Travel the world, meet all kinds of people. Growing up, I always thought those glamorous flight attendants must truly get to see it all. Turns out I wasn’t so wrong about this. Between the turbulence of rude and difficult passengers, the anxious antics of first-time flyers, and, of course, those chancers who think they’re above aviation rules, there really isn’t a dull moment. And they sure do see it all—the good, the bad, and even the downright disturbing.
That’s why, when flight attendants were asked about their weirdest and even scariest experiences at 30,000 feet, many were happy to oblige. Some passengers even chipped in with stories of their own. They range from hilarious to horrifying, and let’s just say there are even one or two that might have you looking at overhead compartments a little differently from now on.
#1
Let me set the scene for you: it is 9 o clock at night on Hawaiian Airlines and the flight attendants have just finished their coffee service. I'm sitting down, trying to get some sleep. The in-flight entertainment, however, had just begun: about three rows in front of me, a couple is having an argument. The girlfriend is screaming at the boyfriend about how everything is awful. Favorite quotes for the girlfriend (the boyfriend said about three words during this time):
"I AM LITERALLY WHISPERING RIGHT NOW" (Heard from 10 rows forward and back)
"Look what you've done. Everybody is looking at us, and you're making a scene."
Several times during this argument, the flight attendants came over and tried to ask her to calm down. Finally, one flight attendant walks to her row and says:
"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to remain quiet or I will escort you off this plane."
Woman: (laughing) "We're over the Pacific Ocean."
Flight attendant: "Yep."
"I AM LITERALLY WHISPERING RIGHT NOW" (Heard from 10 rows forward and back)
"Look what you've done. Everybody is looking at us, and you're making a scene."
Several times during this argument, the flight attendants came over and tried to ask her to calm down. Finally, one flight attendant walks to her row and says:
"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to remain quiet or I will escort you off this plane."
Woman: (laughing) "We're over the Pacific Ocean."
Flight attendant: "Yep."
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40points
#2
Obligatory not a flight attendant. After the plane had been boarded, they shut the doors and gave the typical "door has been shut, please turn off all electronic devices" etc. speech. Well this woman was still talking on her phone and the flight attendant came up to her and asked her to turn off her phone. Usually that's enough but apparently not for this particular lady. Flight attendant again comes up to her and tells her she needs to turn her phone off but she holds up her finger like a hold on/just a minute gesture. This is when the gentleman behind her stands up, shows her his badge, and hands her a $9,500 fine. He was an undercover federal air-marshal.
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39points
#3
Obligatory disclaimer, *not a flight attendant,* but I did get this story from one.
Ok, it had been a nice smooth, (more-or-less) trouble free flight into Miami, everyone on the crew was saying what a change it made, even the landing was smooth and she was about to do the usual post-flight announcment... and at that point the front nose gear hit a 12ft long 'gator on the run way.
The front tires blew out, dumping the plane about a foot, as per training the pilots slammed on the brakes but by this point the gator had achieved oneness with the front wheel, and the brakes engage *hard*, and the wheel assembly just sort of snapped off...
Long story short, the plane skidded the last 100 yards or so on it's nose. At which point, shaken and her brain was sort of on auto-pilot she said over the intercom: "Welcome to Florida! Mind where you step."
The whole plane burst out laughing.
Ok, it had been a nice smooth, (more-or-less) trouble free flight into Miami, everyone on the crew was saying what a change it made, even the landing was smooth and she was about to do the usual post-flight announcment... and at that point the front nose gear hit a 12ft long 'gator on the run way.
The front tires blew out, dumping the plane about a foot, as per training the pilots slammed on the brakes but by this point the gator had achieved oneness with the front wheel, and the brakes engage *hard*, and the wheel assembly just sort of snapped off...
Long story short, the plane skidded the last 100 yards or so on it's nose. At which point, shaken and her brain was sort of on auto-pilot she said over the intercom: "Welcome to Florida! Mind where you step."
The whole plane burst out laughing.
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25points
On the surface, it would seem that flight attendants have a pretty sweet gig, but that’s because we often see only the calm, professional, and glamorous side of the job. Sure, there’s obviously a lot of responsibility involved—contrary to what some would seem to believe, flight attendants aren’t just there to ensure our comfort; our safety is actually their prime concern. Nevertheless, more often, we tend to think enviously of all the free flights they must get and all the sightseeing they must do.
