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43 Flight Attendants And Pilots Share The Most Obnoxious And Infuriating Things Passengers Have Ever Done
Air travel can be stressful not only for the passengers but for the crew as well. There's a thread on Reddit where flight attendants and commercial pilots share all the obnoxious behaviors people have exhibited on board their plane. And they're not just talking about suitcases! From leaving little children unsupervised to maintaining personal hygiene, there are plenty of things that shouldn't happen at 35,000 feet but, unfortunately, still do. Luckily, these professionals are trained to handle even the most chaotic situations.
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#1
There was a story a while back of how on British Airways a white woman was very dissatisfied sitting next to a black man in economy class. She [complaned] to the flight attendants about it and so after a while they came back to her saying "we can upgrade to first class". She gets up to go, but they stop her, telling her that no, the first class seat is for him.
RELATED:
#2
Just a passenger here. I was flying Ryan air from Berlin to London. When the steward (he wasn't a good looking man at all, relevant) started giving the safety instructions a couple of guys who were part of a large group of friends in their early twenties started mocking him by making monkey and pig noises.
He tried more than once to very nicely tell them to listen to his instructions as they might save their lives, but they continued to mock him. He threatened to get them kick off the flight and they continued to mock. He went to the front of the plane and the pilot pulled back to the gate and they were still mocking. They opened the door and three German police officers come in and arrested the two guys for endangering other passengers by not allowing the safety instructions to go ahead, at which point the entire plane (excluding their friends) started clapping and cheering.
#3
I have a story about people and their rude, obnoxious behavior.
I was in X-ray school at the time and my teacher and I were flying back from an annual conference that our national professional society hosts annually.
I was flying home from Las Vegas (2nd time flying in a commercial plane) and a women two rows behind me started having a seizure. No one seemed to care and her husband was completely clueless as how to help. My teacher was quick to jump out of her seat and called me to help. We attempted to life all of about 300 pounds of her and get her to where she was laying on her side in the isle. No one helped. Everyone just stared. I understand why people don't want to help or can't help. Totally cool with that. Some people are afraid of the situation, afraid of being sued, or just afraid in general.
What really got me is when we landed, the pilot asked everyone to remained seated until the emts got her and her husband off first, no one listened. They tried getting off the plane before she had been strapped to the back board and didn't [care]. As my teacher and I were helping the emt's to tell people to remain seated a man gets up and yells at my teacher. We were floored. Call me naive, but I was shocked at the lack of empathy these people had.
Nuku Nyara 3 weeks ago
Have police there and have e them arrested for obstructing the emergency personnel.
#4
My mom was a pilot for Northwest Airlines.
She was a woman captain, and a man comes on her airplane. He takes one look at her and says "Ugh, a woman captain. I'm getting off." She replied, "Good, get off my airplane. There are people waiting on the standby list to get on." The guy turned right around and got back on. We guessed he wanted her to submit and ask him nicely to come back. She told me "[hell] no."
#5
Girlfriend's a flight attendant and this is my favorite story of hers.
She had just started flying internationally and a woman in coach had decided to spread out in the middle three seats as no one was sitting in them. The last passenger was a man who was supposed to sit in one of those seats. The woman refused to get up, having sprawled out with blankets to sleep on the flight. My girlfriend tried to explain to the woman that the man had purchased one of the seats she was using. Woman didn't care, simply refused to get up and said the man could sit somewhere else.
The guy was very cool throughout this, kind of giving a shrug to my girlfriend like, "Well, now what do we do?"
My girlfriend got the ISM (International Service Manager or Purser, as they used to be called), basically the head flight attendant and the person responsible for everything aft of the cockpit. She walked back and asked the woman to please move. Again, the woman refused, saying the man could sit somewhere else.
The ISM turned to the man and said, "Actually, she right. We have a couple of seats in first class and we'd be happy to upgrade you free of charge. Are these your only bags?"
The woman's face was apparently priceless and she started to stutter out a protest, but by that time the three of them were already working their way to the front of the plane.
#6
I fly seaplanes for a living, and when we get tourists a regular question is, "When will you fly real airplanes?"
As opposed to the fake one you're trusting your life to now?
#7
Had a woman freak out on a flight attendant because the cookies she was serving had cranberries in them. Apparently she was on blood thinners and couldn't eat them. We serve a number of other options. Some people just like to complain I guess. As a pilot I try and avoid dealing with the cargo.
#8
A friend of mine was a flight attendant who told me that a guy called the air hostess and very politely asked if the pilot could shut off one of the jet engines so his son could sleep peacefully.
#9
Had a 20ish year old girl going to see her SO. She needed to shave so she did so in the bathroom, turbulence pursued and she cut herself really bad. Had to bring paramedics in and they carried her out. After unloaded, the FO noticed the trail of blood down the jetway.
Edit1: FO = first officer or co pilot. Unfortunately she did not cut her leg... It was her special lady area.
#10
Not a flight attendant, but was coming from Vegas to LA and some little twit in back of me started painting or nails or removing her nail polish. I didn't know who it was at first and was like, it smells like acid in here, then realized it was nail product. The air wasn't filtering and the whole plane could smell it. The flight attentant came over and told her to put it away because it was toxic. The girl then said, just let me finish my last two nails. The attendant was in disbelief and ordered her to put it away. Then announed on the microphone that the smell was from some passenger who insited on doing her nails in the plane and took a little poke at her.
I guess this was expected from a little LA princess...
#11
I once witnessed a woman lay her toddler on the aisle and proceed to change his diaper. This was during boarding. I was gobsmacked.
#12
After completing my passenger brief, they would often ask me where my name/accent was from. On no less than a dozen occasions, upon hearing that I am of Turkish heritage, would ask "You're not going to fly us into any buildings, are you?"
Commenting on my youth: "Are you REALLY old enough to fly this thing?"
After telling a passenger to put away a phone or put on a seatbelt: "Who are YOU to tell me what to do?." or "Would you tell your father to do that?"
They would also bargain with me about the rules or tried to argue that so and so rule that I was required to enforce had no basis in reality.
Passengers, don't insult your pilot or flight crew immediately before they're about to take you someplace.
#13
Tl;dr: monkeys, alien invaders, important meetings in the Atlantic, and Tarzan.
My mother was a flight attendant for TWA since the 1960's so she saw a lot of stuff that people could never get away with now. For example, she once had a schizophrenic man urgently call for a flight attendant because he was claiming to be receiving messages from the aliens that they were going to intercept the plane. He could not be calmed and demanded to talk to the pilot. My mother heard the commotion, ran to first class and grabbed a silver salad bowl. She then proceeded to put it in his head and tell him it would protect him from the alien messages, so they couldn't track the plane. He spent the rest of the flight with it on his head.
Another good one was when a man, about 5'2, wearing a tweed suit, round glasses came onto the plane, and strapped his bag into the seat next to him. My mother informed him that he had to put the bag in storage, and he very politely showed her that he had a ticket for it. He comes back later, and in place of the bag, is a dead stuffed monkey that the man is carrying on a conversation with. He politely asked my mom for a banana, to which he then attempts to feed to the monkey. Goes on like this the whole trip, and then packs the monkey up at the end of the flight.
Last short one. My mom went to the front of the plane to find a man trying to open the door. She stops him in time, and asks what the man was doing, to which he replied " I'm going to be late for my meeting, I have to get off now." To which my mom replied, " but sir, we are over the Atlantic." He then proceeds to argue with her, until my mom says, " Oh sir, they've moved your meeting to the coat closet ( which they had in older days), he thanks her for the update, and sits in the closet for the rest of the flight.
She definitely had her fair share of weirdos. If people want more, I can tell the story about the man who fondled an old lady, because he thought he was Tarzan.
**Edit/Update:**
Yes, these stories are quite real, I didn't be
lieve some of them, until she showed me a copy of one of the flight logs she had where FA's were required to note any points of interest during a flight. I will give her a call tonight to see if she can find/scan/email one of the reports over for proof.
As for my mom being good at dealing with the crazy people, she has always been person who is very out of the box thinker. Her view on the world is unlike anyone I've ever met, and she is a truly remarkable woman. She's just a creative lady who likes to do crazy things, so she gets people who are *actually* crazy.
Okay the Tarzan story.
