The invention of air travel has allowed us to see parts of the world that our ancestors could only dream of. Despite the beauty of air travel, there is always someone on every flight who just ruins the experience for their fellow passengers.
Enjoy these real stories of entitled airline passengers who just make everyone want to cringe in horror.
1. Email Battle
I was on a Delta Air Lines flight where a woman who looked to be in her 40s was sitting next to me. Based on what she was wearing it looks like she was on a work trip. She was late boarding the flight which made it difficult for her to find overhead bin space for her roller bag.
She starts to try to stuff it into the overhead compartment even though there is clearly no space.
In the process she was clearly disturbing the other bags that were already placed in the compartment and this caused a flight attendant to take notice.
The flight attendant says that all the overhead bins are full and that we’re going to need to check your bag.
She responds by refusing to check her bag and proceeds to look for a sliver for empty space for her bag. After a couple minutes of searching she begins to get frustrated that she can’t find a spot for her bag.
The flight attendant then volunteers to try to put the bag up and the business lady hands her the bag. She immediately takes the bag and says that there’s no space for the bag as she walks to the front of the plane so she can hand it off to be checked.
The lady throws a little bit of a tantrum, but she eventually comes down and takes her seat next to me.
As soon as she sat down she took out her computer and started drafting an email to Delta customer service where she was complaining about the flight attendant’s behavior. She’d written the flight attendant’s name in the email and said that she had embarrassed her in public.
I didn’t want this poor flight attendant to get in trouble since she did nothing wrong so I took out my laptop to reach out to Delta customer service to dispute her story. I was able to get her name because I saw it was in her email.
I told them that they were going to get an email from the person in the seat next to me that would disparage one of their flight attendants.
I explained how their account of the event was 100% false and that the flight attendant was professional, calm, and polite. I also added that the passenger’s fit caused our flight to be delayed by 10+ minutes.
I have no regrets about sending that email.
2. Let Your Bag Go
I’ve been a flight attendant for five years and one of the things that really grinds my gears is when people can’t follow simple instructions. For example, when I tell someone to put their personal item under the seat in front of them for takeoff and landing and they proceed to argue with me about it. They act like this is something that I tell them for fun.
I have to explain to them in my nicest voice possible that it is a violation of federal aviation guidelines to not keep your personal item under your seat. I often get asked why it’s a rule. I tell them that if people get their backpacks and purses on their seats/armrests that it could slow people down if we have an emergency where we have to evacuate the aircraft.
Once I explain this to people most of them understand and stow their bags under the seat in front of them. I dealt with this one lady who had a handbag that she claimed could not go on the ground. She said her bag was couture and was handcrafted in Paris.
I thought in my head how ridiculous she sounded. I get it you have a nice bag but that doesn’t make you above the rules. If you have an issue with this then you should fly on a private jet instead.
Unfortunately, I can’t tell her any of my actual thoughts. I had to show her that I was serious.
I asked her if her purse was more important than making this flight because if she didn’t comply she would not be making it to her destination.
I started walking to the front of the plane so I could tell the captain we were going to have to kick someone off the flight for noncompliance with the rules.
After I had taken a few steps she yelled that she had put the bag under the seat and if I was happy now.
Even though I may not have been happy I was glad that we could finally close the aircraft door and get ready for takeoff.
3. Stop The Recorder
I’ve been flying solo for as long as I can remember. Starting at the age of 8 I used to visit my dad every other month who lived in a different state. I always did this as an unaccompanied minor.
Everytime my dad asked me how my flight was, I told him it was amazing.
I remember one time I sat next to this business man who was super friendly and let me tell my jokes and sing songs the whole flight. He even gave me this super fancy pen that I showed off to all my classmates at school.
One of the funniest stories is when I brought the recorder that you’re given in school to play when you’re in the 4th grade. Shortly before takeoff I started to practice a few of my songs like twinkle twinkle little star and happy birthday. When I stopped the whole plane started clapping. I’m not sure if they clapped because they liked my performance or they just wanted me to stop because I was so bad.
4. An Ominous Book
I once sat next to a woman on the plane and I tried to have a conversation with her. You know, just a little small talk to help pass the time. She just gave me this look that told me that she had no interest in speaking to me.
I decided to read instead and pulled out the book I was reading that week. It happened to be a book about a plane crash. On the cover there was an airplane that was about to crash into a deserted island.