#4
I'm not a flight attendant. However, we had a pretty intense event heading into Newark. A guy had a massive seizure in the aisle seat. I and a few others jumped up and we got him out of the seat and laid down on the aisle. I was really happy that someone was a little more up to date on CPR (an Army Medic and a Nurse). I helped where I could. The nurse was an absolute savior. They usually are.
He was vomiting. She was trying to keep the airway clear and give him mouth to mouth, while the medic was doing compressions. His heart stopped and didn't breathe for about 5 minutes before they brought him back. One fight attendant was totally freaked. The other was amazing. When she had to get around the mass of people, she was walking on handrests and leaning against the upper luggage storage. (737 sized aircraft. Forget if it was a 737 or Airbus.)
This was the fastest I've ever gotten into Newark. We were definitely close to Vne (speed never to exceed) on powered descent, and had a straight in approach. We didn't hit a gate, the EMS met us just off the runway and came up stairs to get him boarded and off.
We stabilized him as as well as we could in the aisle for landing. Only time I've ever landed in an airliner without a belt. It was intense and totally amazing outcome. I really thought we were going to be supporting a body during landing for a while. There were some heroes on the flight and that kid lived because of it. I felt totally unprepared and was glad those people were there. It made me go out and re-up my CPR certifications and practice.
He was vomiting. She was trying to keep the airway clear and give him mouth to mouth, while the medic was doing compressions. His heart stopped and didn't breathe for about 5 minutes before they brought him back. One fight attendant was totally freaked. The other was amazing. When she had to get around the mass of people, she was walking on handrests and leaning against the upper luggage storage. (737 sized aircraft. Forget if it was a 737 or Airbus.)
This was the fastest I've ever gotten into Newark. We were definitely close to Vne (speed never to exceed) on powered descent, and had a straight in approach. We didn't hit a gate, the EMS met us just off the runway and came up stairs to get him boarded and off.
We stabilized him as as well as we could in the aisle for landing. Only time I've ever landed in an airliner without a belt. It was intense and totally amazing outcome. I really thought we were going to be supporting a body during landing for a while. There were some heroes on the flight and that kid lived because of it. I felt totally unprepared and was glad those people were there. It made me go out and re-up my CPR certifications and practice.
19points
#5
Not uncommon to see unfortunately but thought Id put it on here for educational purposes. Please please please dont go to the bathroom barefoot. That's not water on the ground.
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14points
#6
Was a steward (back when they still called them that) when I was young and wanted to see the world. At one point I was spending a lot of time in Africa.
Well, this happened to be during a time that a certain viral hemorrhagic disease had been spotted in one of the inner countries. Back then, nobody knew much about it. We were flying to North Africa when one of the passengers begins to implode. He vomits blood, so much of it that the bag can't contain it. We clear his row and lay him down. He looks really bad-bruising all over his face and body, flushed face, insane fever. There was a doctor on board and he didn't know what to do. He thought it might be a severe case of malaria, but it didn't quite match up. The other passengers are obviously freaking out and I'm trying to keep my cool.
We landed at our destination (since the guy started falling apart about an hour out) and he was taken off the plane in a stretcher. I don't know if he made it or not. I would assume he didn't, considering the condition he was in and the mortality rate of these diseases. But the truly frightening part of this was that since "hemorrhagic fever" had not entered the medical lexicon at that point, all the passengers got off the plane and dispersed. There was no quarantine. It is sheer, blind, stupid luck that a global pandemic did not start from this incident.
Well, this happened to be during a time that a certain viral hemorrhagic disease had been spotted in one of the inner countries. Back then, nobody knew much about it. We were flying to North Africa when one of the passengers begins to implode. He vomits blood, so much of it that the bag can't contain it. We clear his row and lay him down. He looks really bad-bruising all over his face and body, flushed face, insane fever. There was a doctor on board and he didn't know what to do. He thought it might be a severe case of malaria, but it didn't quite match up. The other passengers are obviously freaking out and I'm trying to keep my cool.
