Flying can be stressful, and sometimes passengers behave in a way that makes the experience even worse. In this collection of stories, airline passengers shame the asinine behavior they’ve seen from fellow passengers.
From rude and obnoxious behavior to outright dangerous actions, these tales of in-flight antics will make you cringe and wonder how some people can be so clueless. But they’re also a reminder of the importance of being considerate and respectful of others, even when you’re stuck in a cramped space for hours on end.
So sit back, and enjoy these stories of airline passengers behaving badly. Maybe they’ll even make you more mindful of your own behavior the next time you fly.
All content has been edited for clarity.
Imagine Being This Obnoxious
“I was on a flight from NYC to PDX. The only empty seat was next to me, a middle seat. Bulkhead but the kind where there isn’t a wall, just the first-class seats in front of us.
The door is about to close when a large sweaty man comes running onto the plane to claim the empty seat. He was carrying a full-size pizza box.
All overhead bins were already closed (and full) but that didn’t stop him from proceeding to open them to find a place to stash his pizza. The stewardess kindly informed him that he couldn’t put his pizza in an overhead bin. ‘But it’ll get stepped on!’ he gruffly informs her. She proceeded to tell him to take his seat and put the pizza in front of him. He told her that he flies with pizza all the time and has never been treated this way. He persisted but as their argument was getting pretty heated he finally succumbed and put the pizza under the seat in front of him and sat down.
The stewardesses have now started the safety video/demonstration and he pulls out a flip phone and proceeds to make a call. I can tell he’s going through menus, so I’m thinking he’s calling Delta to complain. Nope, it turns out to be his landline phone company. He had been late paying his bill and was trying to get them to waive the late fee. They wouldn’t. He is arguing with them. The plane has pushed back from the gate and is headed toward the runway at this point.
Stewardess comes over and tells him he needs to put his phone away NOW. He motions with his hand to say ‘one minute.’ ‘No, sir, it needs to be put away NOW.’ He flips it shut dramatically mid-sentence and puts it in his pocket. Stewardess is back at the front of the plane. He then decides to stretch. I’m pretty much plastered to the wall trying to stay out of his way as he extends his arms up, and then to the side, etc., and then twists in his seat back and forth, clearly agitated. He then extends his arms up, stretches out his fingers, and proceeds to crack his knuckles very expressively one at a time, sorta like a primary school bully would do on the playground before they were gonna kick your a*s. In that whole knuckle-cracking process he flips a middle finger toward the flight attendant. I didn’t notice her reaction as I was just waiting to get this 6-hour flight underway and over with.
Next thing I know, I can tell we’re pulling back into the gate. ‘Flight attendants prepare for arrival and cross check’ message. Door opens. The cockpit door opens. Captain comes to our row. ‘Sir, I understand you were harassing my flight attendant. I need you to leave the plane now.’ The pizza man attempted to argue and even ask me and the other neighboring passenger if we had witnessed anything. Clearly the pilot wasn’t budging on his decision so the guy got his pizza off the floor and left the plane. Door closed and we departed, empty seat next to me.”
Public Shaming Should Be Way More Common
“I once got stranded at Newark for 22 hours after our flight had an unfixable fault and was canceled late at night. We got put up in a hotel but understandably by the time the new flight rolled around (the earliest they could fit in a new flight) everyone was quite tired and agitated.
As we are waiting to board the new flight the flight attendant announces they would be boarding people with additional needs and families with young children first, followed by first class, then premium economy etc. All pretty standard stuff, obviously it can take a bit longer for people in wheelchairs to board so makes sense for them to go on first – it’s common on most airlines I believe.
Anyway, this business dude races to the front of the crowd and starts yelling at the attendant, saying it was already DISGUSTING that he had lost a day due to their INCOMPETENCE and now he had to WAIT even longer despite being a first-class passenger and paying money every year to fly with them!!
The worst part is he’s looking at others in the crowd to back him up, like it’s perfectly reasonable to scream at this woman who like us had also been stranded and had most likely had very little sleep, and was doing her best to do her job in this difficult situation.
But she was awesome, without missing a beat she smiled and nodded and said ok sir, then made a big point of leaning into her mic and telling the waiting line of people in wheelchairs and mothers with babies that this gentleman needed to board before them and could they please wait.
Literally, every single person at the gate is looking at this guy with disgust as he tries to backtrack and say he doesn’t mind waiting for the first group, but the attendant says no no you made yourself quite clear – let’s get you boarded, the others will have to wait. He is humiliated as he sheepishly walks by. She handled it perfectly.”
Did She Expect Them To Coast The Plane To Utah?
“I was a kid flying out to Utah to start my teen tour. About halfway through the flight (departing out of NY) the captain got on the speaker to announce an engine had failed and we needed to make an emergency landing in Chicago. Needless to say, we got a little concerned.