Let me tell you the lady next to me saw the cover of the book and was not happy.
5. What Does Your Ticket Say?
Sometimes the people who board the plane towards the end believe they can sit in any empty seat that they can find. Often they try to take an unoccupied seat that they see in first or business class.
One time a gentleman attempted this and I asked to see his boarding pass. I told him that his seat was 32B not 2B. He responded that he was really tall and needed the extra leg room. I told him I’d be happy to give him the seat if he paid the fare difference.
He quickly shuffled back to economy.
6. Not A Hotel!
My boyfriend’s father is a flight attendant. He told us this story about a man who got upset because his daughter spilled coke all over her brand new sweater. He asked my boyfriend’s father if there was a dryer that he could use to dry her sweater. He laughed and said sir this is a plane not a hotel we don’t have any dryers on board.
7. Cloud Control
I was flying up to Seattle from San Francisco and was experiencing some pretty nasty turbulence. After about 15 minutes, the older gentleman in the window seat presses the button that calls the flight attendant over.
The flight attendant comes over to ask how she can be of assistance. The man proceeds to yell at her saying that he’s been flying for over 50+ years and this is the worst turbulence he has experienced. He says the pilot is horrible and should never be allowed to fly a commercial aircraft again.
The flight attendant just quietly walked away. To be fair, what could she do? She doesn’t control the weather.
8. Just Desserts
The craziest experience I’ve had at an airport is when I was stuck at the Houston airport for nearly 30 hours because the plane had a mechanical issue which then led to the cancellation of the flight. The airline gave us a hotel voucher for the night and rescheduled us a flight the next day, but understandably people were still quite upset with the whole ordeal.
Boarding proceeds as it normally would. The gate agent calls for all those who have families with young children and those with special needs to board first. They would be followed by first class, business class, etc.
People with wheelchairs generally board first because it is much easier to maneuver them through an empty plane and aisle as opposed to when the plane is filled with people and luggage. I don’t know of any other airline that follows a different process.
A lady dressed in a pantsuit rushes to the gate agent’s kiosk and starts yelling at them saying that it was ridiculous that a whole day had been lost, but on top of that she has to wait to board even though she’s a first class passenger who spends tens of thousands of dollars every year with the airline.
After her tirade, he looked at the people behind him hoping one of them would be sympathetic to her plight and speak up. She wanted to feel like his behavior was justified. This gate agent also was likely working on very little sleep and was trying her absolute hardest to ensure the process was smooth for everyone.
She handled things in the best way possible. She smiled at the lady and then announced on the loudspeaker that anyone with small children or in a wheelchair needed to wait, because this lady needed to board first.
Every person in the crowd looked at her with a look of disdain and shock at her appalling behavior. Feeling embarrassed, she tried to take things back and said she doesn’t mind waiting for the first group to board, but the gate agent said she was quite clear in what she wanted.
She boards the plane first and is absolutely mortified as she does so. I think the gate agent is my hero.
9. Devious Trick
Some couples will have one person book a seat in premium economy while the other books a seat in economy. Then one of them will act sad and try to get someone sitting in premium economy to give up their seat so that the couple can sit together.
If the passenger refuses to move then sometimes people will complain to the flight attendants in an attempt to get the passenger moved.
This elaborate scheme has been concocted just to save a couple of bucks on the premium economy ticket.
I’ve never seen this trick actually work. The crew is not going to move someone out of their seat when they’ve paid extra money for it. If people want to sit together in premium economy they should buy 2 premium economy tickets.
10. Out Of Control
During the early 2000s I vividly remember going from Montreal to Phoenix and there was this kid who was an absolute terror. I could tell he was going to be a problem when I saw how he was acting during the security check and when we were waiting to board the flight.
Once we got on the plane he was going up and down the aisles with a huge truck toy. As he was running the truck hit me on the head and almost hit my dad.
I luckily was able to wrestle it away from him before it could my dad who at this point in his life was quite weak and was on blood thinners. I flagged down a flight attendant and gave it to her. She then told the family that she would not be giving the truck back because he was causing a ruckus.
His family told him not to sit down until the truck was returned. The flight attendants countered by saying that food and beverage service couldn't be started until he cleared the aisle.