We landed at our destination (since the guy started falling apart about an hour out) and he was taken off the plane in a stretcher. I don't know if he made it or not. I would assume he didn't, considering the condition he was in and the mortality rate of these diseases. But the truly frightening part of this was that since "hemorrhagic fever" had not entered the medical lexicon at that point, all the passengers got off the plane and dispersed. There was no quarantine. It is sheer, blind, stupid luck that a global pandemic did not start from this incident.
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14points
But as Alona Vasylieva, a former flight attendant for the now-grounded Ukraine International Airlines, wrote for Business Insider, “while these are certainly some of the best perks, they don’t always reflect what life as a flight attendant is actually like.” Instead, she describes some of the “less ritzy realities” of the job. With all that flying, she explains, comes constant jet lag and hours spent on your feet. Overnight stays can mean sharing hotel rooms with someone you might’ve only met hours earlier. And an airline’s strict beauty standards can govern everything from makeup and hair to nails and body size.
#7
I was a long haul flight attendant for about five years. Really saw absolutely nothing interesting or weird beyond your usual twatty business man on a power trip.
However I now live in China and it's not uncommon to see news stories about people boarding and throwing coins into the engine for good luck, or trying to open the emergency exit for a smoke or because deboarding is taking too long.
You have to remember in a country of such vast population, not everyone actually knows the etiquette and expectations of being on a plane!
However I now live in China and it's not uncommon to see news stories about people boarding and throwing coins into the engine for good luck, or trying to open the emergency exit for a smoke or because deboarding is taking too long.
You have to remember in a country of such vast population, not everyone actually knows the etiquette and expectations of being on a plane!
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12points
#8
Obligatory not a flight attendant story.
I was on a plane just chilling and a man stand ups with a beer and a knife he got on to the plane somehow. Totally thought he was gonna try to hijack the plane. Instead he uses the knife to open his beer and sits back down. A flight attendant came and politely asked him for the knife until the end of the flight, and he obliged. It was terrifying for about 2 minutes but that's it.
I was on a plane just chilling and a man stand ups with a beer and a knife he got on to the plane somehow. Totally thought he was gonna try to hijack the plane. Instead he uses the knife to open his beer and sits back down. A flight attendant came and politely asked him for the knife until the end of the flight, and he obliged. It was terrifying for about 2 minutes but that's it.
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12points
#9
A woman thought she had to put her lap baby in the overhead compartment. Luckily she was stopped in time.
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11points
And the demands aren’t just physical. The irregular hours, disrupted schedules, and frequent changes in time zones can affect flight attendants’ sleep and circadian rhythms. Research has found significant levels of fatigue and sleepiness among cabin crew, with shift work and disrupted schedules among the factors contributing to these problems.
#10
Not a flight attendant, but I often take plane trips. One year, around Christmas time, a middle eastern man was on the plane. Another man on the plane accused him of being a terrorist, because he “looked like one.” The man started shouting in Arabic and the two had a fistfight. On the plane.
11points
#11
Not a flight attendant... but a few years ago I was on a flight in a ~20 row prop plane, between LAX and Mammoth Lakes, which hit some very extreme turbulence. In the middle of drink service, the captain made the announcement that everyone should finish their drinks and buckle their seat belts, and for the flight attendants to please secure the cabin. Within a minute, we were bumping up and down like crazy - people were openly crying, small objects were rolling around the floor of the cabin, and the attendants were being thrown around a bit as they struggled back to the front of the plane. As the last attendant approached the front of the plane, we dropped for almost two seconds. She was thrown up to the ceiling, and then when we caught solid air again, slammed into the ground, where she was promptly hit in the head by a floating hard case carry-on. We turned back towards LAX, and she was carried out on a stretcher as soon as we landed. Bummer.
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10points
#12
No a flight attendant but relaying a story for a friend. She was on a plane out of Egypt to North America. There was a man behind her (presumably Egyptian, but definitely Muslim). He got a call and spoke in both arabic and english to the person on the other end. My friend was not able to understand the arabic, but the man was saying things like " It will all be over soon" "soon we will be all together" and "soon you won't have any more pain". My friend got very scared and told an attendant what she heard and their flight was delayed for a couple of hours to investigate. Turns out the poor man was just speaking to his pregnant wife on the phone.
