Air travel can bring out the worst in people. And if you’ve been a longtime reader of ours, you’ve likely come across the multitude of stories we’ve had involving passengers making fools of themselves.
This list is no different. Here, we have several stories from people sharing the entitled behavior they’ve witnessed on airplanes. These firsthand accounts may either infuriate you or prompt you to question the actions of your fellow humans and their apparent disregard for others.
All the negativity aside, let these anecdotes serve as a harsh reminder of how to behave as a traveler.
#1
I was on a flight from San Francisco to New York, in a window seat, and a man in a business suit sat down in the aisle seat and then put his 3 year old son in the middle seat. As soon as we took off and we’re allowed to put our tray tables down, the man took out his laptop and told the little boy to keep quiet and not bother him or me. I said it was okay if he talked to me. The poor child had no games or toys to distract him not even any snack. It was before smart phones and before we could select individual movies. What was he supposed to do on a 4 hour flight? I played games with him, talking very softly to avoid annoying mean Dad. The man didn’t tell me to stop, so I had fun with the little guy until we deplaned. I shared a snack I’d brought with him, and I drew pictures for him on my legal pad (I was on a business trip). His father never said another word to his son. Nor did he thank me, but the sweet little boy did and gave me a hug. Some people don’t deserve children!
Image credits: Heda Carol
#2
I was settled into my aisle seat in First, and a woman tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I would swap seats with her, so she could sit beside her husband who was in the window seat beside me.
I asked what seat she was in.
“22E”. Yeah.. middle seat in the back of the plane. In exchange for my first class seat.
I immediately burst out laughing, and when I composed myself I suggested that perhaps the person beside her in 22F or D would be happy to swap with her husband and come up to first class, then they could sit with each other in row 22.
“But I want to sit in first!”. Yeah honey, so do I. But unlike you, I actually have a ticket for it.
Image credits: Sarah Winston
#3
On an Emirates flight from Dubai, I was next to a couple and as the meal service started the guy asked me if I would “take the vegetarian option please”. A little put out, I asked why and was told that “it offends my wife and I if we watch someone else eat meat or fish”. “What about those across the aisle and on the row in front?” I asked, “We are only asking you as it is very much in our face”…… I had the beef, took my time and they went for a walk.
Image credits: Mark Bonsall
#4
It was a very large person who bought a ticket in economy and took up half of my seat, expecting me to accept that I paid for a whole seat and had to squish into half a seat.
It was a short flight, so I just dealt and kept my mouth shut. But I decided that in the future I will talk with the flight attendant and insist that I get the entire seat I paid for. I do not wish to be cruel to the larger person, but the larger person’s decision to buy one seat or not to buy a 1st class ticket and take 1.5 seats was her choice to begin with. This has nothing to do with fat-shaming. It has to do with my being comfortable in a very expensive seat that I paid to enjoy.
Image credits: SingSongTX
#5
On a flight within Asia (where one often gets better customer service than in the West) a woman asked the flight attendant to care for her toddler because he was fussy and she needed to get some sleep. The flight attendant was, not surprisingly, temporarily at a loss for words then responded “I’m responsible for the safety and wellbeing of everyone on board, not a babysitter.” The passenger pouted and whined “What can I do then?” A fellow passenger replied that she needed to step up as a parent or travel with a nanny. The flight attendant smiled her thanks.
Image credits: M.E. Ram
#6
Last year, I was on a flight from New York to Europe, somewhere about half way over the Atlantic, a passenger came from Economy Class and sat down behind me. I was falling asleep, and I had my seat reclined. He taps me on the shoulder and then I see his head pop up, he tells me “Don’t say anything.”
There were lots of empty seats behind me, I really just wanted to sleep. So I did not answer him and just shut my eyes. I think an hour passed, and I heard commotion behind me. This man had asked for a blanket, and had several drinks. Apparently, he still was not noticed, it was only after he began complaining about bad service that they figured out he did not even belong in the seat.
He was trying to pull a fast one now, and stated his seat had been taken by me. Well, the cabin crew never even asked me, as they knew he was out of place. He refused to leave and fastened his seat belt. Backup came and they gave him two options either he comply of they would remove him by force and might get him arrested when we landed. The idea of being arrested did not change much for him.
He started yelling, and at this point we all had enough of it. Two other passengers began telling him to go back to economy as he would just end up with all kinds of issues if he did not. He now asked for another drink to “Think about it.” A burly, staff member came and then another. They gave him one last chance to get up and go back. He still did not move an inch. He began telling them, there were so many seats empty, and that he should be given one.
It seems the airline did not want to appear to be brutal in front of all of us. They gave in, and gave the man a drink and backed down. This really seemed to make a lot of people angry in the cabin. As Breakfast was served, an older man would comment to a Flight Attendant that he would do the same thing and never pay extra for Cabin Upgrades if the Airline just allowed people to sit down and make a claim.
