not going to let someone get into his space.
He then puts his knees in the back of my seat so I can’t fully recline my seat. He even says that he’s not going to allow me to “encroach” on his space. What a moron.
He then begins to babble about how his trip was ruined by all the other tourists and that the prices in Los Angeles were outrageous.
The flight attendant came over and she had witnessed everything that had gone down. Because it was a full flight she wasn’t going to be able to move me to a new seat, but she did offer me a complimentary alcoholic beverage.
She ended up giving me the first of a number of free drinks and then stared down the people sitting in the row behind me. She also ignored them everytime they pressed the button to get help from a flight attendant.
The whiskey was so helpful and after a couple of drinks I was sleeping soundly. Shoutout to that flight attendant, she made the flight bearable. I feel bad for anyone who ever has to fly with the
doofus who was sitting behind me.
7. You Snooze You Win?
On my very first flight as a flight attendant I had a lady complain to me that the man behind her was snoring too loudly and that it was disturbing her.
I smiled warmly and told her that I could move her to a different seat so she wouldn’t have to listen to the snoring. She told me that she paid for the seat that she was in and was not going to move. This back and forth had caused the snoring man to wake up from his slumber.
I really had hoped that there was a business or first class seat available that I could move the snoring guy to, but there wasn’t. I told the woman complaining that if she didn’t want to move seats then there is nothing that I could do for her.
I felt bad that the man who was snoring was called out so I decided to give him free drinks and snacks for the rest of the flight.
8. Who Wants To Sit With The Jerk?
My father and I were flying home to Raleigh after visiting relatives in Jamaica. I was maybe around 10 at the time. There was a little bit of a mixup with our seats as my dad and another ticketed passenger both had 12B as their seat.
My dad and I reached row 12 first and proceeded to take our seats. The lady who also had 12B came by and said that my dad was in her seat.
She was by herself so you may think that she would let us stay in the seats since my dad was traveling with his daughter. There weren’t any groups of two or more seats available on the aircraft but there were a couple of single seats. Every bit of logic screamed that she should be the one to move and not us.
Instead, she just berated my dad until he was so sick of the noise that he took me by the hand and said that we were moving seats. We tried to look for two individual seats that would still be close to each other.
The lady said I could sit with her if I wanted, but I said you’re a meanie and stuck my tongue out at her.
My dad chuckled, and I could tell he was amused.
Someone else had witnessed what had just happened and gave up their seat so my father and I could sit next to each other. I still don’t understand why that lady didn’t just take one of the single seats available.
It’s not like that seat was near the front or had any extra leg room.
9. Empty Flight = Free First Class
I once had a passenger who said he was going to fight me if I didn’t let him move up to first class for free. He thought he was entitled to a free upgrade because the flight was virtually empty. We had only 15 ticketed passengers.
The capacity of the plane was 130. I told him that even though there were seats in first class, the only way to upgrade was to pay the fare difference between an economy and first class ticket.
10. Misogyny at 30,000 Feet
I’m the son of an airline pilot and he’s definitely shared with me some wild stories that have taken place over his 30+ year career. One of the craziest stories is when he had to make an emergency landing to have someone forcibly removed from the aircraft.
This man was being extremely rude and hostile to the flight attendants and his neighboring passengers.
After taking one look at food served for lunch, he picked up his tray and dumped its contents in the aisle.
He was making a lot of female passengers uncomfortable and was also yelling at female members of the crew.
My dad explained to me that he had the authority to arrest someone when the plane was in the air. As soon as they touched down it became an issue for whatever country’s law enforcement that they were in.
My father is no slouch, but he was a little nervous to make this arrest. This man was well over 6 feet tall and had a decent amount of muscle.
My dad confronted him and told him that as soon as the plane touched down that he would be escorted off by local authorities. For some reason, he acted quite a bit calmer when talking to my dad and even seemed alright with the fact that he was going to be booted off the plane.