On one flight there was this man who about an hour into the flight started making these grunting sounds every 2-3 minutes. The flight attendants continually asked him to stop, but he wouldn't let up and was getting more and more disruptive vocally and physically, so they decided to move him to a section of the plane that had some empty seats to separate him from the other passengers. As they stood him up, he seemed to zone out. My mother was the flight attendant who lead him back, and using her charm she tried to figure out why he was acting the way he was. Suddenly, he snapped back to reality looked her directly in the eyes and said something to the extent of "I'm Tarzan, tarzan need jungle, tarzan need drums!," after which he lunged at the heavier set ~60yr lady in front of him, grabbed her breasts and started bouncing them up and down. Took 3 flight attendants to get him off of her, and they restrained him to an empty row while they turned around the plane to land back at JFK (they had been over the atlantic). My mom, being known for handling uncomfortable situations well, volunteered to take the watch over him. He then proceeded to explain how he was using this flight to get to the moon, so he could get the green cheese that his jungle friends loved so much.
I'll ask her if she has any other good ones that I've forgotten, but those are definitely the 4 best she has encountered after 25 years of flying.
#14
Not a flight attendant but my father worked for an airline for over 30 years and shared this story with me based on one of his colleagues' experiences. On a flight from JFK to Heathrow post 9/11, while the plane was about 4th or 5th in line for take-off an American lady demanded to be let off the plane. The attendant naturally refused since the doors were closed and they were almost at the runway. The lady went nuts and called 911 from her cellphone and said she was an American citizen being held against her will on a foreign airline and they were about to take off and she was going to be taken to another country. In about 3-4 minutes police and FBI vans surrounded the plane, pulled her out and grounded the flight pending further investigation. In the end she was just a nutjob who ruined everyone's flight.
TLDR: crazy american lady calls 911 before take off, says she is being kidnapped, feds surround plane, flight gets canceled.
Rachel Grig 3 weeks ago
She should have simply said that there was a problem with the left phalange.
#15
One of my best friends was a flight attendant for a few years so I've heard some insane stories from her.
My absolute favorite was when she had to wait on Nicki Minaj in first class on a flight. She said Nicki was pretty much the worst passenger she'd ever waited on. She was rude, demanding, and kept doing weird [stuff] like order a vodka cranberry and when the flight attendant would deliver it she'd take one sip, hand it back to her and ask for another. My friend told me that her whole posse kept doing this until they had gone through almost all the mini bottles. As a bartender, that story pissed me off to no end.
#16
I am not a pilot, but my dad is. One of his best stories, while not obnoxious to him personally, caused a flight to be severely delayed and really annoyed everyone, and was *pretty creepy.*
Persons who use wheelchairs or need medical assistance are typically boarded before other passengers. A woman (I'll call her Susan) and her elderly father (Jim) were boarded early for a flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina from DFW (Dallas-FT Worth, Texas) airport. My dad is doing his pre-flight checks, when a flight attendant comes up to him and says there's something odd about the elderly gentleman who was pre-boarded, and his daughter is acting odd. The flight attendant requests my dad come check on the old man. The flight attendant says that the old man is asleep, but looks like he may have had a heart attack or something due to his complexion.
My dad goes back and talks to the passengers and the elderly gentleman is slouched over in his seat against the window, asleep, and he doesn't look good. Nobody wants the plane to take off with a person needing medical assistance, so my dad asks Susan if there's anything wrong. She's agitated, says that Jim doesn't fly well and they gave him medication to let him sleep on the plane. Susan says her father is old, but in good enough health to fly and they are just headed home to Argentina. Susan requests that my dad not wake Jim up, and that he'll be fine.
The flight staff are all getting a weird vibe, so my dad tells Susan something to the effect of if they can't verify Jim is alert and in good health, they will not be taking off. She gets confrontational, refuses to get up from her seat to allow anyone to check on her father next to her, and they have to call gate security. Meanwhile as security is on their way, the woman apparently realizes they're going to get kicked off the flight if they don't cooperate, so she moves to let my dad check on the old man.
My dad goes over, and the guy has no pulse at all. Not just that, he's *room temperature*. My dad thanks Susan, and the flight staff go to the front of the plane to wait for security. When they show up, my dad tells them what is going on, and they also check his pulse and then call for an ambulance.
Emergency vehicles show up, and paramedics remove the old guy from the plane. As they are doing this, the daughter is upset and continues to insist he is fine to travel, complains that their bags from their previous connection will get lost, etc.
The paramedics tell my dad before leaving that the guy is not just dead, he's been dead for awhile (which my dad had sort of already guessed.) Apparently a plane ticket for a person is a lot cheaper than paying to transport a corpse home for burial. The real kicker is that he got on at the previous airport (which I don't remember) without anyone kicking him off the plane. Pretty sure there's a news story on the web for this, but it was in the 90s and I am unable to find it. [There's several similar ones out there though.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8604663.stm)
TL;DR - Woman tries to fly her dead father home for burial by buying a normal ticket, thinking nobody will notice.
edit: This was in the 90s, pre-9/11.
#17
A family friend is a commercial pilot with a major U.S. airline. He was flying a transatlantic flight from Chicago to London. Midway through the flight one of the flight attendants pages the cockpit and tells him that they need help restraining a passenger in first class. He gets up and walks back to first class to find a 60 year woman hammered drunk fighting with the flight attendants. Apparently the woman was seated next to a younger man and after getting extremely drunk kept grabbing [him]. He asked her to stop and after the 3rd or 4th time he paged the flight attendants asking to be moved.
The women then got belligerent so she had to be restrained. They wound up making an emergency landing in Iceland and arresting the woman because she was so belligerent. The best part is the arrest was the least of the woman's worries. She was permanently barred from the airline, had to incur the cost of the fuel the plane had to dump so it didn't land too heavy, as well as the cost to make the landing, and probably had to register as a offender. Also the entire plane full of people probably weren't too happy to have to be delayed several hours waiting for the plane to refuel and file a new flight plan.
TL, DR: Free drinks in first class can wind up costing you $30-40k in bad decisions.
Ivy la Sangrienta 3 weeks ago
The only time I've been to Iceland is because of an emergency landing, not because of a drunken idiot but because someone had a heart attack or something. Hoping to go back for real someday.
#18
When I was flying night helicopter "strip tours" up and down the Vegas strip, despite the video briefing which mentioned several times that no flash photography was permitted and my own verbal briefing mentioning this again, people would regularly take flash photos during the flight. It just blows my mind that people would think it's ok to temporarily blind the pilot who's flying them.
#19
Not me, but a friend of mine once told me that on one flight, the attendant was trying to take a lady's drink order when her husband turns to the attendant and says, "Sorry, she doesn't speak to the help.".
#20
I was an F/A on private charter flights. You know that kissy-type noise you make to a cat to get their attention? When he wanted my attention, a certain NBA star (cough-Shaq-cough) would constantly call to me like that. I politely told him my name every time, but he refused to say my name, "ma'am", "miss" or any other form of polite conversation.
He also sulked in the corner of the plane with his headphones on the whole time, playing video games like a child, while his wife (now ex) watched their 5 kids, cut up all of their food, entertained them, and made preparations for after landing. He was totally useless the whole time. No wonder they divorced.
One of my least favorite pax ever.
Karen Lyon 3 weeks ago
I have a hard time believing this one. All the stuff about Shaq is overwhelmingly positive. And unless he was bringing along the kid he had with the girlfriend before he married: it's a lie. He and the wife had four.
#21
I used to work for an airline which meant I got to fly for free as a standby passenger. This is called "non-revving" (non-revenue passenger). So this one day I'm taking a flight to New York as a non-rev and there is a girl from our airline who worked as a gate agent on there with a bunch of her friends. non-revving is a delicate thing sometimes, there are a lot of rules that the airline makes you follow so you don't tarnish their image, I almost got denied entry once because I wasn't wearing dress shoes. These girls get boarded and immediately start acting like stupid [jerks]. it's warm in the plane so clearly the APU hasn't been connected to allow the plane power to run the AC. As soon as the APU is connected and activated the AC is turned on and something starts blowing out the vents. at this point the plane is fully boarded but people are still putting [things] in the overheads and stuff. what looks like steam or dust or mist or something starts coming out these vents and one of the stupid girls friends decides to shout (jokingly) "FIRE! THERE'S A FIRE ON THE PLANE!"
ON A FULLY... BOARDED... FLIGHT.
needless to say the flight attendants did not find this hilarious and they were all escorted off.
#22
My husband flies a lot for work (he makes Delta Diamond every year), so he's got a ton of crazy stories about insane passengers; the most recent and ridiculous, however, took place on a trip back from Hawaii.
While he's waiting to board the plane, he's noticing a distinct smell of body odor. He's doing the whole "wait, [dang], is that me?" panic, trying to surreptitiously sniff his own armpits, when he notices that a bunch of the other people waiting are all doing the exact same thing. Figuring that it's either someone else, or that there are, like, a stockpile of raw onions nearby, he stops thinking about it. Until they board.
