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. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. 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.
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. 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.
24. 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.
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. 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.
28. 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.
29. 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.
30. 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.
31. 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.
32. 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!
33. 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.
34. 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.
35. 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.