38 Insane Passenger Interactions These Flight Attendants Will Never Be Able To Forget

My godmother tells a story of how, when she was an air hostess, a businessman in first class was very insistent that she join him in the bathroom...

She reported this to her very male, very gay, cabin supervisor who proceeded to grab the man by the arm and very loudly offer his services if the man really wanted a cabin crew member.

He declined for some reason.

When we are doing meal service and they insist to go through the aisle to go to the lavatory, making me have to pull the food cart all the way back to where I started and then back to where I left off. Then when they are finished with their business, I have to move again for them. People have to realize that those food carts are really heavy and making us pull the cart back and forth is really hard on us!!!!!!!

This lady gave me some rubbish to put in the bin and then I realised it was a warm nappy.

When I am running things, there will be some changes to air travel.

Every passenger will be required to place any carry-on luggage in a mockup of the overhead bin at check-in. If it is too large, they will be required to check it. If they attempt to put it in lengthwise instead of wheels-in or -out, they will be bumped from the flight and have to rebook for tomorrow.

If you stand and block access to the gate before your group number is called, you will be placed on the no-fly list for a year.

Finally, there will be a six foot wide yellow stripe painted around the luggage claim conveyor. Anyone caught loitering inside the yellow zone, instead of standing back and waiting until they see their bag before crowding the carousel, will have their possessions fed into an industrial wood chipper.

I once had a passenger take of his shoes, put his dirty feet on the seat and clip all of his toenails. It was rude, there were toenails flying everywhere. He also left a nice pile of his hacked off heel skin on the seat for someone else to deal with. Not me!

I'm not a flight attendant, but used to travel all the time for work and one time saw the worst behavior after our flight was delayed for several hours and got overbooked due to another flight being canceled.

This one guy totally snapped and got up in the face of the gate agent and was really mad at her, yelling, "look me up in the computer, you have to put me on this flight, you have to upgrade me, I have all sorts of status, etc... etc... etc..."

I don't care if you are executive platinum for life, if you are being a jerk and are yelling at the gate agent you are not going to get on that plane ... she is probably the only person in the entire world that can help you at that moment in time.

*sigh*.

I will admit, our passengers are pretty legit most of the time aside from the typical grumpy, annoying run of the mill nonsense. So when someone is abnormally terrible it's hard to forget.

It's a morning flight from Las Vegas to Seattle, the whole crew is on their last leg of their 4 day trip, exhausted and trying to get home. This classic Vegas-5-foot-nothing-blonde-floozie comes on in last nights clothes/makeup/weave, NO SHOES and starts slur-demanding blankets, we don't have blankets on our flights, we explain that yet she insists we are lying and just being lazy. The whole time she's holding up boarding and we tell her "Ma'am ain't nobody got blankets here, please take your seat. Like now."

She takes her seat but within five minutes she's ringing her call light repeatedly, bothering the other Flight Attendants demanding they stop being lazy and please just fetch her the blankets that we've, time and time again, insisted we don't have on board. Ironically she was polite enough while she was being a complete pain in the neck (being crazy obvi, but no swearing or yelling), so other than her reluctance to just chill out, I really had no reason to kick her off the flight. Yet.

The gate agent gives us a final opportunity to kick her off but she seemed to have finally come to terms with the lack of blankets and chilled. So thank god, thank christ, the Pilots had to hold off our departure to press a few more buttons or whatevs, and while we were waiting at the gate that's when she lost it. Had we taken off with her on board, the Lord only knows how much patience I would have had.

She starts demanding all of our names and telling us she's going to get us all fired because we refused to get her blankets. I tell her one final time, and I honestly can't help but laugh when I say "I promise that if we had blankets it would be SO SO SO much easier to give them to you than to continue having this terrible conversation." I give our gate agent the go ahead to take her off the flight, but now she refuses to leave. So the passengers are all pissed obviously and yelling "KICK HER OFF ALREADY!" We're like, "DUH we be trying!"

At this point procedure is to call the police if passengers refuse to leave which can result in arrest, this usually lights a fire under any resistant little jerk's bum and gets them the hell off my plane. Unfortunately police are at least 1-2 hours out from being available to arrest her, so they send the three biggest firefighters to the scene. She once again refuses, and all logic is out the window. She now claims she has a medical condition concerning her circulation and can't walk off the plane any longer, so she should just be allowed to fly and that wouldn't somehow turn into an in-air medical circus. Yeah no.

With the Captain, the Flight Attendants, the Firefighters and the Gate Agents all standing around trying to reason with this chick that she's holding up all these nice people she finally cooperates. BUT says she has to be wheeled off the plane because she can't walk. That means pulling out our little ghetto onboard wheelchair which is the only thing narrow enough to fit down the aisles.

So we did it. Gritting our teeth we wheeled her off! I kid you not, the whole cabin CHEERED. Like standing ovation. They said we as a crew handled everything as well as we could've, so that was a relief.