Someone else on the flight marched that kid to his seat and made him sit down. However, as soon as the food and drinks were served that kid was back up and back to his nonsense. One of the assistant pilots actually left the cockpit and told his family that they would not land the plane until he was in his seat with his seatbelt fastened.
He sat down and buckled up, but he made sure to scream at the top of his lungs as the plane descended. As soon as the wheels touched the ground he was back out of his seat again. No one was surprised by his behavior at this point.
The family (including their son) then pushed their way to the front of the aircraft in order to deplane first even though the captain said we were going to deplane row by row.
Since my dad walked with a cane we decided to wait to get off since we weren’t in a rush. As we got close to the front of the plane we heard the kid shrieking again. A police officer was talking to him and his family and it looked like he was putting all the adults in handcuffs. Hopefully this will teach them a lesson about plane etiquette.
11. Kick Me
A couple years ago I was taking a roughly 8 hour flight from San Francisco to Panama City and there was a little kid sitting behind me. He started kicking the back of my seat really hard, but I decided to ignore it because I thought eventually he’ll have to stop.
Boy was I wrong. He kept it up for about an hour and I was at my breaking point.
In all my years of flying I’ve never complained to a flight attendant about anything. I told him that this kid was kicking my chair and if he could kindly ask him to stop. He told the family and asked them to tell their son to stop.
They did absolutely nothing. The kicking only stopped for the few seconds that the flight attendant was there.
As soon as he walked away the kicking continued. I already had had enough and I turned around and told his parents that you need to tell your son to stop kicking my chair.
The father apologized but didn’t give his kid explicit instructions to stop so his son continued kicking the back of my chair. I called the flight attendant again and asked him if there were any empty seats because the people behind me weren’t listening for whatever reason.
He came back after a few moments and said there was a seat in first class available. I was ecstatic, I’d never flown first class before. The flight attendant was so nice, and he kept trying to apologize for what happened, but I assured him that it wasn’t his fault and that some people are just rude.
12. Cool as a Cucumber
About a decade ago I witnessed a business traveler in a very expensive suit have an absolute meltdown at the airline desk when he was told that his flight was going to be delayed due to thunderstorms. He was yelling at the top of his lungs and jumping up and down like a child.
He said he was a platinum status and threatened to take his future business elsewhere if the airline didn’t do something.
The person working the desk for the airline was a total pro. He said that he didn’t control the weather, but the man was more than welcome to go outside and tell the sky to stop the thunderstorm. The group of people waiting at the gate started laughing uncontrollably. The businessman was so embarrassed that he put his head down and walked away.
13. Delayed Babysitter
I was on a flight from Boston to Los Angeles as part of a move I was making for work. About 2 hours into the flight the captain announced that we were having engine trouble and were going to need to land in Minneapolis.
Everyone in the flight was immediately concerned.
This one passenger got up out of her seat and went up to the nearest flight attendant and said that she was a babysitter and that the kids she was taking care of were waiting in Los Angeles.
This lady seemed a bit delusional. What did she think was going to happen? That the pilot would just say hey let's see if we can make it to Los Angeles with this faulty engine, or if maybe someone from the crew would go out and try to fix the engine while we’re 30,000 feet in the air.
Since obviously there was no way to fix things, the lady was told to go back to her seat and fasten her seatbelt.
14. No Respect
I was on a flight from Miami to Seattle when a passenger on board passed away in her sleep. The situation was awful and the passengers and crew were visibly shaken up by the ordeal. The captain decided to stop in Chicago so professionals could attend to the body.
Once we landed in Chicago the process was seamless and handled with the utmost professionalism.
After we had gotten back in the air and were headed to Seattle, a passenger asked if everyone could have free drinks since the flight was so delayed. I wanted to scream at this man for being so rude and inconsiderate.
15. No Shade
A flight attendant told the woman in the window seat next to me to open her window shade for landing. She explained to her how it was a federal aviation regulation. The woman said that it was too sunny outside and wanted to keep the window shade down.
The flight attendant went to the loudspeaker and made an announcement to the entirety of the plane. She told the passengers that they were going to play a quick game of trivia. She asked why do we keep the window shade open during takeoff and landing.
Before anyone could answer she answers the question herself and says it’s because we need to keep an eye on the outside of the plane in order to ensure that everything is safe. She then said we all want to be safe right?
I noticed that the woman’s window shade had already been pulled up before the flight attendant’s speech was even finished.