The Flight Attendant laughed, and said “No you would not do any such thing, just wait for an hour and see.” Well, I realized that seat grabber’s bravado, was going to get him into a situation on arrival. He was laughing the whole time, and enjoying his larger seat, and was ordering drink after drink. It seems they knew quite well, that his problems were only getting worse. As now he was a drunken passenger as well. When we landed, he was the first person to disembark with escorts, It seems he had a welcoming committee waiting for him. For a couple of hours of getting his way, he lost far more than he gained.
Image credits: Baba Vickram Aditya Bedi
#7
I had a passenger offer me a drink from his flask. I was the pilot on a charter flight – just he and I. Come on – no one will know – just a sip – he kept at it, so after a while, I asked him if he could do me a favor. I wasn’t sure about the oil pressure in the number two engine (he sat right behind the engine gauges,) so if he noticed it dipping, could he give me a heads up? It worked like a charm – not a peep out of him the rest of the flight – a little cruel having him stare at a perfectly good engine gauge for the whole flight, but it left me alone to fly the airplane without having to focus on new ways to say no – and yes – technically I should have removed the flask from him – but with only he and I onboard the aircraft, I thought that would lead to more distraction.
Image credits: John Smith
#8
I was waiting to board a domestic flight when a woman began playing music loudly on her phone. She was not asked to turn it off, turn it down, or plug in her earbuds, at least not by an airport employee. If anyone complained, she ignored it. It was music I often enjoy, but not at that volume in these circumstances. I was tired, hungry, and barely there on time having rushed from a previous flight.
She did not reduce the volume after boarding the flight. I put on my ear plugs, but they barely made a difference. I’m not sure full-on noise cancelling headphones would have been enough. Then other people started playing music and podcasts and other noisemakers for everyone to hear. She destroyed the civility of the entire flight. The din was outrageous.
I got off the flight with a migraine and a level of internal fury that I have rarely, if ever, otherwise experienced in this life.
Image credits: Lori Jones
#9
About ten years ago I boarded a full flight at the Istanbul Airport in Turkey heading back to the U.S. When I approached my assigned seat, I found a muslim woman seated in the window seat with a baby in an infant carrier placed in the aisle seat which was assigned to me. I explained to the woman that I was assigned to the seat occupied by her infant. In poor english, she explained that the infant was mistakenly assigned a seat several rows away and begged that I switch seats.
Of course I accommodated her request and all was well until another traveler approached and informed me that I was occupying their seat. I vacated the seat and again approached the muslim woman. This time she tried to explain that I must have gone to the wrong seat and pointed me towards another seat. At this point I asked to see the seat assignment ticket. She acted like she wasn’t understanding the language when a flight attendant approached to find out why I was blocking the aisle during boarding. I explained the situation to the attendant. The attendant confronted the woman and informed her that she had not purchased a seat for the infant and needed to hold the child on her lap during the flight.
The woman went into a rage loudly demanding that the airline provide a seat for her infant. She yelled about being denied a seat in first class where there were likely empty seats. She complained loudly about being discriminated against because she was muslim which made no sense because we were flying Turkish Airlines.
The flight attendant left and returned quickly with another airline attendant (probably a supervisor). The supervisor informed the woman that she either removed the child from my seat or they would both be removed from the flight.
The woman rose from her seat, brought the baby to a male traveler seated several rows away (likely her husband), dumped the child in his lap, argued with the man for a minute, stored the infant carrier in an overhead bin, and returned to her seat.
Needless to say, we didn’t talk much during the long flight.
Image credits: JimG49
#10
We were flying Seattle to Heathrow on British Airways. We boarded the plane, and the seats assigned to us were wet. The flight attendant called the ground crew and quickly changed the seat covers~unfortunately the backs of the seats were wet as well, but that was fine with us.
At this time the third person assigned to the row boarded, an older woman wearing a sweatshirt with a Christmas tree on it. (This was in May). She loudly announced she was not going to sit in a row with wet seats (hers was dry) and demanded an upgrade. The flights manager got on the phone and found there were no business seats available. There was a discussion with flight ops that procedure must be followed and they could not place a passenger into First Class, only Business Class, that this was not the protocol.
To our surprise instead of moving the complaining older lady the flights manager took us into the First Class cabin leaving the complaining passenger in the economy class in her dry seat next to the two wet ones. Not only did we have a marvellous flight and great conversation with the flight attendants, one took a duty free bag and gave us a bottle of champagne to take off the plane, hoping that our London trip would go well after such a rocky start. We were very grateful not to have to sit next to the lady on the flight, and so surprised at such great service.
Image credits: Sandy James
#11
A woman got on a plane in New York headed to Los Angeles. The plane was continuing on to Seattle, but she was only going to Los Angeles. After the plane got to 35,000 feet and the pilot turned off the seat belt sign, she got up, gathered up her things and moved up to 1st class. One of the flight attendants approached her and pointed out that she had an Economy ticket and needed to move back to her assigned seat.