Because of all his Delta miles, he's in first class, in the aisle seat. He sits down, and pulls out a book. The window seat next to him is empty, and stays that way for a while, so he's thinking, cool -- empty row! Then, just as boarding is finishing, suddenly, this horrible, pungent smell just FILLS the cabin. It's so bad that he said literally every passenger in first class reacted, snapping their heads up to see what in the smelly hell just walked on the plane.
It was a young-ish woman, probably late 20's, early 30's. Very hippie-chick style, wearing sort of a flow-y top over a tank top. And she smelled like she had not bathed in daaays. Seriously, best guess is that she'd spent a week at a sweat lodge, and hadn't cleaned herself since. And, of course, she plopped herself down right next to my husband.
Now, like I said, he's a seasoned traveler, so he's used to a lot, and his tolerance is pretty high, but he said this woman's smell was so bad that his eyes immediately started watering. The flight attendant came over, and the woman ordered a Mai Tai; then she pulled out a book, and started highlighting passages. Meanwhile, call buttons are beginning to light up like crazy, with pretty much every other passenger on the plane being all, "Oh, HELL no" about being stuck in a metal box from Hawaii to L.A. with someone who smells like she [slept with] every member of Phish back in 2006, and vowed to never bathe again.
Anyway, over the next fifteen minutes while this woman sits there reading obliviously, my husband watches as the poor flight attendants have multiple whispered, nervous conversations at the front of the plane, all the while staring at this smelly lady. My husband is alternating between texting me in horror and making eye contact with the attendants, and he's doing the Wide-Eyes-of-Terror at them, and they're nodding at him and Wide-Eyeing right back. By this time, my husband is nervous that he's going to get a migraine because the smell is so overwhelming, and people nearby are wrapping shirts around their faces to combat the odor. Finally, the gate agent approaches. She asks the woman to follow her to the front, where apparently, they gave her some soap and a new shirt, and sent her into the bathroom.
A few minutes later, she emerged wearing a new shirt, but still smelling atrocious ("THEY GAVE HER SOAP, BUT NO INSTRUCTIONS," my husband texts miserably. "Can't they SEE she doesn't know what to do with it? SOAP IS HARD FOR HER"). She sits back down, and promptly orders another drink.
Another few minutes pass, with more wide-eyed-silent-"help me"- face from my husband, as well as increasingly *not* so silent complaints from other passengers nearby, until finally, it becomes apparent that if action isn't taken, there's going to be a big ol' mutiny in the first class of a Delta plane. At this point, two agents approach the row. Now, this lady had the window seat and my husband was in the aisle, so this entire conversation had to take place with him awkwardly in the middle, pressing himself against his seat back, but the agents lean in and tell the woman that, sorry, she just can't ride on the plane; she smells too bad, and she's not fit to fly. She's incredulous, and keeps saying, "Just because *you* think I smell?" and "This sounds like a lawsuit to me." Meanwhile, the agents are being as friendly as they can be, explaining that they will happily put her up in a hotel for the night so she can take a shower, but that they can't allow her to board another Delta plane until she's cleaned herself off. She didn't make that much of a scene, and they all gathered her things and walked off together.
The best part, though, was that right before she stood up, she complained that she had an important meeting back in L.A., and absolutely *had* to fly out that afternoon; in response, one of the attendants smiled and brightly said, "Well, *we* can't help you, but I think there's still room on a United flight!"
My husband said it was one of the most surreal travel experiences ever.
#23
My friend was on a flight that right after touching down had a lady from the back unbuckle and run to the front of the plane during taxiing to get off first, even though the buckled in flight attendants were telling her to remain in her seat. She kept saying how she had to get off fast to make her connecting flight. After arriving at the gate, the pilot announced over the intercom that they jetway had an issue and the plane would be de-boarding from the rear doors. He said the looks of satisfaction on all the other passengers was delightful.
#24
Probably won't rate versus some other things I've seen. (Not a pilot just a frequent passenger.)
We had a fallen soldier on a flight from Europe. At the end of the flight, the attendent requested that they let the soldiers accompanying the casket off first and please take a moment of silence for the fallen hero.
It was a big flight - perhaps 200 people - and 199 of us stood in silence. 1 a-hole three rows behind me quite loudly spoke of it being [nonsense] and noisily slammed around trying to exit his seat. (He was next to the window.)
When the other two people in his companion seats refused to move he called them "sheep" and threatened to "kick their [butts]."
I've but in more than 100K on planes every year for more than 15 years and it was the first time I've ever seen anyone even suggest physical violence, but 4 different passengers told the guy to sit down and shut up or they would be the one doing the pbutt] kicking. (Including one woman who was at least in her 60's but still looked strong enough to do the job.)
I'd love to say the disrespectful [jerk] was a European, but I'd put his accent as someone from Boston or possibly Philadelphia.
Big props for the flight crew, one of whom stopped the man on his way out of the plane and told him that he would be putting in a report. The man smiled and said "Good."
Then the crewman said "Yes, I really look forward to making sure you never fly on this airline again.".
Michael Largey 3 weeks ago
The airline ban didn't matter because now this passenger travels on Air Force One.
#25
Not a flight attendant or a pilot, but my dad always tells the story of how his friend from work delayed a flight by three hours for jokingly asking the pilot "Didn't I see you at the bar?"
He didn't realize that because of that joke would end with clearing the plane of all passengers, bringing in a new pilot, and causing the original pilot to go through some serious [trouble].
#26
I don't fly for a major airline, but for a smaller company in northern Canada. The plane I fly only has 8 seats, so when I have a full load of people, one person has to sit up front with me in the right seat.
One time I was flying with a full load, and the guy beside me was just one of those cocky, annoying guys that thinks they're always right. About 5 minutes after take-off he asked me if I knew where we were. I told him exactly where we were, and then another couple minutes later he said we were going the wrong way. Being cautious, I checked my gps and my other nav aids which all indicated I was on track to my destination. I told him he's mistaken, and pointed straight ahead of us telling him that was where we needed to go. He then pointed over his right shoulder and said we should be heading back that way. By this time I knew the guy was an idiot.
For the rest of the flight he just kept shaking his head and I kept trying to ignore him.
After we landed at our destination I just gave him the "how about you just let the pilots do the navigating from now on" look.
TL;DR Passenger tried telling pilot they were going the wrong way when they actually weren't.
#27
I wasnt working that day but sure heard it the next. At Denver international a flight that just landed had an irate passenger. As soon as the plane hit the gate the passenger took off from his seat, opened the service door on the back of the plane. He then jumped off the plane to end up breaking both his legs.
#28
A couple of WWF (now WWE) wrestlers were on a flight that was about to land but one of them needed to go to the lavatory. You obviously can't leave your seat when you are about to land so they told him no, so he decide to [go] in the aisle instead.
edit: The crew that told me the story didn't really remember what wrestler it was. It happened in the late 90s and it was on a regional plane in Ohio. Obviously the wrestler was arrested and banned from the airline. So maybe there's a police report somewhere.
Michael Largey 3 weeks ago
Well, at last. A public performance from a pro wrestler that was genuine.
#29
Pilot here. Girlfriend is a flight attendant. Personally, I haven't seen too much go wrong. Just the usual tantrums over bags and missed connections (protip: if you book a 30 minute connection, you *will* miss it). Pilots have the luxury of the locked door, but she is locked in the back with some nasty people sometimes.
* Like the time when a middle aged man screamed at her for a few minutes during a 25 minute flight because she ran out of apple juice.
* Like the time when a man asked for a glass of water during a tarmac delay. After delivering said glass of water, he dumped it on her head.
* Like the time when a man heckled her during the safety demo to the point of a needing to return to the gate to escort him from the aircraft.
* Like the many times when a passenger insists that their bag will fit in the overhead, forcing it so hard that it breaks the bin, and requires a 4 hour delay to repair.
Please, be polite to your flight crews! :).
#31
Obnoxious kid. Not an attendant nor a pilot. I'm in my early/mid 40s and this story is still alive and well in our family mythos. Was 10 or so travelling back via airlines from spending a few weeks with my grandparents who lovingly dropped me off at the gate. Uneventful flight apart from the wonderful lady flight attendants who doted over this cute young traveller. The plane lands and one of the lovely ladies of the sky escorts me out to the waiting crowd of people looking for their loved ones, including my mother who hadn't seen me in several weeks and was waving and jumping up and down as soon as I came through the departure door (this was during the times when non-flyers could both escort flyers to the gate as well as go through security to pick up people who have landed)
My lovely escort saw my mother and the excitement in her and asked me "Is that your mother?" I immediately replied, deadpan, at age 10, "I've never seen that woman in my life."
The next 20 minutes included security interrogating my mother on her identity and relationship to me, having too prove she was, indeed, my mother.
I have never been forgiven. But for the long life and laughs of this story within the family, it was well worth it.