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10points
There are psychological challenges, too. Flight attendants regularly have to deal with demanding working conditions and stressful situations, and research has found associations between their working conditions and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. In other words, keeping calm and composed when the wheels are up isn’t simply part of the polished image—it can be one of the more demanding parts of the job.
#13
A woman passed away during a flight, and her daughter was totally fine about it. She had her mom's head in her lap and was stroking her hair. Asked if the mom was okay and the woman was just like "Oh no, she's passed on."
Alrighty then...
Alrighty then...
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10points
#14
Not a flight attendant but passenger. One time during take off for a short domestic flight, the man sitting in the row in front of me started asking people around him if we’d heard a cat meow. He kept insisting he heard a meowing when we were taking off but no one seemed to know what he was talking about and kind of ignored him. Once we got to cruising altitude, the same man reached under his seat and pulled out terrified-looking cat and started lifting it up above his head while laughing and crying out “It was me! I had the cat all along!!!” The flight attendant had to ask him to put the cat back in it’s travel carrier.
9points
#15
I was a flight attendant for a regional airlines and worked onboard Embraer 145s. For those of you unfamiliar they're fairly small and cramped. My jumpseat was against the wall separating the flight deck so I could often hear things happening in there, most commonly audible warnings from the plane. I eventually learned to not be too concerned when I hear things like GLIDESLOPE GLIDESLOPE! and WIND SHEER WIND SHEER.
So one night it's pretty late and we're flying from Denver to Durango. It's usually a bit turbulent because of the mountains and wasn't uncommon for us to be warned ahead of time. This time I had been told to get up under no circumstances, strap in and enjoy the ride. 15 minutes into the flight it's pitch black because I have the lights off, it's so turbulent I'm convinced we are going to bounce into a mountain and I start hearing alerts from the flight deck. At one point there was a rapid series of dings and then it felt like we were sideways and dropped 1000 feet. People were screaming and crying and honestly that is the only moment of my career where I thought "this is how I d*e".
We eventually land safely and everyone is shaken, including the pilots. Turns out we were getting bounced around so much it had kicked the autopilot off and it wouldnt reengage. It also knocked the APU around enough that it was messed and had to be replaced. We spent an hour at the airport logging all of the maintenance issues.
Other highlights of my career included Sarah Palin freaking the hell out when we got hit by lightning, an altercation in which a passenger through his fully packed rollerboard at my head, a townie pulling a gun on us at a bar in St Louis, a near collision at Hartford CT airport that made national news, and having to evacuate the plane because of a fire and screaming at people because they were too concerned with trying to film things than get to safety when a fire was burning next to a fuel truck.
Never a dull moment at that job.
So one night it's pretty late and we're flying from Denver to Durango. It's usually a bit turbulent because of the mountains and wasn't uncommon for us to be warned ahead of time. This time I had been told to get up under no circumstances, strap in and enjoy the ride. 15 minutes into the flight it's pitch black because I have the lights off, it's so turbulent I'm convinced we are going to bounce into a mountain and I start hearing alerts from the flight deck. At one point there was a rapid series of dings and then it felt like we were sideways and dropped 1000 feet. People were screaming and crying and honestly that is the only moment of my career where I thought "this is how I d*e".
We eventually land safely and everyone is shaken, including the pilots. Turns out we were getting bounced around so much it had kicked the autopilot off and it wouldnt reengage. It also knocked the APU around enough that it was messed and had to be replaced. We spent an hour at the airport logging all of the maintenance issues.
Other highlights of my career included Sarah Palin freaking the hell out when we got hit by lightning, an altercation in which a passenger through his fully packed rollerboard at my head, a townie pulling a gun on us at a bar in St Louis, a near collision at Hartford CT airport that made national news, and having to evacuate the plane because of a fire and screaming at people because they were too concerned with trying to film things than get to safety when a fire was burning next to a fuel truck.
Never a dull moment at that job.
8points
And then, of course, there are the passengers. No matter how much training a flight attendant has, there’s only so much they can prepare for when hundreds of strangers are confined together in a metal tube thousands of feet above the ground. Most of the time, things presumably go exactly as they should. But add a little turbulence, an anxious flyer, someone who has had a few too many drinks, a passenger who has decided that the usual rules don’t apply to them, or, yes, bodily fluids at altitude, and things can get interesting before the seatbelt sign even switches off.