It was kind of like he was relieved to leave the aircraft. The authorities took him into custody and the plane was then on its way to its final destination. What a strange passenger.
11. Liar Liar
I was on a flight from JFK to Miami and noticed that the passenger in the seat beside me was acting like a total diva. He seemed to think he had chartered a private jet and needed service to match. I’ve never seen someone press the button that called the flight attendant over as much as this guy. He constantly had requests and I never once heard him say please or thank you.
He screamed at the flight attendant that he wanted vodka with a bit of sprite and not too much ice. Despite his demeanor, the flight attendant was very nice to him and kept a sunny disposition.
She gives him the drink and he looks it over before screaming that there isn’t enough ice. He refused to drink it and told her to make him another one. At this point she started to get annoyed.
She heads up the aisle and tells the head flight attendant what is going on. He comes over and tells the man that he needs to settle down.
He then tells the head flight attendant that he is friends with Mr. Y who is a prominent member of the airline’s executive committee.
He wants the name of the head flight attendant and the one who made him the scotch and soda. He is going to tell Mr. Y about how he was treated.
I finally speak up and say that if you’re really friends with Mr. Y you’d know his nickname that all his friends address him by. He has a confused look on his face and tells me that this matter is none of my concern.
The flight attendant tells me that there is no need for me to get involved.
I don’t listen to either of them. I then pull out a photo from my wedding day. It’s a photo of my wife and my in-laws. You guessed it. My wife’s father is Mr. Y.
I gave the photo to the flight attendant and told her that when I land I will call him and tell him that one of his friends is using his name and treating the members of the crew poorly.
I asked the man for his name so I could tell Mr. Y that he was about to lodge a formal complaint against the two flight attendants in question. You could hear a pin drop.
The head flight attendant gives me the photo back and tells the man that if he does anything else for the rest of the flight that the police will pick him up when we land at our destination.
After the flight landed I called Mr.Y (my father-in-law) and told him what happened. He found the name of that passenger and ended up having the airline ban him for life.
12. Judgy Much
I booked a first class ticket from Dallas to Toronto because my grandmother had just passed and I needed to make it home quickly. The only flight that fit my schedule happened to only have first class seats available.
I board the flight and proceed to settle in my seat. The passenger sitting next to me looks me over and asks if I’m sure that I’m in the right seat.
He said it looks like you wouldn’t be able to afford this seat.
I didn’t have the best outfit on, but I showed him my ticket and told him to be quiet. He didn’t say a word the rest of the flight unless he needed to get by me to use the bathroom.
Serves him right.
13. Bullies To The Back
When I was eleven years old the family was traveling to Barbados in business class. We were able to get first class because my dad was going there for a work trip and was able to get a discount on our tickets.
There was this woman sitting next to me whose husband was a couple rows back in economy. He comes over to me and asks me to switch seats with him so he can sit with his wife. Keep in mind I’m just a kid at this time and this is a full-blown adult.
I’m a shy kid so I just sit there quietly and do nothing. I obviously don’t want to move as I'll be separated from my family and miss out on my first experience in business class.
I still don’t say anything but I’m shaking my head to indicate that I won’t be getting up. He starts to try and intimidate me by getting in my face. My dad notices what’s going on and starts yelling at him. He says that I’m just a kid and he should be ashamed by the way he’s acting.
He told him to have his wife move if he really wanted to sit with her so bad. Other passengers overhear what’s going on and rally to my defense.
Some curse words are hurled between my dad and the man in question until finally a flight attendant comes over and makes the man and his wife sit in economy.
An older gentleman replaces his wife and takes the seat next to me. He was extremely nice and even apologized and even apologized for the ordeal even though it wasn’t his fault in the slightest.
Everyone in the section gives the flight attendant a standing ovation as the two jerks are sent to their new seats.
14. This Isn’t Southwest
My husband, toddler and I had gotten seats in the first row of economy so we could have extra legroom. This lady comes down the aisle and asks my husband if we could move so she could sit there.