Safety first!
16. Follow The Rules
I fly pretty frequently which means that I’m well aware of the rules of the sky. Like when you touch down you’re not supposed to leave your seat until the plane is done taxiing. I’m on this flight where after we land a bunch of people not only stand up but they proceed to take their carry-on bags out of the overhead compartments.
The plane is nowhere near the gate and has literally just touched its wheels on the ground. It’s super dangerous to be standing up and moving around bags while the plane is still in motion.
The crew is clamoring for the passengers to get back in their seats and fasten their seat belts until the plane comes to a full and complete stop. Many of the people standing up just brushed them off the order and continued to stand.
Suddenly, the plane came to a halt which caused all the passengers who were standing up to fall down. I think the pilot may have heard what was going on and decided to teach the rule breakers a lesson.
The flight attendants then said, this is why we have rules so one gets hurt.
17. Pizza Pizza
I was flying from Philadelphia to Portland and the middle seat next to me was empty. I was in the row that comes right after first class. Since this was a long fight I was hoping the seat next to me was going to be empty.
We are about to close the airplane door when a huge sweaty man runs onto the plane with a box of pizza. You guessed it. He is about to sit right next to me.
Even though all the overhead bins had been closed (this means that they are full) he kept opening them in order to find a place to keep his pizza. One of the flight attendants (she) told him that he wasn’t allowed to keep it up there.
He said he was afraid that someone might step on the box if he kept it on the floor.
She told him to just put it under the seat in front of him and to take his seat because the plane needed to take off. He told her he’s always put his pizza up and never had to keep it on the ground. I wondered how often this man flies with pizza.
He finally gave up and slid the box under the seat in front of him while also taking his seat and fastening his seatbelt.
As the safety demonstrations begin he gets on his phone and is making a call. I just assume he’s calling American Airlines support about the pizza debacle.
Turns out he’s talking to his landline provider.
He hadn’t paid his monthly bill on time and was trying to get them to waive the late fee. The customer service representative on the other end isn’t budging. He continues to plead his case as the plane has left the gate and is making its way to the runway.
The flight attendant comes back and says that he needs to put away his phone as we were about to take off.
He tried to buy extra time, but she says it needs to be put away now. He ends the call and puts the phone away.
The flight attendant goes to take her seat.
He then proceeds to stretch in his seat. I do my best to stay out of his way as he lifts his arms above his head and also side to side.
He then decides to crack his knuckles and this is what ends up getting him in trouble. As he’s cracking his knuckles he flips off the flight attendant. I wasn’t sure if she saw it or not, but at this point I just wanted to get in the air.
Instead of getting ready for take off we seem to be heading back towards the gate.
The plane door is opened and the cockpit door opens as well. The captain comes to my row, and tells the man who is sitting in the middle seat that harassment is unacceptable and that he needs to leave the plane immediately.
Pizza guy tried to ask the people around him if he had done anything wrong, but we just stayed quiet. The captain wouldn’t move and eventually the pizza guy picked up his pizza and trudged off the plane.
The door closed and we finally were clear for takeoff. Even though that wasted so much time, at least I got an empty middle seat out of it.
18. Waste Of Time
I was coming back home to San Jose after my trip in Las Vegas, but first the flight had to stop for a layover in San Diego. There was a family who was flying standby who managed to get on the aircraft without being given the green light by the airline. Because they had no assigned seats they were asking the already ticketed passengers if they would give up a seat for them.
They told the flight attendants they had to be on this flight because they had to get to San Jose for a family gathering. This back and forth went on for well over an hour.
The rest of the plane was so fed up with their behavior. I wanted to physically remove them from the plane myself. I was still hungover from the night before and just wanted desperately to get home.
19. Dress Debacle
I had a passenger who began to throw a fit because I made them put their wedding dress in the overhead compartment. The dress was huge and was blocking the aisle as well as a number of seats.
Even if they had to pay to get the wrinkles out of the dress, it’s better than having it stepped on or run over by the beverage cart.
It also was a safety issue and I wasn’t going to take any chances over a dress.
20. Duh It’s Obvious
I once flew from San Francisco to Singapore which is an extremely long flight. There was a passenger who seemed to not understand how the airplane experience worked.
Since this was a long international flight, the seats were in a 3x4x3 formation. The four seats in the middle of the plane consisted of two aisle seats and two middle seats. This passenger was seated in one of the middle seats in the middle section.