She replied: “I’m blonde. I’m Beautiful. I deserve 1st class.” No amount of explanation could convince her to move She went back to the galley and told the lead flight attendant, who went to speak with the woman. She got the same response: “I’m blonde, and I’m beautiful. I deserve 1st class.”
The 1st officer happened to be passing the galley and heard the flight attendants discussing this woman. He said, “I’ll take care of it”.
He went to the woman and whispered something in her ear. She looked at him and asked, “Really”? and he replied, “Yes, Ma’am”.
She got up, gathered things and returned to her seat in economy.
The flight attendants asked the 1st officer, “ What did you say to her?”
He replied,” I told her that 1st class did not stop in LA.”
Image credits: David Andersen
#12
True story.
I was flying from London to Minnesota. It was a long flight and I was stuck in a middle seat. I was on my ipad, working on some math problem I can’t even remember. Also, I couldn’t sleep. Two hours in the air, this girl sitting next to me on my left, strikes a Conversation. After a quick chit chat, she leaned in for a kiss and I leaned backwards. “I have a girlfriend,” I sighed. After an awkward pause, she went back to pretending to watch a movie without saying a word. Two minutes later, she asked me to switch seats with her and I did. Fast forward another hour and that same girl was kissing the passenger on the window seat. By the way, this passenger in the window seat was also a woman.
What? Yes.
After a brief ”You’ve gotta be kidding me” moment, I went back to doing the math problem I can’t even remember.
Image credits: Siddharth Nigam
#13
I had a flight from Delhi to Frankfurt, and there was a lady with a kid. The kid must be a year old and as the flight took off the kid started to cry probably because of air pressure. She did nothing to make her baby stop crying , just kept sitting !!
We were just waiting for her to pick the baby up so that he stops crying, after 20 mins of him crying, she picked the baby up and figured out that he is crying because he had peed. She took off his clothes and his underwear which had become wet, instead of keeping it inside, she put the wet underwear near the vent on top of her head which was half on my side !!
And I was sitting just behind her , The wet underwear right under the vent above my head drying !!! I was like , what is she even upto ??? I got up from my seat and asked her to stop doing what she is doing and she said, just one more min , let it dry so she can make the baby wear it again.
Image credits: Rutvika Gupta
#14
Coming back from a trip to Thailand, my wife and I went to our assigned seats only to see a young couple sitting there. We showed them our tickets and told them they must have made a mistake. They wouldn’t leave, telling us “The Lady” said they could sit there. I didn’t even bother with getting angry, just called a flight attendant over and showed her our tickets, explaining the situation. The flight attendant told the young couple they had to move, that they couldn’t just sit in seats that someone else paid for. They just kept repeating “The Lady” told them they could sit there. Flight attendant asks them what lady and to please show her their tickets so she could show them to their actual seats. The young couple couldn’t supply either. Amused, I just started putting our carry-ons into the upper bin. The young woman had the nerve to look at me incredulously like, “How could he just start putting his bags away over our seats?” I don’t know what happened to them after that. I just shook my head as they were being led away.
Image credits: VinzoPlex
#15
On a business flight to Indianapolis, our plane was moving down the tarmac towards the runway. We were probably five minutes from taking off when this young woman (probably 20 or so) starting screaming that she forgot her medication at home and we had to turn around. The flight attendant tried to talk to her to see if someone could mail the meds to her or if she could just go to a pharmacy once we landed, and she insisted she needed it now and was screaming and crying hysterically. We ended up turning around and letting her off the plane. Of course the entire plane had to be emptied and cleared by security before we could leave again, so we ended up about two hours late. I hope she got her meds but if it was that important, she probably should have been a little more careful.
Image credits: Tony C
#16
Back in the ‘90s my (now ex-) wife and I were flying out of Amsterdam with our 3 year old daughter on the New York leg of what would eventually be 16 hours in the air. The flight was crowded, and before we’d even left the ground, the woman behind my wife put her nasty, dirty bare foot on my wife’s arm rest. The woman appeared to be some flavor of middle eastern (judging by the way she was dressed) and didn’t respond to our requests to move it.
Then her son (I assume, aged about 8) started kicking the back of my seat. I grabbed his legs and turned around and gave him a nasty look. He thought it was a great game and kept it up. The stewardess got her to take her feet off the armrest long enough to take off, but as soon as we were in the air, back they went. Our polite request to the stewardess to change seats if possible was unnecessarily rudely rebuffed, so were were stuck with the situation. Eventually the stewardess came back and told us there was one empty seat at the back of the plane, so for the balance of the flight we switched off getting a few moments of peace before having to go back to the nightmare. Longest flight ever.
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Image credits: Brian Hanley-Hart
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