I couldn’t quite catch everything that was said because I had my headphones in, but my husband said she had quite an attitude.
He told her that we paid extra for these seats because this is an international flight and we have a small child. There is no way we would be leaving these seats. Did she think this was Southwest or something?
15. Use The Bathroom
I was working a red-eye flight when a passenger came up to me and said the lady sitting next to him had urinated on the floor. I was appalled. I’ve never had a passenger do something so disgusting.
Basically, the lady who was too lazy to go to the bathroom and just decided to go right there in her seat. Luckily, it wasn’t a full flight and I was able to move the two people sitting next to her to new seats.
16. A Much Needed Lesson
One of the best incidents I’d been involved in as a flight attendant happened about 3 years ago. I’m at the front near the boarding door and we’ve just done our final boarding call and one last passenger enters the aircraft with a duffle bag. This passenger happened to be sitting in first class and had the highest level of status on our airline.
There wasn’t any overhead compartment space available in first class so he just opens a random compartment and drops his bag on the floor. He orders me to find a spot for his bag. I’m trying to be friendly so I begin looking for bin space.
I find one that has space and just stand there waiting.
He brings his bag back about 15 rows and droops the bag on the ground. We both look at each other and then the bag. Neither of us move and we just stand there for a few seconds.
He then requests to speak to the lead flight attendant. Guess what. I am the lead flight attendant.
He ordered me to put his bag up. I told him that I would not be putting his bag up. I told him if he doesn’t want to put it up I’ll happily check it for him. We aren’t insured if we get injured lifting a passenger’s bag so it’s something that I’ll never do. He made a bit of a fuss but eventually put his bag overhead.
He gave me a nasty look and walked back to the front of the plane to take his seat. The air marshal happened to watch this whole incident unfold.
She saw what happened and said that you are not going to be taking this flight and pulled him off the flight. It was awesome to see him hauled off the plane.
17. Switch It Up
Whenever I fly I always try to get the window seat. I don’t care what row I’m in, as long as I have my window seat I’m happy.
A few months ago I was flying from Cancun to Seattle. I was able to snag a window seat that was in the second to last row of the plane (not that I minded).
There is a family of 3 standing in the aisle (a mother and father along with their baby). She explains to me that the family is seated in two separate rows and that if I give up my seat the three of them will be able to sit together.
I normally am not opposed to switching seats, but in this case I was going to wind up in a middle seat with two strangers. I told her that if it was an aisle or window seat I would’ve switched but I don’t want to sit in the middle.
She starts to get upset and explains what just happened to the nearest flight attendant. I just ignore her and go back to reading my book. They end up finding someone who doesn’t speak much English to give up his seat so the family can sit together.
The flight attendant offers the guy free drinks and snacks since it was so gracious of him to give up his seat. She then gives me a nasty look that implies that I’m a bad person for refusing to give up my seat.
18. Woopsie!
We were taxiing and I was trying to turn off my light, but I accidentally hit the call flight attendant button instead. The button kept making a noise even when I tried to turn it off. The flight attendant had to come over and nearly break the button in order to get it to stop making noise.
Everyone looked at me like I was an idiot. I was so embarrassed. No more touching buttons on the plane for me.
19. Selfish Passenger
I was on an early morning flight and I was looking to get some extra sleep before getting to my destination. The person in the row behind me has it all to himself.
After we reached cruising altitude, I reclined my chair so I could get in a more comfortable position to fall asleep in. I felt something brush against the back of my chair, but I just ignored it.
The man in the row behind me decided to hit my chair really hard so I whipped around and asked him what the issue was. He told me that I needed to bring my chair to an upright position.
I was puzzled. He told me that he was trying to go to sleep. Since he had the row to himself, he was laying across the three seats with his head at the window. I had the window seat right in front of him.
He said that when I reclined, the chair was close to his face which made it difficult to fall asleep.