She complained to the flight attendant that she couldn’t sit in the middle because what if she needed to go to the bathroom and the people next to me had fallen asleep. The flight attendant gave her a puzzled look and said that was her assigned seat and if she needed to go to the bathroom she could step over the passenger next to her or wake them up.
I thought to myself, has this lady ever flown before? Maybe it was her first time.
21. Is It Life Or Death?
I’ve been a flight attendant for 15+ years so I’ve seen my fair share of medical emergencies. On one occasion, a passenger in business class had fainted and had yet to regain consciousness.
Two of us were with him as we were attempting to give him CPR. The other flight attendant was seeing if there was a doctor aboard the flight as well as coordinating with the captain.
While this was taking place there was a passenger in economy class who kept pressing the button for flight attendance assistance because he wanted a Sprite. He kept pressing the button and yelling for someone to serve him.
Finally, one of the neighboring passengers told him to shut up and have some decency because a medical emergency was going on. I was so grateful for that intervening passenger.
22. Bag In The Way
A lady who boarded the plane near the end of the boarding process was having trouble finding a spot for her bag. She left her bag in the aisle while she went to the back of the plane to find overhead bag space. Her bag was blocking the aisle which didn’t allow any other passengers to get to their seats.
She found space in the back and had the audacity to tell me that I should bring her bag to her.
I told her that she needed to move her bag, because she was blocking everyone’s way. She proceeded to tell me that I needed to lift her bag and put it up. I refused.
A nice man decided to help her with her bag. Then she accused me of stealing her muffler when I didn’t. I called over a flight attendant who then had her removed from the flight.
23. Lunch Stealer
I usually pack food from home for long flights because I generally don’t like airplane food. The woman sitting next to me on the flight saw my sandwich and chips and told me that I should give it to her. I politely told her that the food was mine and I would not be sharing it with her. She told me she was starving and was really desperate.
I completely ignored her and proceeded to take a huge bite of my sandwich.
24. Power Of The Pretzel
Air travel is not a pleasant experience for me as I’m 6’4” and have long legs. Everytime I sit in my seat my knees are always jammed into the seat in front of me.
If the person in front of me decides to recline, I have to straighten out my legs and put them under the seat in front of me.
I was on a flight one time and I noticed that the seat in front of me was reclined much more than normal. His head was so close to me that I could smell his hair. I asked him if he could pull up his seat, but he refused.
I could tell the seat was broken so I called the flight attendant over to see if she could convince him to stop reclining. She also noticed that the seat was reclining well past where it should and asked him to pull his seat up.
He told her that he didn’t want to and she told me that there was nothing else that she could do as she couldn't force him to not recline his seat.
My mom is with me and she has a brilliant idea. Since his seat is broken his face is quite close to me. A lot closer than it normally would be if the seat wasn’t broken. She gives me a bag of chips and tells me that I should chew with my mouth open so crumbs fall all over him.
I start to eat the chips as crumbs are falling out of my mouth and onto him.
He finally notices and asks me if I can stop. I told him no, and when he saw how many chips I had left he finally put his seat up.
25. Not A Race
I was on a flight when I witnessed a man launch into an angry tirade because they let the four flight attendants board before any of the passengers. He said that he paid for business class and should be treated better.
He said none of them paid so why do they get to board first.
The flight attendant’s responded that it’s airline policy to have flight attendants board first because they need to oversee the boarding process. There also were only four of them on the flight so it’s not like he had to wait long to board.
He continued with his nonsense for another 15 minutes. Not sure what exactly he thought he was going to accomplish.
26. Sad Story
The only people you’d expect to cry on planes are babies or little kids. One time there was a woman who began to start crying uncontrollably a couple of hours into the flight. Many of the passengers around her just stared awkwardly unsure of what to do. When none of them bothered to ask her what was wrong she started screaming.
She then attacked the man who was sitting next to her.
The captain had to execute an emergency landing in Dallas just to kick her off the flight. She continued to cry nonstop till she was finally removed from the flight.
27. Alcohol Fiend
I once witnessed a passenger who was so desperate for alcohol that he was asking the flight attendants for it prior to us being in the air. He became more and more unruly which prompted the flight attendants to give him a warning. After another warning, he said some curse words to one of the flight attendants as he walked away.