#16
Not a flight attendant but a passenger: The man next to me was constantly opening and closing the window shutter while exclaiming in excitement every time he opened it. He exclaimed in awe about the view of the clouds and the flat plains somewhere over the mid-west.
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7points
#17
I've just had my interview to be a flight attendant, so this is a magical thread to read.
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7points
#18
Not a flight attendant, but happened in 2014. Was flying to Okinawa and it was a very long and smooth flight. We were about 2 hours away from landing and it started to get bumpy...REALLY bumpy. The pilot said we were hitting some really rough air and said we should be "okay and be seated and sea..." and before he could finish his sentence we hear "BRACE BRACE BRACE" and we fell out of the sky literally...We dropped a few hundred feet before the pilots managed to gain control.
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7points
It’s also worth remembering that flight attendants aren’t simply observers when something goes wrong. They’re the ones expected to keep their cool, manage the situation, and make sure everyone else remains safe—even the passengers who are making everyone else miserable. And sometimes, they have to do all of that alongside people they’ve only just met. As Vasylieva explains, she would often board a plane without knowing any of the other crew members, including the pilots. Learning to turn a group of strangers into a “tight, seamlessly functioning crew” in under 10 minutes, she says, eventually became something of a “superpower.”
#19
Another not-a-flight-attendant.
Was in an AA 727 from O'Hare to MIA. I was in the 2nd row from the back and I saw zero empty seats. Across the aisle an attendant had some sort of temporary seat folded out and was in it. It was full.
On the taxi out one of the crew announced exactly this: "folks, this plane is overloaded. we are taxiing out to a landing runway so that it will take off".
After a fairly long time, the plane started the takeoff roll. Don't know why I do it, but I count seconds from the start till the plane completely lifts off. It always seemed about 25 seconds. This time i reached 56 seconds, so i kind of was hoping the crew would be thinking about that "overloaded" thing when we landed.
I was in an aisle seat and had chitchatted with the guy in the middle seat some. We get over the Everglades near Miami. I've been in quite a few planes on this approach so I kind of figured I knew what's normal. This didn't look like that.
It was not quite dark, I could see the ground, see the turnpike and 836. But we seemed a lot further up than usual, but what do I know?
When I could see the taxiways I saw a DC-10 and another plane, so I could get a better idea of the scale of things and it definitely looked like we were much higher than usual to be landing in the short distance that remained.
Still didn't think much of it, since I am not any sort of expert.
So it now seems the plane is about to land. I can see down 836, so it's about time to rev up the engines for whatever reason they usually do that. But not this time. They get very quiet and a few seconds later the plane feels like it's dropping.
This continues for some time and I start to look more past the guy next to me out the window. Then the engines go wild, and the plane pitches as if it's been told to climb and right now.
The guy next to me starts to notice this too. Looking across him I see the blue lights on the airfield and i can sort of see from them the pitch of the plane, and that sort of agrees with suddenly deciding to climb.
At this point I started thinking "this is wrong".
I didn't have to think long - in a few seconds the plane hit the ground. When it did, every single overhead compartment door flew open, flinging bags and stuff into the aisle. Three of the doors fell into the aisle, and the oxygen masks came down.
I'm watching the blue lights and thinking "is this plane crashing?", but in a weird calm way.
The guy next to me has a grip on the arm rest of his seat and is staring, wide-eyed, directly forward.
The plane bounced and I was hearing everyone screaming. Some even grabbed the oxygen masks.
There seemed to be some sideways motion and the blue lights clearly showed the plane bounced. It hit the ground again in a second or two and more stuff fell onto the floor.
More yelling and then it seemed like the crew got things under better control.
So when the plane finally stopped at the gate and everyone stood up to leave, being as I was in the back there was lots of time to stand there. With us were two female flight attendants.
After standing there quite for a minute or two, I looked at one of them and asked "how often does this happen"?
One looked at the other, who started shaking her head, then started shaking her head as well, and then replied "this never, ever happened to me".