Except for one passenger, who stormed up to the flight attendant and explained she was a nanny and needed to get to Utah to attend to the children she took care of. I’m not exactly sure what she was hoping, that the pilot, upon hearing that a babysitter was on board would risk the lives of everyone to fly us all through, or that the flight attendant would be so moved by this story that she would climb out on the wing and repair the engine mid-flight.
Alas, there was no emergency jet pack to give this passenger to blast away from the plane to get to Utah on time, and she was told to sit down.”
It Doesn’t Get More Entitled Than That
“I was on a Vegas to Boston flight when a passenger passed away in his sleep. The whole situation was heartbreaking and the flight attendants were clearly shaken. We stopped in NY for emergency personnel to attend to him. The whole process was very quick and the pilot and staff handled it like champs. Just as we were about to take off a guy in the front row asks the attendant if we would all get free drinks due to the inconvenience. I’ve never wanted to yell at a stranger so much in my life.”
That’s One Way To Teach Them
“I was on a plane where around half of the passengers were ignoring the rules and stuff. When we touched down these people immediately got up, walked around, and started taking their bags out of the overheads. Mind you, the plane hasn’t parked it’s just literally touched the floor of the landing strip so it’s still moving and it’s dangerous for half the people on the plane to be f*cking around and even worse taking all their heavy bags down above everyone else’s heads.
The flight attendants were desperately trying to get these people to sit down until the plane stops moving and some people were waving their hands at them dismissively. I think the captain heard the commotion and the flight attendants half yelling because all of a sudden the plane did a VERY abrupt stop which knocked over all the people standing up and then continued to park.
The flight attendant then said, ‘This is EXACTLY why we have rules.’ lol.”
Where Would They Put A Dryer?
“My girlfriend’s mom is a flight attendant. One time a woman got quite angry because her daughter spilled apple juice all over and there was not a clothes dryer on the plane for her daughter’s sweater.”
She’s Going To Turn Out Great
“A few years ago, I was on a flight with a little girl and her 2 parents behind me. About 10 mins after taking off, the little girl started kicking my seat and so I turned around and asked her to stop because it was rude. After she didn’t listen I turned around to the parents but they were both on their phones. Finally, the dad looked at me and demanded to know why I was talking to his daughter. I said she was kicking my seat and he yelled at me to turn around so I did.
For the rest of the flight, he instructed his daughter to kick my seat even when I told her to knock it off. He didn’t even have headphones in so would be been able to hear what I said to her
Honestly, what is wrong with some people?”
Wanting To Board First Astounds Me
“Flying in and out of DC we always have Air Marshalls. One time, the agents let them down early. When the first passengers started arriving a wealthy-looking older couple came on and the woman started demanding to know who those men were that boarded before them. Her husband claimed they paid extra to be the first passengers on board. This is absurd because we always let wheelchair passengers and other specials down first. So I calmly explained to her that they were invited down by the captain because they were veterans in the wounded warrior project. That shut her right up for the rest of the flight. I can’t imagine the mindset that allows a person to think they are so entitled they deserve to sit down on a shi*ty airplane seat before any other person.”
Kids Don’t Give You Privilege
“When on an 8-hour flight to Florida, a family of five boarded first and then demanded the attendants rearrange their kids’ seats to all be together. I get it I’m a mom now too, but they occupied my seat, in fact, the entire row while the flight attendant tried to arrange them to all sit together.
I politely asked them to let us sit down and they just ignored us. Asked again and they said no we are waiting for our seats and that I could probably wait at the back of the plane. I just crossed my arms and stared them down, I held up the whole plane and I do feel bad about that but I made it clear it was the entitled family that was the hold-up and not me. They finally moved to go wait at the back of the plane.
I can’t stand people that think they are a higher class just because they have kids.”
Is There Not A Better Way To Transport It?
“I had someone have a meltdown because I had to have them properly stow their wedding dress. The thing was massive and spilled into the aisle, blocking the seats of the entire row. They may have had to pay the hotel to get the wrinkles out but I likely saved them from shoe prints and beverage cart rollers going back and forth over it. Still, she was in tears and I was not going to risk others’ safety including my own.”
Some People Just Want To Get Mad
“Currently on an airplane, and saw a man berate the flight attendant because they let employees of the airline board before the customers. He was so angry because he ‘paid for business select! They didn’t pay for sh*t so why are they boarding before me!?’
The flight attendant responded with its company policy, many are actually working and just need to get to the airport they’ll be leaving from. And there are also only three on the flight so what’s the big deal anyway? He continued to whine and complain to her for another 10 minutes or so. All because now there were only 140 seats to choose from instead of 143. Boohoo :-(“