He turned around and told him that we were going back to the gate and he would be kicked off the flight. We went back to the gate and he was swifty escorted off the flight. After waiting 30 minutes for his bag to be found in the baggage hold, we were finally off.
I told the flight attendant that he did a great job with the whole situation. I also emailed Delta to let them know what a great job the crew did.
28. Not So Fast
I was on a Southwest flight when a family of 6 walked on the flight with each of them carrying a bag of Burger King. The flight was full and all the other seats had been occupied. If you don’t know, Southwest doesn’t have assigned seating. It is done on a first come, first served basis.
The only seats available are middle seats that are scattered around the plane. The dad starts yelling that the family needs to sit together and that other people move around to accommodate them.
I really wanted to give them a piece of my mind, and tell them instead of getting Burger King they should’ve packed food from home this way they would’ve boarded on time.
29. Fight On Flight
I was taking a flight from Houston to Cancun with some of my buddies. We were all going to a friend’s wedding. Everyone was looking forward to a peaceful flight until we heard a bunch of rowdy guys who were piling into the seats behind us. They were clearly drunk.
I’m guessing they were in their 20s.
One of them could barely walk down the aisle and had to be propped up by his friends. When the plane took off he ended up throwing up on himself as he couldn’t handle the motion of the plane.
We couldn’t believe that the airline would allow someone that drunk to get on the flight. To make matters worse he had to throw up on himself.
The throw up smelled horrible. About 15 minutes later, 2 of the friends got into a verbal altercation which caused one of them to leave their seat to try and find a seat somewhere else on the plane. This was all taking place even as the fasten seatbelt sign was still on.
One of the flight attendants came over, and said that he couldn’t just move to a different seat and when the fasten seatbelt sign went off he would need to return to his original seat. He said he wasn’t going to move, and for some reason the flight attendant seemed more intent on continuing the conversation than actually making him move.
The fasten seatbelt sign turns off and the other person involved in the altercation gets out of his seat and walks over to where the other friend involved in the fight was sitting. Within a matter of seconds the two of them are in the aisle and are wrestling.
Passengers in the vicinity of the fight were trying to get out of the way to avoid getting too close. Multiple members of the crew had to come over and separate the two of them and direct them to different seats (far from one another).
I thought it was funny that the flight attendants had to flirt with them in order to keep their mind off the fight and keep them in line for the rest of the flight.
It surprised me that the plane didn’t turn back around to our origin point so we could kick these buffoons off of our flight. I’m still in shock that the airline let them on in the first place.
I’m never going to fly with Spirit again.
30. A Bunch Of Babies
A couple of years ago on a flight from Phoenix to Denver, a man with a service dog was on the flight. He decided to sit in the first row of seats (this was a Southwest flight where you can pick your own seats).
A few minutes later, a family of 3 with a baby entered the plane. The man seemed to be quite drunk.
He demanded that the man and his service dog vacate the row because he wanted to sit in the front row with his family. The man politely refused to move and when he did this the drunk man picked up the guy’s bags and started throwing them.
The flight attendants came over and explained that he and his family needed to find different seats.
The drunk man then tried taking the man’s service dog by pulling on its harness. The crew told him if he continued in this manner that him and his family would be kicked off the flight.
He finally stopped and proceeded to put his roller bag in the overhead compartment before finding a seat a couple of rows back.
The whole flight was a disaster. The baby was pulling the hair of the passengers sitting in front of them while their mother would store the used diapers in the seat back pocket. The nearby passengers were horrified.
As soon as the plane landed the man and his wife proceeded to barrel down the aisle to retrieve their carry-on and in the process pushed a woman with a back brace and cane to the ground.
While they were then forcibly removed from the plane the flight was over so it didn’t really accomplish anything. This has to be the most ill-behaved set of passengers that I have ever witnessed.
31. 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.
32. 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.
33. 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.
34. 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.
35. 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?
36. 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.
37. 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.
38. 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.
39. 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.
40. 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.
41. 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.
42. 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.
43. 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.
44. 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?
45. 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.
46. 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.
47. 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.
48. 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.
49. 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.
50. 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.
51. 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.
52. 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?
53. 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.
54. 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.
55. 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.
56. 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.
57. 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.
58. 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.
59. 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.
60. 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.
61. 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.
62. 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.
63. 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.
64. 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.
65. 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.