I'm not a flight attendant, but I was flying a red eye first class from Dubai to New York. I'm sitting there on my phone, and I hear some guy say, "Excuse me, could you ask the pilot to turn off the left engine, so my son can get some sleep?".

I HAVE to ask you about sitting in an exit row, don't be a jerk, listen to me for 15 seconds. There are RULES I HAVE to attempt to enforce, that being said, if you don't know what silent is on your phone you deserve to be publicly shamed. FLUSH THE TOILET! Most lavatories have door knobs. They work like ALL OTHER DOOR KNOBS. Oh, and you're a million miler? That's awesome! I actually appreciate you because I most days I love my job and you ensure I get money for passing out coke and cookies, but you don't get to snap your fingers at me, you don't get to throw your coat at me, and I am not your bar wench. Also, come on a plane hygienically sound. Don't do anything bodily on board (clip nails, clip hair, remove nail polish, brush teeth and leave toothpaste everywhere). And leave peacefully, without yelling at me about a thunderstorm that made you miss your connection. I'm not Storm. I wish I was.

...I ranted. Please, bury this comment as it is the result of layover drinks.

DO NOT pull on our uniforms! If we tell you there's no more room for bags, just listen to us and check it. I know there's a call button there, but don't ring it 15 million times. Please don't ask us to put your bag in the overhead compartment. We can help you guide your bag up there, but most company inform us not to lift your bags. If we do and we get hurt, then we don't qualify for workmens comp.

Flight attendant here.

Repeatedly hitting your call button. It's a call button not morse code. I'll get to you when I can. PARENTS, stop letting your kids hit the button. It's annoying as hell.


Snapping your fingers or whistling at me. I'm not a dog.


Complaining at me and insinuating that I can do anything about your 30 minute connection time in JFK. You have to switch terminals? Yeah you're going to miss your next flight and that's your own dumb fault. Congrats, Delta got your money and they are not obligated to rebook you.


Assuming I'm a glorified sky waitress. My job involves a LOT more than serving drinks. I went through a lot of training to take your attitude and a little respect goes a long way. I'm there primarily for your SAFETY, not to mix you some weird combination of ginger ale, cranberry juice, and seltzer water.


If I tell you your bag needs to be checked to cargo, IT NEEDS TO BE CHECKED TO CARGO AND ARGUING WITH ME WILL CAUSE A DELAY.


We, the flight crew, are not chickens for not flying in inclement weather. The decision to cancel/delay a flight is not up to us. STOP GETTING MAD AT ME ABOUT DELAYS. Relax, have a drink, the gate agent will sort your stuff out.


Loudly sighing and obviously checking your watch while we're taxiing to the gate will get us there faster. Especially in Detroit. I promise.


Give me your trash when I come through one of 12 times to collect it. Don't leave it in the seat.


I try to be as pleasant as possible, but I work 14 hour days and get paid $16K a year. My days are long and my overnights are short. Please try to be as low maintenance as possible. People forget their manners when they fly.


BE NICE AND RESPECTFUL AND I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO ENSURE YOU HAVE A GREAT FLIGHT(FREE BOOZE/SNACKS)


EDIT: I work for a regional airline. The red headed dumb stepchild of airlines. I'm finishing college too. Mainline pays WAY better. When I get my degree I'm going to either join a mainline or get out of the business entirely. Regionals are by far the WORST.

My older sistrr worked as a flight attendant. She hated when people would drop their carry-on at her feet and tell her to "find a place for it"

Also, there was an old lady who poked her in the chest to get her attention - repeatedly.

Edit: forgot to mention the old lady was poking her with a fork.

I work on the small regional planes no one really likes to be on. They're small we get it, but the seats really aren't much smaller than mainline if at all, plus we don't have middle seats, just window and aisle.
So I'm working a full flight from Houston to somewhere in the Midwest, both places where it's common to have large people, not just fat either. Well this fairly large guy gets on while we're about half way through with boarding and realized the guy he has to sit next to is also fairly large. They were about the same size really. Well before he takes his seat he storms back to me and asks if he can take one of the empty seats in the back. I know it's going to be a full flight so I tell him that but if there are any empty rows I'll come get him. He says something about the guy next to him being too big and spilling into his seat. I checked it out and it want even that bad. The guy fit just fine.
Boarding starts to slow and with every passenger trickling in he looks back seeing if he can go. I have to tell this guy at least 5 times to wait.
Well sure enough we're full. I'm doing my count and tell him he had to stay there. Gives a big sigh and starts grumbling about how ridiculous it is.
He proceeds to cross his leg and lean as far into the aisle as possible, literally an inch from the seat across from him so anytime anyone had to pass him they have to say excuse me and he'll make a big huff about leaving a couple inches so they still have to squeeze by.
My job requires me to make that walk many times a flight, a couple times with a large heavy cart. I knew what he was doing so I made sure I pushed my side of the cart as close to him add possible. After having to say excuse me 4-5 times and him making a scene, embarrassing the guy next to him, I stopped saying it and just walked into him every time. Things calmed down but he still wouldn't sit right in his seat, he wanted to make a point. So I only did trash runs when it looked like he was about to fall asleep.