I told him to put his head on the aisle seat, but he said that the food and beverage cart would wake him up. I didn’t want him to cause a huge ruckus so I relented and decided to pull my seat up. I didn’t get any sleep on that flight.
20. Upgrade Me
I was sitting in the bulkhead row with my six month old daughter. I needed this row because this was the only row with enough space for my daughter’s bassinet.
An elderly gentleman approached us and said that because he’s old that he deserved to sit there instead of us. I told him that I paid for this seat and would not be moving.
Luckily, the flight attendant saw what was going on and actually had an available seat in first class. She moved my daughter and I up to first class which was amazing. I had my own little space which made it much easier for me to breastfeed my daughter.
Oh and the old man did not end up getting the bulkhead row. Serves him right.
21. No View
I was seated in an area of the plane where my seat had a window, but the row behind me did not have one. What looked to be a grandpa and his granddaughter were seated behind me. The grandpa asked me to bring my seat forward so his grandkid could get a better view out the window.
My seat wasn’t even reclined at the time so this was an odd request. I explained this to him a few times, but he just kept on getting more and more agitated. I just put my headphones in and ignored him.
The other passenger in my row gave me a look acknowledging that the guy behind me was a little bit nuts, even though we hadn’t talked the whole flight. I decided to just pull down my window shade to end the debate once and for all.
He immediately got quiet as soon as my window shade was down.
22. Ignorance In The Air
I was on a flight from Miami to Cabo and there was this man who kepting saying these really horrible things. He seemed to have an issue with the fact that many of the passengers were communicating in Spanish.
He was most annoyed with these two older women who were sitting behind him and having a conversation in Spanish. He turns to them and says this is the reason why we need to build a wall.
The ladies just looked at him with a blank expression and were silent for the rest of the flight. I felt horrible for them. How did the guy not get that we were on a flight to Mexico. What language did he expect people to speak on the flight?
23. Always Be Kind
My daughter and I were flying from Charlotte to Las Vegas and we had a connecting flight in Denver. Our flight from Charlotte to Denver was fine, but our plane from Denver to Las Vegas had a mechanical issue and we were forced to stay the night.
The flight attendants instructed us to go to the airline desk where they would help us find a hotel for the night. When we arrived at the desk there were two men who were yelling at the top of their lungs at the gate agent.
They were upset because they had an important meeting the next day and the mechanical issue is going to cause them to be late. The agent was completely calm and she gave them new tickets as well as a voucher for an airport hotel.
The men then complained about the hotel stating that it was “lowbrow” and not a place they would ever stay at. Even as the agent tried to explain, the two men kept interrupting her.
After a few minutes the men left, but they continued to grumble as they walked away. When my daughter and I talked to the gate agent we were super polite as she rebooked our flights and gave us a hotel voucher.
In addition, we received $600 dollars in flight vouchers. We were about to leave when she also gave us an additional two flight vouchers. She was unable to give them to the two men from before because they kept interrupting her.
Looks like it always pays to be kind.
24. Frequent Flyer Privilege
I remember this one time I was on a flight with really bad turbulence. Bad enough that the entire crew was seated and belted. Obviously the fasten seatbelt sign was on.
Some genius in first class tries to make his way to the lavatory and in the process he ends up elbowing a lady and breaking her nose.
My jump seat was next to the bathroom and I told him that he needed to sit down immediately. He brushed me off saying that he was a gold frequent flyer and it was fine for him to be up.
As much as his arrogance and entitlement enraged me I had more important things to take care of. The lady who’d broken her nose was yelling as blood gushed out.
I go over to help her and notice that the man is calling out from the restroom for assistance. I ignore him and he comes out of the bathroom a minute later upset that we didn’t respond to him.
He had ended up urinating all over himself due to the severe turbulence. Maybe next time he’ll think twice about getting up.
25. First Class Horror
I had some health issues when I was a teenager which allowed me to pre-board for most flights. I got extremely bad migraines and cluster headaches which sometimes caused me to lose my vision or pass out.