#32
Not a flight attendant (like a lot of replies), but on one flight the person behind me took off their shoes and shoved an incredibly smelly socked foot between the seats and onto my armrest. I swatted the foot and loudly exclaimed "what the [hell]!" He pulled it back into his own space.
I usually try to get a window seat, as I like looking out and makes it easier to ignore whoever might be sitting next to me. I was taking pictures on one flight and the woman behind me reaches forward and slams shut the shade, telling me she was trying to sleep. I mentioned that if she was flying during the day she might want to bring an eye mask if she had to sleep, opened my shade, and continued on.
More Information 3 weeks ago
I have a similar story to that last one. I was leaning my head against the wall, looking out the window and relaxing ehen the a****t behind me reached between my neck and the wall and slammed the shade shut on my face. He did so by touching me, reaching through my hair and pulling some of it out while he shut the shade. I was pissed and immediately opened my window shade, got on my knees and turned around to glare at the man over the seat. His eyes widened, probably assumed a 7 yr old would not confront him in such a demanding manner.
#33
I'm a pilot. Obviously the last few days have been a zoo, and Chicago has been hellish. We were going from Chicago to Milwaukee and back and then we were done with a four-day trip, so we were definitely wanting to get on with it and go home. We were all boarded and waiting for the de-ice truck to come spray us because it was snowing.
After waiting for over an hour for the truck, they finally spray us down and we start pushing back. As we are pushing, the flight attendant calls up and tells us there's a lady that wants to get off the airplane. We tell her we can't, so the lady then tells the flight attendant that her baby is having a medical emergency and has to get off. Fine. We pull back up to the gate and let her off, the baby looks fine mind you, and ask her if she needs paramedics. She denies medical attention and refused to take the baby to the clinic that is literally 50 feet away. They had checked bags, so we had to call rampers to dig through the cargo hold to find their bags. Finally, we had them off and we were getting ready to go again, about 2 hours late at this point.
As we were getting ready to close the door, the gate agent ran up and said that when the lady found out that we were the last flight up to Milwaukee, she begged to get back on the airplane and come with us. The captain and I looked at each other in shock, told the gate agent there was no way in hell she was getting back on the airplane, and got out of there.
TL;DR- Lady feigns her child's illness to get off the airplane. After delaying the flight for hours, she then wants to get back on and come with us.
#34
My worst experience came from one of Delta's "Diamond Medallion" member.. We were broken in Memphis and the Gate Agent had just made the announcement that we were delayed due to maintenance, the mechanic has been called and is on his way out. There is no known estimated time on the fix because the mechanic will have to do some troubleshooting and then we would know how long it would take to fix it. The guy calls me over and says "I'm a Delta Diamond Medallion member, so tell me exactly how long this delay is going to be" I was like WTH? I told everyone EXACTLY what I know, I [don't care] about your airline Status..
Another good one for me.. Being an African American Captain is I always get the "You're not Denzil Washington are you?".
#35
Pilot here:
If you come up and make some joke about us drinking or being drunk...you just cancelled your flight. Because I'm going to go get tested right then and there.
[Get lost] if you think my aircraft isn't "big enough". I'm sorry we don't have 747 from Detroit to Flint, MI.
Dont ask if I'm "awake" at 5:00am. I had to be there at 4:30, so I had to get up at 3:30. If you want me to be actually fully awake and alert quit booking these super early flights and they will stop having them.
No, I don't make $150,000. My first officer probably is probably making under 30k. With 100k of student loans. Enjoy your cheap tickets [jerk].
Don't get pissed if you booked a 30min connection in JFK/ORD/LGA in the winter time. You had almost zero chance of making that before you even stepped foot at the airport.
No, your bag will not fit. Quit arguing with my FA about it. She does this 1000s of times a year and sees 100,000 bags come on the plane. She knows what fits.
Yeah the plane is small. How big is your plane? Private jets are small too, maybe you should try one of those.
Don't act like you've never even been outside before or seen a set of stairs when we have to deplane on the ramp. Boo Hoo. If it is raining or snowing I might have a shred of sympathy for you.
No, I don't know what lake we are flying over. I've got better [things] to do on this 28 min flight than play tour guide.
Yes, I'm old enough to fly an airplane. No, you don't want more gray hair in the cockpit. Those guys are about to die and are always falling asleep.
No, I'm not going to "grease the brakes" just because they are noisy. And yes they are "metal on metal" sounding because they are all metal.
Yes, there is a reason I have the seat belt sign on. Not because I'm a [jerk].
I don't care if you are never flying on "A" airline ever again. Because I'll see you tomorrow when I'm also flying for "B" airline, and then "C" airline, and then "D" airline after that. Welcome to the regionals [jerk].
#36
My godfather has been a flight attendant since the late 80s, and over the years he's had some great stories. One time, one of his passengers brought her cat on board in a pet carrier. At first glance, this woman seemed to be the stereotypical crazy cat lady. However, she took crazy cat ladyness to new frontier when it came to the cat's feeding time. Instead of cat food and a bowl of water, this woman proceeds to breastfeed the cat. I don't want to think about how much that must have hurt. Needless to say, my godfather was unamused and firmly asked her to stop.
Edit: Since y'all seem to be enjoying this story, here's another one for you. One of my godfather's former coworkers was straight up crazy, schizophrenic with a streak of fundamentalism. On one flight this crazy woman was flying with a new flight attendant, a nice young black man. In the course of their flight, it comes up that this man likes snakes and has a number of them as pets. They continue with their flight, and she notices that this guy has a prodigious bulge. As she told my godfather, "I had seen a lot of endowments before I became a born again Christian, but nothing like that! I just know that he is traveling with a snake!" She reported him to security. Turns out, [it was not a snake].
#37
I myself am not a flight attendant, but, when I was maybe 7 or 8 I was on a flight home from Italy. Me and my parents were in the center aisle, and to our left was an older couple. The wife was rubbing her husbands very obvious erection through his trousers. I noticed and pointed it out to my mom- who pointed it out to the flight attendant. Right away the flight attendant went over to them and politely asked, on behalf of my parents, if they could refrain from that behavior since there were children in the area. They responded rudely that they weren't doing anything. After the flight attendant moved on they actually pulled his shlong out and put a magazine over the blatant HJ action.
Eye contact was made, innocence was lost, and that flight attendant gained a story to tell on reddit.
#38
I once had two unaccompanied minors traveling together. Just after we pushed back from the gate, the 8 year old boy started to have a panic attack and said he couldn't fly, so we pulled back to the gate. The pilot announced that we were returning to the gate so that paramedics could come on and take a child off the plane. He didn't mention what the medical issue was, just that a child was sick. One lady immediately hit her call button and suggested that we better make sure that we hold the plane for her in Atlanta since we were obviously going to be late now. The whole episode amounted to maybe a 30 minute delay and no one missed their connections. One of only a handful of times I wanted to punch a passenger.
#39
This is a collaboration between me and my co workers. some are first hand some are stories we've heard from fellow flight attendants.
1) during take off a sick woman [defecates] in a barf bag (why and more impressively how is still a mystery), her husband then proceeds to try and hand the bag to my friend working...
2) a woman gave her 3 year old son tons of apple juice. the kid had to go pee during landing and we made her stay in her seat (not only is it the law but it's also for safety)... she let her toddler pee on the seatback in front of her.
3) second week on the job and I'm coming back from Honolulu. this woman walks on board wear what at fist looked to be a very short dress. I had first thought that she wasn't leaving much to mystery(a mystery that, I can say with complete certainty, should have stayed a mystery) turns out she wasn't wearing pants. nope no pants, just panties. I told her once she had to wear pants only to come back and tell her a second time... my exact quote was "ma'am, put your pants on. I don't know why I have to tell you twice"
4) this story I heard on a flight from a senior mama, she was working somewhere internationally and one passenger mixed sleeping meds and cocktails. she said he stood up and urinated on his neighbor. no amounts of apologies can mend the scar of getting peed on my a stranger.
I'm sure we could come up with more stories but that's a start. all and all passengers and pretty well behaved. it's a fun job and you meet all yours of characters from all walks of life.
Pseudonym For An Author 3 weeks ago (edited)
Yeah. Fun is the word to describe that. Edit: spelling
#40
Not an attendant but I fly weekly. Sitting in the aisle seat I see a guy walking toward me, I actually smelled him from about three rows away. He was stinking of sweat profusely, and turned out to have the middle seat next to me. Across the aisle is a hippy old lady. She has a long skirt on and I notice she has her feet up on her seat. Then I notice she has a nailclipper out and is cutting her toenails. Suddenly a toenail flies across in front of my face and hits my sweaty neighbor. He becomes enraged and now the argument ensues between the two most disgusting people ever about who is the most repulsive human being. Honestly the outrage the sweaty guy had at her bad manners had me laughing so hard I forgot about the smell.