After a while we made it to the front door and could see into the cockpit, where one of the crew was sitting in the engineers seat with his chin in his hand and elbow on the console. He didn't look so happy.
None of the cockpit crew said anything at all to the departing passengers.
It wasn't a plane crash, but I seriously doubt that plane took off for the next flight before visiting a hangar.
Was in an AA 727 from O'Hare to MIA. I was in the 2nd row from the back and I saw zero empty seats. Across the aisle an attendant had some sort of temporary seat folded out and was in it. It was full.
On the taxi out one of the crew announced exactly this: "folks, this plane is overloaded. we are taxiing out to a landing runway so that it will take off".
After a fairly long time, the plane started the takeoff roll. Don't know why I do it, but I count seconds from the start till the plane completely lifts off. It always seemed about 25 seconds. This time i reached 56 seconds, so i kind of was hoping the crew would be thinking about that "overloaded" thing when we landed.
I was in an aisle seat and had chitchatted with the guy in the middle seat some. We get over the Everglades near Miami. I've been in quite a few planes on this approach so I kind of figured I knew what's normal. This didn't look like that.
It was not quite dark, I could see the ground, see the turnpike and 836. But we seemed a lot further up than usual, but what do I know?
When I could see the taxiways I saw a DC-10 and another plane, so I could get a better idea of the scale of things and it definitely looked like we were much higher than usual to be landing in the short distance that remained.
Still didn't think much of it, since I am not any sort of expert.
So it now seems the plane is about to land. I can see down 836, so it's about time to rev up the engines for whatever reason they usually do that. But not this time. They get very quiet and a few seconds later the plane feels like it's dropping.
This continues for some time and I start to look more past the guy next to me out the window. Then the engines go wild, and the plane pitches as if it's been told to climb and right now.
The guy next to me starts to notice this too. Looking across him I see the blue lights on the airfield and i can sort of see from them the pitch of the plane, and that sort of agrees with suddenly deciding to climb.
At this point I started thinking "this is wrong".
I didn't have to think long - in a few seconds the plane hit the ground. When it did, every single overhead compartment door flew open, flinging bags and stuff into the aisle. Three of the doors fell into the aisle, and the oxygen masks came down.
I'm watching the blue lights and thinking "is this plane crashing?", but in a weird calm way.
The guy next to me has a grip on the arm rest of his seat and is staring, wide-eyed, directly forward.
The plane bounced and I was hearing everyone screaming. Some even grabbed the oxygen masks.
There seemed to be some sideways motion and the blue lights clearly showed the plane bounced. It hit the ground again in a second or two and more stuff fell onto the floor.
More yelling and then it seemed like the crew got things under better control.
So when the plane finally stopped at the gate and everyone stood up to leave, being as I was in the back there was lots of time to stand there. With us were two female flight attendants.
After standing there quite for a minute or two, I looked at one of them and asked "how often does this happen"?
One looked at the other, who started shaking her head, then started shaking her head as well, and then replied "this never, ever happened to me".
After a while we made it to the front door and could see into the cockpit, where one of the crew was sitting in the engineers seat with his chin in his hand and elbow on the console. He didn't look so happy.
None of the cockpit crew said anything at all to the departing passengers.
It wasn't a plane crash, but I seriously doubt that plane took off for the next flight before visiting a hangar.
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6points
#20
A mushroom cloud of vomit.
Not an FA but a former aviation journalist so I used to fly a lot.
We were flying over the Atlantic with Air India and the plane hit a major air pocket, dropping rapidly. The drinks trolley actually rose a couple of inches off the floor, there was a scream from the toilet, but around three seat rows in front of me I saw this cloud of vomit rise up above the headrests for a few seconds before splashing down as we leveled off.
Moral of the story is keep your seat belt on and know where the sick bag is.
Not an FA but a former aviation journalist so I used to fly a lot.
We were flying over the Atlantic with Air India and the plane hit a major air pocket, dropping rapidly. The drinks trolley actually rose a couple of inches off the floor, there was a scream from the toilet, but around three seat rows in front of me I saw this cloud of vomit rise up above the headrests for a few seconds before splashing down as we leveled off.
Moral of the story is keep your seat belt on and know where the sick bag is.
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5points