My dad and I were headed from New Orleans to Cleveland when a large woman in a wheelchair told me that I shouldn't be pre-boarding. She said that I looked young and able and should be able to stand up.
I told her that I could only stand for short periods of time due to my migraines. She continued to complain which just made my headache get even worse. I was slowly starting to lose vision.
I ended up passing out right in front of the gate desk and the woman thought I was faking the whole thing.
My dad told her that he wasn’t going to move and that she was just going to have to wait her turn in line. She started screaming even more, and at this point airport security had to calm her down. They told her that either she could get it together or she’d be spending some quality time with the TSA.
I was given a wheelchair and wheeled onto the plane. I was allowed to pick whatever seat I wanted.
I’m not sure exactly whether I was in first or business, but I remember it being an amazing flight.
26. Tantrum Before Takeoff
I was flying between Indonesia and Singapore, when a large group of tourists boarded the plane about ten minutes before takeoff.
They were making a ton of noise and weren’t paying attention to their bags and ended up hitting people who were seated. They soon realized there wasn’t any space in the overhead bins for their stuff.
However, this didn’t stop one member of the group from attempting to take other people’s luggage out of the bins in order to put her luggage up. Other passengers quickly objected.
The flight attendant said that he would move his stuff to an employee area to make more space for their luggage.
This was just the start of all their bad behavior. They wouldn’t stay seated during takeoff, made an unseemly amount of noise, and just didn’t respect their fellow passengers.
The lady who had earlier attempted to move other people’s bags is eating a bowl of noodles as she is yelling at the flight attendant in Mandarin.
She was told that she couldn’t have her tray table down since we were about to land. After a minute of yelling, she throws the hot noodles and soup on the flight attendant.
I had never seen anything quite like this. The flight attendant handled things well and luckily he wasn’t burned. When we landed in Singapore she was taken in by authorities for assaulting the flight attendant.
27. Middle Seat Monster
I’m going from Vancouver to Toronto to attend an important conference for my job. I’m sitting in the window seat and the two seats next to me are empty. Right as the airplane doors are about to close, a lady and her two year old daughter sit right next to me.
She starts to throw a fit because she wants to walk around and not stay in her seat. Her mother didn’t bring anything for her to do so she’s just sitting there yelling that she wants to get out of her seat.
Her mother decides it’s ok to let her walk around the plane as we’re about to take off. The flight attendants bring her back to her seat, but by this point it’s too late. We’re in the air and I’m going to be stuck with them for the rest of the flight.
It was the worst six hours of my life.
28. Arrogant Passenger
Whenever we fly into or out of Washington DC we also have a federal air marshal on board. Sometimes they are the first ones to board which happened to be the case for this particular flight in question.
There was an older couple who was in first class who had just boarded the plane and the woman asked why there were already people on the plane.
She said that they paid extra so they could be the first ones on the plane.
This is crazy talk because wheelchair passengers and a few other groups get to board before any other group, including first class. I thought of the perfect response to her lunacy. I told her that the captain had invited them personally because they were veterans who had served in the Korean War.
She didn’t have a word to say after I told her that. It really irks me that some people are so full of themselves that they believe they should get to sit down on a plane before anyone else.
29. An Intentional Mistake
I was flying from Madrid back home to Athens and was sitting in the aisle seat. I had noticed that the guy behind me had dug his knees into my back.
I understand that air travel is uncomfortable, but there are ways to give yourself more space. If he was really tall he could’ve stretched his legs underneath my seat.
Or you can move one of your legs slightly into the aisle, and pull it back when the beverage cart comes by.
I thought maybe he was unaware of what he was doing. I put my hand behind my back so his knee would feel my hand, and he would realize that someone was sitting there. He moved his knee for about a minute, but then it was back.
Everytime I put my hand behind my back he’d move his knee, and as soon as I’d move my hand his knee would come back. I’m at my breaking point.