Rich Black 3 weeks ago
so which one was the winner? the septugenarian hippie, or the sweaty stoner? details pls
#41
I've been punched in the face, propositioned, witnessed multiple couples try to get it on in the seats, had one couple try to do it in the galley, had my [behind] pinched, watched arguments break out over seats being reclined, been told the quality of ginger ale I serve is not of a high enough caliber, seen bare feet on bulkhead walls at face level, seen bare feet ever, had someone try to stow their luggage on my jumpseat shortly before landing, and had trash dumped on my food tray while I was still eating from it.
I was a flight attendant for 5 years. I have enough crazy stories to write a book. Maybe 2.
#42
I'm a flight attendant and i have list of things that are super annoying:
1. lining up to use the bathroom on the plane during the boarding process. you have been sitting in the airport for hours and you think NOW is the best time to use the bathroom while simultaneously blocking the aisle for guests and crew.
2. ringing your call light during boarding. if we are still boarding and the seat next to you is empty, don't ring your call light to ask me if it will stay empty. i don't know we are still boarding. plus there's always a lot going on and i have safety procedures i have to follow before we can close the door and those are a lot more important than wondering what time we will land. i will answer all your questions if you just wait a few minutes. plus we aren't getting paid till the door closes
3. i'm pretty laid back so not much gets to me but this [jerk] did: we have 3 bathrooms on our plane. she comes out of one of them and says someone threw up in the sink. i looked in and realized that there was no way we could clean it up with the supplies we had on board. i told the crew i'm just gonna lock this bathroom off. the said [jerk] looks at me and says "you aren't gonna clean it? isn't that your job? what are they even paying you for?"
with that said, just imagine the most clueless, self absorbed person you know, gather about 20 of those people together and cram them on a tube, where no one can escape for several hours, with 100 incredibly nice, decent people and you have modern air travel.
Edit: i really do love my job a lot!!!
Shark Lady 3 weeks ago
It's ridiculous that flight attendants don't get paid until the door closes. Any other industry who tried to get their employees to work for free would be sued for wage theft.
#43
(Obligatory not a flight attendant, but...)
I witnessed a flight attendant get really frustrated with a middle-aged woman who had lots of those tiny alcohol bottles stashed in her luggage. I can only imagine that the lady was an alcoholic, because the flight attendant asked her several times to stop drinking, but she kept sneaking out bottle after bottle and downing the contents.
Finally the flight attendant told her they would land and have her arrested if she didn't stop. That seemed to do the trick.
#44
I fly at least twice a week and it never ceases to amaze me how entitled and self-absorbed some people behave on planes. Anytime I see people take their frustration out on the flight attendants I want to smack them and get them banned from all future flights. Nobody cares that you're 'so sick of airports' and 'always getting delayed' and 'had a nightmare getting through security.' Sit down, shut up, and save your terrible flying stories for someone that has to pretend to be your friend.
#45
My grandfather made a career out of aviation in the military. After he retired, he became one of the first pilots for a new company called Executive Jet - what would eventually be bought out by Berkshire Hathaway and become NetJets. He flew almost every celebrity you can name. They would ask for my grandfather by name to be their personal pilot. The two he flew consistently were Billy Graham and Johnny Cash.
Grandpa flew many obnoxious people, but two that come to mind who were obnoxious was a mix between two, and yes - they were celebrities. The first he told me was Sammy Davis, Jr. He got on the plane and refused to shake my grandfathers hand. After take-off he noticed that some of the flight attendants were talking about him in secret. Later, one of the attendants came up and said he was humiliating the ladies in the back. He kept grabbing their rear-ends. A female attendant finally came up and complained because he wouldn't stop and treated it like a joke even after being asked to stop. Grandpa had to walk back, took Sammy Davis, Jr.'s drink off the table and told him straight that he better quit treating the attendants as they were, or the flight might "experience some turbulence". He immediately quit being a jerk. My grandfather, by the way, was a hardcore WWII veteran who saw and experienced more than you can imagine. He didn't care if an individual was well known or not... He only cared about the character.
The second obnoxious celebrity was actually a band. The Mama's & the Papa's. Halfway through the flight they all began to smoke pot. He heard some of the attendants ask politely to put out the marijuana, the band refused. Grandpa got on the intercom and asked them politely to put it out. Again, they refused. So once again, he had his co-pilot take control, walked to the back and basically told them he was going to land the plane right where they are if they don't put it out.
Again, they laughed and refused. He sarcastically laughed, walked back to the cockpit and began lowering the plane. They apparently noticed close to tree level that he wasn't messing around so one of them yelled "Fine! We'll cut it out". Supposedly he had one of the attendants watch and confirm the marijuana was put out before he took the plane back up.
So there's that. I'm sure this will get buried. OH WELL!
More Information 3 weeks ago (edited)
Being tree level would mean he was landing on an airstrip and would not have "taken the plane back up". Landing strips and airports dont have time to play these games?
#46
Not flight attendant but have a decent story
I was 13 or so and flying from the Bahamas to Miami on the way back from a family vacation. Short and quick flight. My father, my brother (17 at the time), and myself board the plane. My dad puts all of our carry on in the overhead bin above us, and we sit waiting for the plane to take off.
A couple walks onto the plane right in time before they close the cabin door. Younger, probably in their early 20s. They sit across from us and start to look for a place to put their luggage. There are no spots left in the over head bin so the gentleman discretely takes out my fathers bag, places it on the ground, puts in his bag, and closes the bin. Then just sits down with his girlfriend, mind you directly across from us, as if nothing had occured or it was ok to do such a s*****g move.
My father, a 60s-70s south bronx native, wasnt very appreciative of this. He stood up out of the isle, yanked the guys bag out of the overhead bin, body slammed the bag in his lap, screaming "THIS IS YOUR BAG!!!" he then shoved his bag back into the overhead bin slamming it shut and screamed " THIS IS MY BAG!!!".
Everyone was in dead silence and i had never seen my father turn into the hulk before so i was amazed/shocked/scared.
The guy then awkwardly and shamefully got a flight attendant to find space for his luggage. And then literally flew the entire flight (50 min only) with a magazine over his face avoiding all eye contact with anyone.
#47
Ex-FA here. One of the biggest issues we ran into is enforcing small rules people didn't agree with (electronics) but that's my job and the govt. has rules for a reason. At some point it was forbidden to store Ipads and tablets in the seat pocket and I had informed a young couple of this rule.
Couple: "So can I just hold on to it?"
Me: "No i'm sorry sir/madam, i'd be happy to put it in your bag or in the overhead bin for you (in case of emergency, you don't want an ipad being flung in your face at high speed)
Couple (getting angry): "Awww Come on man! That guy is holding a baby! (points to other couple traveling with a small infant)
...
It took me a second to compose my self and answer politely as that has got to be one of the most ludicrous comparisons I have ever heard. There are several silly stories like this.
#48
I get that on long flights you want to get up and stretch your legs a little, no problem. But on a 45 minute express flight is it really necessary to get up and start doing yoga in the back galley? Get out of my way so I can finish serving drinks to the other 70 passengers on board.
Also, I don't control the weather. Most pilots have god complexes, but they're not god so they don't control the weather either. It's not our fault your flight is delayed. With all the storms this last week flight crews are getting [messed] over just as much, if not more, than you are.
Hobby Hopper 3 weeks ago
On a 45 minute flight, by the time they're done serving drinks, it's about time to buckle up again for landing.
#49
I'm neither, but was returning from a business trip and as I was boarding the plane I noticed there was someone in my seat. He was a middle aged white guy (I'm white also), I looked at him and pointed out he was in the wrong seat and he looks at me and goes, that's my seat there (directly across the aisle) and goes "does it really matter?" meaning I should just take his seat. I was a little aggravated but just responded "not really". Then as I sat down I realized that his taking my seat wasn't by accident. There was a black man in shoddy clothing, with longer dread like hair under a cap sitting in the seat next to the one this guy should have had. That's when I realized what this [jerk] was up to. He didn't mistakenly take my seat, he didn't want to sit next to the black guy. I sat down, exchanged a polite greeting with the shoddy dressed man, and then cast a glare at the guy across the aisle. Not because I had to sit there but because of how the poor guy next to me must have felt because of what that idiot did. It took more than a little self control for me to not reach across the aisle and hand that guy a beating.
#50
I was on a plane with a lady with very tiny twin babies. We were delayed, the babies were crying, and the flight attendant was trying to help the lady the best she could. After a while the lady yelled "you don't know what it's like to have kids!" at the attendant. At that point, it was time to take off. I was sitting opposite the flight attendant's seat, and she muttered "I've got four little kids, we regularly fly from Liverpool to South Africa.".