I worked as an airline reservation agent. My biggest pet peeve was people who couldn't put it together that if you tell the agent that you are incapable or disabled, you will NOT be given an exit seat for "leg room." In the event of an emergency, the other 120 paxes on the plane don't want to have a full minute less to avoid their demise. Please don't make an airline attendant spell that out for you.

Also, those people who yelled at me because their so-and-so bf/son/uncle'speter was in the military, so they automatically qualified for a 99% discounted rate. Airline agents don't set the price of the ticket. Don't accuse them of being greedy corporate commies (no, really) because they can't issue a $2 ticket to a man in uniform.

Also, frankly, anyone from Boston or New York during a weather emergency. Never in my life had I heard the words "don't you know who I AM?!" before telling a business class pax flying from Logan to JFK that the reason his flight was canceled was because ALL flights were canceled, in addition to almost all public transportation and basically anything that relied on electricity. Self-entitled pr1cks.

Ive been a flight attendant for 20 years my number one pet peeve is cutting your nails or toenails on the plane. I can hear that from back in the galley even if you're in row 2 that's the most disgusting thing in the world to do on a plane. The other one is trying to get your mile high club wings.People don't know how disgusting that bathroom is when people pee all over everything in there. In turbulence that wetness on the floor is not from the sink trust me.

If you press that call button, and we're having anything above mild turbulence, you better be having a health issue because I will not risk breaking my ankle to get you some more orange juice.

Not a flight attendant but, I'm a gate agent, if your flight is delayed or if you miss your flight because you were at the bar, it's not my fault, I don't control that. I can't make the plane fly faster, I can't control whether or not dispatch decides to delay or cancel your flight. Things happen, the nicer you are, the more willing I am to try to help you more. If you miss your flight, I don't have to rebook you on the next one. If your a jerk and tell me that I "have to get you there today" I won't. If you're nice and understanding, I will try my best.

tl;dr I control your fate whether you make it to your destination or not. Don't make me not want to help you.

On a flight to Las Vegas was this woman who had clearly been drinking in the airport beforehand. On the flight she spilt her water on her sandwich she bought and demanded we compensate her with 5 vodkas and 10 blankets for the mess. Mind you she is the one who spilt the drink on herself, not one of us. As my colleague goes over to wipe the tray table down with some napkins she starts screaming "She punched me!" At that point you are for sure going to be getting a warning card because swearing at us plus lying about such a thing is a big no no. This woman then stomps up to first class where I'm working demanding the Captain comes out and fires her for punching her in the face right in front of her and starts claiming how my colleague told her she will never fly our company again. Anyways 3 days later this same woman tries to board the plane in Vegas and what do you know 4 of us that were working the original flight are now working this flight and recognize her so she was kicked off immediately for disturbance to flight crew and at that point her ticket is cancelled automatically and she is out all of that money.

On another flight coming home from Vegas this drunk man sits down in a random seat so once the actual people who are assigned to that seat come along this drunk guy starts snapping his fingers at me. I ask to see his boarding pass and he hands me a grocery store receipt....

Had a black couple sit in the wrong seats another time so when we (me and my colleague who happens to be blackest of black) asked to see their boarding pass they gave it to us and we politely told them how they are actually seated 5 rows behind and not in this row and they started screaming at us how we are racist and they are going to sue us. My black colleague simply goes "I'm racist???" and stretches out her arm against their arm to show they are the same colour.

Been a flight attendant for two years and about every other flight there is one bad passenger unless it is a Las Vegas flight or Kingston, Jamaica flight in which there are lots and lots of bad passengers.

I was on a flight across from London Luton to Vilnius, Lithuania when I saw a pretty awful passenger. He was pretty much in classic chav gear, and was visibly drunk as a skunk, he spent the majority of flight shouting to the attendants for more whisky,
Eventually his neighbour gets annoyed with him after he spills a tin of beer all over where he was sat. This ended up with a bit of a face off and a scuffle where three attendants turned up to try and break up the fight. He gets separated from his neighbour, and just spends the flight swearing loudly and being a jerk. Eventually a lady attendant turns up and tries to makes him quiet down. He continues being a jerk and slaps her behind. I have no idea how she kept her cool that day; I really don't.

Not flight attendant.
On a flight from Angola to South Africa, an elderly man seated in front of me suddenly got up, put on his jacket and sixpence, pulled his carry-on from the overhead and proceeded to try to open the door to get off.
When he was told to leave the door alone, he lost it and had to be overpowered. That wasn't very hard, as he was a frail old man, but nobody could convince him that it's a really bad idea to open the door when you're at cruising altitude.
In almost twenty years of frequent international flying, this was the only incident of having to use physical force I witnessed.
Annoying drunk business men and clueless parents, however: probably every single flight.