The knee is on my back, and I take my hand and squeeze his knee as hard as I can through the seat cushion.
The knee is off my back and I don’t feel it for the rest of the flight. When we deplaned I avoided eye contact in order to prevent a confrontation.
He looked like a guy who had an average height and build. There was no need for him to knee me in the back. Hopefully I taught him a lesson.
30. I Don’t Know You
I took a flight when I was thirteen and was an unaccompanied minor. The person sitting next to me happened to be eleven and also an unaccompanied minor. He would not stop talking.
Since he was talking to me, other passengers on the plane kept giving us dirty looks that should’ve only been meant for him. He would scream wild things like doodoo butt and then laugh uncontrollably.
He also was bothering someone’s dog by making barking noises. Traveling in an airplane isn’t easy for anyone’s pet and he wasn’t helping with his antics. We both ended up getting berated by the owner of the dog.
Lady, I just ordered a Coke and am trying to enjoy my Gameboy. I don’t know who this kid is.
31. Stand Strong
I was on a flight from Albuquerque to San Antonio when I witnessed the creepiest passenger ever. He was giving all the flight attendants a hard time. He was yelling at the male ones because the flight was delayed, and he was hitting on the female ones.
He even tried to touch one of the female flight attendants on the butt. Shortly after, the flight attendants banded together and told him that he was going to be removed from the flight.
When this was announced, the entire area of the plane gave the flight attendants a standing ovation. I’d never seen this many people clap in unison on a plane. It’s definitely a unique story that I’ll never forget.
32. Always Prepay
A woman once confronted me because she wanted me to give up my window seat so she could sit together with her husband and daughter. They had clearly failed to pay extra to pre-select their tickets prior to boarding so that they could sit together.
I had picked out my window seat months in advance and paid the additional charge that comes along with selecting your seat.
How entitled was she? It’s ridiculous for her to think that I should give up my seat because she was either too cheap or failed to plan properly.
The crew told her to stop bothering me and her family sat in 3 different rows throughout the cabin.
33. Pets On A Plane
I once witnessed a man who tried to bring two cats aboard the aircraft in hard-sided carriers. One cat she considered her “personal item” and the other one was her “carry on”.
Neither of them were able to fit underneath the seat in front of her or in the overhead compartments. He said she would not go without his beloved cats.
The dilemma about where to put the cats delayed the flight by well over an hour. Flight attendants plus other airport workers were racking their brains about a solution.
I’m a big cat lover, but this whole situation was terrible and I’m sure the other passengers just wished she had left her cats at home.
34. Do You Have A Problem?
One of my friends who is a pilot for a prominent North American airline told me this story. There was a passenger on his flight who was being extremely rude and disrespectful to the female flight attendants.
About two hours into the flight one of them had enough and asked him what his problem was. His response was wild.
He said that in his culture women are slaves and are supposed to do whatever men want. She replied back that in her culture people like him are taxi drivers.
He blows a gasket and has to be held down by his neighboring passengers. Even though the flight attendant would’ve normally gotten in trouble for a comment like that, the passenger’s behavior was so appalling that they decided to let it go.
35. Long Way Home
I was getting ready to travel back to Portland from Buenos Aires. As you know, that is an extremely long trek. The universe looked like it was on my side as we were actually slated to depart 40 minutes early. We had boarded ahead of schedule and the runway was completely clear.
There was one big problem. The flight attendants were unable to get all the passengers to sit down. Many of them were walking, standing, and stretching throughout the aisle.
This wouldn’t have been a problem if it was just a handful of people, but I would say that it was about 30 people. The flight attendants would get a couple of people to sit down, but as soon as they moved on to the next group the people would get up again.
This went on for what seemed like forever (it was probably about an hour) before the captain yelled at everyone over the loudspeaker that he would not take off if people didn’t sit down immediately.
40 minutes early turned into 30 minutes late.