#51
My dad was on a flight to got somewhere for vacation. Everyone was well into the flight when this guy in a nice suit had this liquid pouring onto him from the overhead cabin. The guy screamed out, "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!", and without missing a beat this little old lady with a thick southern accent says, "Das my Shrimp!"(mind you this was pre 9/11, so she was somehow able to get frozen shrimp on a plane). Rough day for that guy...
#52
Son of 2 flight attendants. My dad has even kicked by an old lady to get his attention, one guy stuck his shoe out the aisle and tripped him. Broken ankle from that.
#53
Flight from Frankfurt to Montreal, and this dude is sitting in the middle section in the aisle with an empty seat next to him. This woman and her young daughter (7 or 8 I think) come up and politely tell this man that his seat and the one next to his are their seats. The man refuses to move. The woman asks again over and over politely to please let her sit there. The man didn't want to move and started crossing his arms like a child and pouting. The woman told him that her daughter has never flown before and would appreciate two seats next to each other so that she can sit with her daughter. No dice. They proceeded to argue and the man yelled at the woman telling her she was a horrible person. We stood up to offer our seats to the woman but before we could say anything she flipped the guy off. I wanted to applaud her. F that guy.
I don't understand people who won't relinquish the seats they aren't supposed to be sitting in in the first place. ESPECIALLY if this poor woman and her daughter needed to sit together. Now you have a pissed off mother who has to shuttle back and forth to her terrified daughter 8 aisles away sitting next to a bunch of strangers on her first flight.
#54
I was on a flight a few weeks ago that was an hour late landing. As we were pulling up to the gate, one of the flight attendants announced that there was a large portion of the people on the plane that had a connecting flight and that if you were not on that connecting flight to stay seated until those people get off first so they don't miss their flight. A middle aged asian man near the front of the plane stood up and left with the people connecting with the other flight. I assumed he was on the connecting flight. One of the attendants even asked him if he was connecting and he smiled at her like he didn't speak english and nodded at her as he walked off. The fact that I saw him a half an hour later hailing a cab determined that was a lie. People are [jerks]. People that pretend they don't speak the language so they can be ignorant and selfish are larger [jerks].
#55
My father was a pilot and my mother was a flight attendant. I've always said my mom should write a book. In the 1960s, my mom's route was LA-NY and back (1st class cabin) so it always had a famous person or two, actors were always the worst for her. Most notable was being manhandled by Robert Goulet as he proceeded to tell the whole plane that he had [slept] with her (didn't happen). After my mom asked Lucille Ball what she would like to drink, Lucille Ball replied "I don't talk to servants". Johnny Carson was also a [jerk] to flight attendants. He would put a sign on his seat which read "yes I am him, no I don't want a drink". My mom also said that musicians were always the most kind. Her favorites were Jim Morrison and The Mammas & the Pappas. She always said, if they seemed nice on TV they usually weren't. And those who had the worst reputations were usually the nicest.
My dad didn't interact with passengers so he didn't have any good stories. The only thing he talked about was ferrying football teams. Whenever he hauled John Madden's Raiders, they'd have to double up on flight meals because if a player played well, Madden would give that player two meals.
Learner Panda 3 weeks ago
So Mamas and Papas were both unpleasant and kind? Two different stories.
#56
FA here. Where do I start? It's not just one thing, but a lot of little things.
-When coming by asking if you would like something drink you either know what you want or you don't. Don't make me go through a whole list then say "I'll just have water." Really.... 20 choices and you go with water.
-While in the aisle doing service I am not moving to let you pass so you can pee. So get please stop standing right on top of me.
-Use the bathroom in the airport before you get on the plane.
-Stop standing and doing yoga in my galley. Do you do that when you go see a movie?
-If you need me, ring your call button. Don't poke me, yell at me, snap your fingers or shake your empty cup.
Edit: Wow I typed that up pretty quick, didn't think I would get as many responses as I did. You asked, I answered. Yes some of these, to you, aren't obnoxious. It's just what you do on planes. I never complained about what I do or what my job entails. I love my job. I love flying around passing out coke and peanuts to people. I love people who come on my plane. I can honestly say I enjoy going to work. But that doesn't mean it doesn't come with out annoyances or obnoxious things. Every job has that.
#57
As a flight attendant one of the most annoying things was people who argued over the no electronics during takeoff and landing rule. I get it. It was still my job to enforce it or loose my job and possibly be fined thousands of dollars by the FAA. One lady who was arguing with me about turning her digital camera off insisted it wasn't an electronic because "It uses batteries".
I almost had a breakdown over that level of stupid. That was a passenger who wasn't worth arguing over so I just let her have her stupid camera on and walked away. I secretly hoped we would have a bit of turbulence on landing and her camera would flop around and get broken while hitting her in the face.
#58
Refusing to get on the plane because it has the wrong college team paint scheme on it.
#59
I recently left my job as a flight attendant. The obnoxiousness in people usually comes out as soon as there is a delay or cancellation. I've had men and women screaming at me because their flight is delayed an hour and they are going to miss their connection. Here's a tip: ALWAYS GIVE YOURSELF *AT LEAST* AN HOUR BETWEEN CONNECTING FLIGHTS, 90 MINUTES IF YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE CONNECTING AIRPORT.
They ALWAYS take it out on the flight attendant, like we are the ones who did this to them. I've had people who are seated in the back of the aircraft on a full flight who upon landing only had 15 minutes to get to their next gate and expect me to hold the entire plane up so they could get off first. Another tip: ALWAYS CHOOSE YOUR SEAT BEFOREHAND. The most I could do for them was make an announcement that people would ignore anyway.
The most obnoxious that stuck out in my mind was a woman who was flying out of Charleston, SC. I worked as a solo flight attendant on an ERJ145 (small 50 seat regional jet). During boarding, I was required per FAA regulation to remain in my boarding position and not leave. This woman was the first to board and was seated towards the back. As I'm greeting other passengers, I hear "WHERE IS THE ATTENDANT??? ATTENDANT!!!!!!", in an angry, snooty tone. I halt the boarding process to walk over to see what she needs, but before I can even get a word out she bombards me with "I am *never* flying this airline again! This plane is too small! How dare they not warn me of this before hand??? I want a refund! Put my bags up for me!!" talking to me like I'm some lowly peon. I always found it easier to just apologize and give them what they want. But this woman was just never happy. During the entire flight just ringing her call button to get her a kleenex, take her garbage, another wine(and she demanded it for free because I didn't have as big of a selection as she wanted). That flight was the longest 35 minutes of my life. and she STILL told me she was writing the airline about her horrible experience as she was deplaning.
#60
On our way from Russia, we had a male passenger in first class get drunk, grope a female first class passenger and then (*)choke a flight attendant. I was working in Economy, so I only got to witness the aftermath. The flight attendant who was 'choked' may or may not have been prone to exaggeration, sooo...
As for myself, there's lots of small obnoxious things and lots of large ones.
A small one is just having no manners. How can a conversation go:
>"Would you like something to drink?"
>"Coke."
>"Here's your drink, sir."
>[goes back to watching game]
I'm always thinking 'were you raised by gorillas? Oh wait, even gorillas have some social courtesy.'
Once, on a transcontinental flight, I had a horrible moment. There was a lady in the first row of Economy who brought us a bag of Lindt truffles as she boarded. She was super nice and it made us all feel appreciated. So I felt terrible when I was asking what she wanted to drink on the first service. She said "Just a cranberry, please, I brought my own vodka minis."
Normally, I'd be like *I didn't see anything, mind your business and keep quiet, and I don't care*. It's a judgement call, and I can see that this lady is not likely to be a problem. If it's a huge party of bachelors headed to Vegas with their own minis - that's a problem, sadly, because it's likely to affect the trip for other passengers and be reported. This lady, quiet, traveling alone? I would have let it slide.
Problem is, my manager happened to be on board, traveling to see his family. He was seated right next to her. He just kept staring at the napkin I had handed him. Not making eye contact, not saying a word. But because he was there and now neither of us had plausible deniability, I had to say "I'm sorry ma'am, but only alcohol served by the flight attendants may be served on board the plane."
I later found out that my manager wouldn't have said anything to her either, had she just shut up and been discreet. Sigh.
*I've been watching law shows. I feel like I should amend this to say* ALLEGEDLY *choked a flight attendant.*.
#61
I'm not a flight attendant but I once saw a guy eat half of a pack of cigarettes from DCA to FLL.
#62
Not a flight attendant, but this story is so bad I'm sure the attendants involved would list it as one of the worst. This was a flight from Seattle to Tokyo. In seated during boarding, and a man in his 30s-ish comes in with his father. The two sit in the row in front of me on opposite sides of the aisle from each other, and the dad is clearly wasted. Another guy comes along and politely tells drunk dad that he is in his seat. Drunk dad insists he's in the right place despite the the guys ticket stating otherwise, guy has to get a flight attendant to sort it out, which was complicated by the fact that drunk dad had already lost his boarding pass.
Drunk dad is now seated in front of me. He tries to get up to [the toilet] while we're taxiing. TWICE. Already praying we don't have to make emergency landing to let him off.
Throughout the flight, drunk dad keeps drinking, asking different flight attendants for drinks so none realize how much he's had. Naturally he's also getting up to pee constantly. His son is seated on the aisle, and when the son falls asleep things get interesting. Instead of waking son up, he climbs up over the back of his seat, INTO MY LAP to get to the aisle. At this point I'm yelling, but the guy acts like I'm not even there and staggers to the back of the plane. Son says nothing either.
Before I have a chance to complain, a flight attendant comes up to tell the son that his dad is sitting in a random seat by the bathroom, too drunk to walk anywhere. Son finally gives me a half apology. Drunk dad is finally cut off, and spends the rest of the flight stabbing at the screen trying to make it be something other than the map, which was at least quiet and entertaining for me.
TLDR, I had a drunk older man mistake my lap for the aisle.
#63
We had a flight where they had to abort the landing because the landing gear wouldn't come down.
They aborted, did a flyover, and manually lowered the gear. Some dude (about 60 or 70) unbuckled his belt when we were on the second approach and got up. Flight attendent comes over and tells him to sit down and he starts arguing with her saying "You already told us you were landing once". He made her "promise" they were landing before he'd sit down. This was literally 10 seconds after the pilot got on the com and explained exactly what was going on and apparently he just chose not to listen.
That annoyed the [hell] out of me, I managed to keep my mouth shut rather than making the stewardesses job harder though.
#64
As an Aircraft Engineer I travel on a lot of different airlines, but the story that will haunt me forever is when I flew on a Nigerian budget airline. I don't think half of the passengers had ever seen a toilet before let alone used one. They were urinating into water bottles and I saw a couple of [excrement] in the aisle. Luckily I was jumpseating in the flight deck however the smell was incredibly strong and made a gag a few times. Worst 3 hours of my life...
#65
I'm an airline pilot, and when I ride in the back of the plane in uniform, that joke. "Aren't the pilots supposed to be in the cockpit hahaha."
I will slap you if you ask me that question.
Purple Gurl 3 weeks ago
State, yes, and the jackasses are supposed to be in cargo. But we can't always get what we want
#66
Was flying back from Hawaii last month when I witnessed this. Everyone was boarding and the overhead storage was almost completely full. This old man who looked grouchy as [hell] had just boarded and had one of the economy plus seats in the front of the plane (on United, Economy Plus gives you a little more leg room for like $60). The bin above his seat was closed because it was full. The old man opened the bin and grabbed a suitcase out of it. Holding it up he asks "who's bag is this?" The guy who owned the bag spoke up. Old man then throws it right in the middle of the aisle and yells "Well find a new place for it! I paid $60 for this seat!" (there is still a line of people behind the old man waiting to get to their seats). The two men began arguing and someone finally flags down an attendant who diffuses the situation. I think they left the old man's bag where it was and put the other guys bag with the flight attendants' bags. Later the attendants brought the guy a first class dinner for having to deal with that s**t.
TL/DR - Pissed off old man decided to throw another passenger's bag into the middle of the aisle to make room for his in the overhead storage.
OneHappyPuppy 3 weeks ago
This. Pisses me off. I flew last minute to my home city for my grandmother's funeral and booked the Exit row seats, for both the inbound and outbound flight, and the a******s seated in the back seats filled those overhead bins first, so they could get off the plane quickly (there's more room for you to shmooze in and take the bag down). So I was left with the overhead bins in the back of the plane - meaning I needed to push through people in the opposite direction to get to my bag before deplaning. Unbelievable
#67
Former FA. Not sure if qualifies as "obnoxious", but in the middle of the night over the atlantic, a woman clearly not on her right mind (maybe just a little hypoxia) tried to open the toilet door right besides door 4R... She was pulling the aircraft door handle!!! ...and she managed to raise it all the way up (Airbus 340). I was watching at the beginning of couch class, all the cabin dark and the light from the back galley was just showing me this incredible picture of this woman trying to open the door...
Anyway, of course the door is not possible to open in those circumstances but that image was burned in my brain forever. The only upside for me was looking at the pilot's white face when he left the cockpit after watching an alarm going off about the lock on the door 4R right in the middle of the atlantic... (I went to the cockpit to report the incident after we restrained the passenger and lowered the lever)
Seadog 2 weeks ago
Wonder if people would act any better if there was an airlock on planes and people were told they eject people (at 30000 feet) who don't behave. Wouldn't it be fun to have one that appears to do just that but in reality just dumps them into a room in the hold? Bet there'd only be one bad person on a flight.
#68
Sorry, not a flight attendant or a pilot, but this was [something].
I was waiting for a flight to Tucson and I was watching as all the young parents and their broods were running around like insane little demons. One kid was jumping on other customers, another being pulled around on a leash. It was mayhem. ( Note: the nice couple next to me apologized to me every time their quiet little angel even reached at me. Kudos, good parents for being wonderful and not entitled asshats )
When the flight took off and we were in the air, I was sitting in a bulkhead where there was plenty of room near the bathroom and the door. The mother of the leashed child was waiting for her slightly daughter to get out of the bathroom. The mother got distracted and the leashed child started reaching for the door of the aircraft. Yes, I understand the Hulk would be required to open with as much pressure difference there was, but having a child bouncing around onto the door, began to make me nervous. When his sister came out of the bathroom, she and the brother decided to bounce around the cabin, slamming into the door as they raced a bit.
The vein in my neck and forehead bulging, I motioned to the flight attendant as politely as possible and nodding to the flailing children. She nodded and set the young mother straight about how this plane wasn't a jungle gym and they needed to take their seats. They even had to move the drink cart as to make sure they made it back.
The people in my row all sighed a sigh of relief and I told the flight attendant that she was an angel and Thank you.
#69
I don't personally work for an airline (I'm still in college), but my older brother used to date a girl who was a flight attendant for one of the more major airlines. Whenever she was around, her go-to stories were usually about irritating [stuff] she would have to put up with while on flights (when she wasn't being berated by a family member on the current state of the TSA's practices.)
Allegedly, some years back on a transcontinental flight on a Boeing-something-or-other, she encountered the worst passenger she ever had to deal with. On flights it's pretty common to meet rude, self-entitled, and borderline belligerent people, but this dude was something else. This guy was a mess of pit stains and unidentifiable odors. It should be noted that he was overweight, apparently just under whatever sort of cut-off there is for these sorts of things.
About 45 or so minutes after takeoff this dude starts delicately moaning. It wasn't very audible to the whole plane, but my brother's ex was alerted by other passengers that this man was making a bit of a ruckus. When she went over to ask the passenger if everything was alright, she noticed an unbearable odor coming from his seat. The passengers directly surrounding him looked absolutely miserable. When asked, he assured her that everything was fine. But this dude was definitely squirting some dookie in his pants. The flight attendant suggested he might want to go to one of the lavatories if he was feeling ill, so he complied, squeezed past the ridiculously unfortunate woman who was in-between him an the aisle, and went off to the bathroom, crop-dusting a trail of death and destruction down the aisles as he went. After an indiscriminate amount of time occupying that lavatory, he emerged, smelling like the dickens. As he returned to his seat, my brother's ex-girlfriend saw that this guy had a blossoming flower of s**t staining his grey sweatpants. He finished the rest of the flight apparently ripping wicked farts and bringing the other passengers to the brink of odor-induced toxic shock.
**TL;DR: Chunky dude diarrheas on stuff 30,000 feet in the air, nobody has any hope for escape.**
#70
Not terribly obnoxious, but last time I flew, this lady HAD to board the plane right away despite being in the middle of the plane. She then continued to read on her Kindle despite being told twice to turn it off. The 3rd time, the flight attendant had to get [snarky] with her, "Ma'am, I TOLD you to TURN OFF your electronic devices!"
I know the Kindle probably wouldn't affect anything, but she totally acted like their policy didn't apply to her.
Learner Panda 3 weeks ago
All our electronic devices are turned off while we wait to board. Honestly, this causes no issues.
#71
We used to serve special meals on trans con flights. You had to place the order online at check-in both directions. Ie just cause when you checked in for the departing flight and made the order, it dosent carry over to your return flight 1 week later. Lots of problems with that, but usually people understood and accepted whatever we could offer as an alternitive. One guy threw a fit. Accused us of eating his meal or serving it to someone else. I showed him the list, his name wasnt there. Continued to throw a fit, what was his daughter going to eat, etc. After we served everyone else we had 1 fruit plate remaining so we gave it to him for his daughter, she was maybe 3. The guy proceeds to eat it himself and then continued to berate us for the remainder of the flight about what his daughter was going to eat.
Trans cons are 4-5 hours in length, so a long time to deal with 1 passenger. Also crew was not stocked with food for themselves, meaning unless we wanted to purchase food in the airport; we hoped something was leftover from passenger meals. That fruit plate was mine.
#72
Was a passenger on a plane to the Bahamas which is a short flight from Miami. There was a woman on board who began screeching, whaling, screaming and fake crying when we were airborn, claiming she was afraid to fly, I called the steward over and offered to buy her a series of drinks to get her to colm down. He informed me her husband had already taken care of that. 20 minutes later she was walking around the cabin smiling and laughing, sociallizing with all the other passengers. Much of an improvement from her previous state which was some of the most obnoxious, attention craving, dramatic behavior I have ever witnessed in my experience with air travel.
#73
My girlfriend briefly worked for Ryanair. She said Mike O'Leary flew once and when the attendant was going around with food and drinks Mike ordered some stuff. When it was time to pay the attendant said, "don't worry, you own the company, we can't charge you". Mike O'Leary fired her on the spot for not charging him. What a [jerk].
More Information 3 weeks ago
Michael O'Leary is the CEO of Ryanair. Not the hockey player, or actor.
#74
I'm not a flight attendant or a pilot, but I'm tall as [hell] and when someone reclines their seat all the way I feel like reaching around said seat with my long arms to give them a nice big hug around their necks and not letting go.
#75
Not a flight attendant, but this qualifies. Last month I was on a Vegas to Boston flight when some poor guy passed away on the plane. We diverted to NY and emergency personal carried him off the plane and his widow was also escorted from the plane. Just before we took off to resume our flight, some [jerk] in the front row looks at the clearly stricken flight attendant and asks if we now all get free drinks.
#76
Just a little tip to everyone. Don't ever bring Doritos onto a plane. They stink up the whole cabin and smell terrible.
#77
Flight to St Petersburg (Russia) from Heathrow. Many of the Russian passengers had bought a considerable amount of merchandise from the Harrods outlet, to the extent that all of the overhead locker space was completely full, so the crew had to start putting the shopping and other cabin baggage in the hold. The Russians were having precisely none of it. Five passengers got put on the next flight because they refused. Not sure what happened next.
Michael Largey 3 weeks ago
What happened next was that those five passengers arrived later in St. Petersburg.
#78
Not a pilot or attendant but a passenger that feels horrible! I went to visit a friend in portland and the night before i was to fly home we were at a strip club drinking a local breweries oatmeal stout all night long. Needless to say. Drunk. After only sleeping for two hours i had to go to the airport.
I got to the airport and I knew i needed to eat something so i got a breakfast bagel and managed to keep it down. I boarded the plane and about 10 minutes after take off i start profusely sweating and feel like im dying. I realize that bagel sandwich is coming back up so i book it to the bathroom. Both toilets are full and i realize there is no way i can make it all the way to the front of the plane. Right as im about to spew, a bathroom door opens and a woman is leaving, i walked into the micro-toilet and proceed to projectile vomit dark beer, stomach acid and bagel sandwich bits EVERYWHERE. I ended up covering the entire bathroom, and had puke all over my hoody and jeans. I cleaned up what i could, profusely apologized to the flight attendant and did the walk of shame back to my seat, clothes reaking of alcohol and vomit. I took my seat in the middle of a very attractive girl and an elderly woman who both gave me dirty looks and shifted their bodies away from me in disgust. That was a LONG 3 hours on the plane.
TL;DR Got drunk in Portland, puked all over myself in plane bathroom and had to sit in vomit soaked clothes for 3 hours.
What do you think ?
SnifflyMango04 3 weeks ago
I have the utmost respecr for FA's and how they stay so graceful in the face of the human trash they have to deal with. I wouldn't make it one day as a flight attendant.
Annabelle 3 weeks ago (edited)
Same. I would've been fired and/or arrested pretty quickly. I cannot imagine I wouldn't have some type of physical reaction to having water poured on my head - water specially ordered to a.ssault me. The calmness of someone in that situation reminds me of some disturbing people I used to know. It is a jarring experience watching/hearing someone do and say cruel and a.busive things with the calmness of taking a stroll in the park. I hope charges were filed; I imagine that passenger a.buses people regularly, like finding a living target for any unpleasant feeling is just an accepted and planned part of his daily routine. That one really sent chills.
Load More Replies...
Ann Tiques 3 weeks ago
Y’all, I visited a FA friend in Finland and went to their “Take your kid to work day.” Those FAs are trained to take folks down, duct tape or zip tie them into submission, and keep them basically neutralized for the remainder of the flight. They have basic firefighting skills. And medical skills. And if your flight on FinnAir goes down those folks can set up an operational military-style camp. I left that day amazed that during non-emergency times we expect them to bring us beverages and put up with all this b******t. Totally new level of respect for FAs.
Mike F 3 weeks ago
A long time ago my mother and I went to visit her sister in Georgia and we flew from Detroit to Atlanta on an L-1011 (huge plane) and it also happened to be spring break. The plane was full of college kids and it seemed like everyone on the plane, except of course my mom and I, knew each other. Those kids were up and down like popcorn. We had a great time, my mom even said that was the most fun flight she ever took.
Dusty's mom 3 weeks ago
I hope I don't need to fly anymore. Never had an issue back in the 70's and 80s, though friends sure did. People are crazy! Best wishes to all flight crews!
goldenwood_cottage 3 weeks ago
I flew from Boston to St. Louis with about 30 old ladies going to a 'red hat' convention. It was about 1PM. Drunk old Italian women from Boston - So loud, so obnoxious, They were just barely civilized enough not to get kicked off the plane.
Leeds Lass 3 weeks ago
Anybody else having trouble with the adverts? the fekking speksavers one pops up every 30 seconds 4 times whilst I was typing this! It's making it impossible to read the articles
Rich Black 3 weeks ago
this is soul deadening to read. did we really need 100 stories about passengers with borderline personality disorders?
SnifflyMango04 3 weeks ago
I have the utmost respecr for FA's and how they stay so graceful in the face of the human trash they have to deal with. I wouldn't make it one day as a flight attendant.
Annabelle 3 weeks ago (edited)
Same. I would've been fired and/or arrested pretty quickly. I cannot imagine I wouldn't have some type of physical reaction to having water poured on my head - water specially ordered to a.ssault me. The calmness of someone in that situation reminds me of some disturbing people I used to know. It is a jarring experience watching/hearing someone do and say cruel and a.busive things with the calmness of taking a stroll in the park. I hope charges were filed; I imagine that passenger a.buses people regularly, like finding a living target for any unpleasant feeling is just an accepted and planned part of his daily routine. That one really sent chills.
Load More Replies... Ann Tiques 3 weeks ago
Y’all, I visited a FA friend in Finland and went to their “Take your kid to work day.” Those FAs are trained to take folks down, duct tape or zip tie them into submission, and keep them basically neutralized for the remainder of the flight. They have basic firefighting skills. And medical skills. And if your flight on FinnAir goes down those folks can set up an operational military-style camp. I left that day amazed that during non-emergency times we expect them to bring us beverages and put up with all this b******t. Totally new level of respect for FAs.
Mike F 3 weeks ago
A long time ago my mother and I went to visit her sister in Georgia and we flew from Detroit to Atlanta on an L-1011 (huge plane) and it also happened to be spring break. The plane was full of college kids and it seemed like everyone on the plane, except of course my mom and I, knew each other. Those kids were up and down like popcorn. We had a great time, my mom even said that was the most fun flight she ever took.
Dusty's mom 3 weeks ago
I hope I don't need to fly anymore. Never had an issue back in the 70's and 80s, though friends sure did. People are crazy! Best wishes to all flight crews!
goldenwood_cottage 3 weeks ago
I flew from Boston to St. Louis with about 30 old ladies going to a 'red hat' convention. It was about 1PM. Drunk old Italian women from Boston - So loud, so obnoxious, They were just barely civilized enough not to get kicked off the plane.
Leeds Lass 3 weeks ago
Anybody else having trouble with the adverts? the fekking speksavers one pops up every 30 seconds 4 times whilst I was typing this! It's making it impossible to read the articles
Rich Black 3 weeks ago
this is soul deadening to read. did we really need 100 stories about passengers with borderline personality disorders?
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