Oh, karma how we love you. There will never be a time when karma isn’t satisfying. People getting what is coming to them is priceless. Content edited for clarity.
Die Hard 3
“Back in the late ’90s, when I was a young flight attendant, we occasionally had passengers who would light up a cigarette in the toilet. This is bad—don’t do it! Whenever we caught someone (the smell was obvious no matter what they did to hide it), one flight attendant would lecture the passenger on the dangers of smoking in a lavatory. Another flight attendant would then search the toilet to make sure there was no partially lit cigarette butt in the bin that could potentially cause a fire mid-flight.
All the guilty passengers would apologize and promise that they would never do it again. The crew in charge would make a note in their voyage report and that was that.
All but one passenger!
When asked if he was smoking in the toilet, this chap said, ‘Yeah, so what! I’ve finished, there’s nothing you can do about it!’
He had a very smug look on his face.
It was a relatively short flight and we had to complete the meal service. We informed the crew member in charge. As soon as she’d finished her work in the first-class cabin she came storming to the back of the aircraft where our dear passenger was seated.
She asked if he had been smoking in the toilet and he just repeated, ‘Yeah, so what, I’ve finished and there’s nothing that you can do about it,’ and flicked his head as though to dismiss her.
Our crew in charge was livid. She said, ‘You think that there’s nothing I can do about it? Just you wait,’ and she stormed off to the front of the aircraft.
Now, I was in the aft galley and could hear this passenger very arrogantly telling the other passengers sitting near him that nothing can be done to him, etc. I could see the other passengers shifting awkwardly in their seats as though they wanted nothing to do with him.
Every time we walked by his seat he’d give us dirty, arrogant looks.
It was a night flight so the cabin lights were turned off for the landing. As the aircraft pulled into the terminal parking bay, we could see flashing lights from outside lighting up the darkened cabin. We’d normally see external lights from the terminal building but this didn’t seem normal.
The other crew and I in the aft galley jumped out of our seats to peer through the small window to see what was going on outside.
The parking bay was surrounded by airport security vehicles with light bars on and men in airport security uniforms. It looked like the end scene in Die Hard 2.
Apparently, the crew member in charge had informed the captain who in turn radioed Ops Center who radioed the airport police. It didn’t end there. Our airline had its own security unit. Ours was one of the last aircraft to come in and I guess they were bored. So pretty much every airline security officer on duty decided to drive over to our bay to see some action.
The rude arrogant passenger was about to find out that there was something that we could do about it.
Since he was seated in the last row, we followed behind him as he disembarked. Our crew member in charge was standing at the bottom of the air stairs with a police officer. As soon as the passenger exited the door, she pointed him out to the officer.
His complexion became pale, his arrogance turned to worry. We got to watch him get handcuffed and escorted into the terminal.
I knew we could do ‘something’ but to be honest I didn’t expect 10 security cars and the guy getting handcuffed. It was a good night.”
Suit Guy And Nice Guy
“I have a friend who is airline staff. He told me a story that is literally the definition of ‘justice is served.’
My friend was working at the check-in desk for an overbooked flight. There were only two seats left, and there were two passengers waiting in the queue.
This first passenger was a really nice guy. He looked a bit like he was from the countryside and very poor, by the look of his wearing modest clothes, and seeming lack of a recent shower. The second person was wearing a suit and looked like he was in a good position in life.
The first passenger got his boarding pass; since he came first he got a seat with extra legroom. The second person (the suit guy) got a middle seat, which was the last seat on the aircraft.
Once he got the boarding pass, the suit guy became furious and complained that he got a middle seat and this poor dirty guy got a nice seat. He demanded to have a better seat or be given the seat of this poor nice person. He argued that he was a frequent traveler and deserved a better seat for being a loyal customer. While demanding the seat, this dude kept throwing insults at the nice guy. The nice man felt bad and ashamed and offered to give up his seat.
My friend then politely took the boarding passes from them both and gave the suit guy the seat with extra legroom. The guy felt proud and accomplished once he got the new boarding pass. But that wasn’t going to last.
My friend then called this nice guy up, apologized to him, and upgraded him to a business class seat instead of economy (coach).
The suit guy turned a violent shade of red and sat sullen and silent until boarding the plane.”
Economy
“There was this one rude passenger who got what they were asking for, literally.
The flight was overbooked and there were maybe six passengers without seats. They were waiting patiently and hoping for something to turn up.
The desk clerk announced to them that there was in fact just one seat left in economy seating, and it was about to be allocated. Suddenly, one of those waiting demanded that he had to have the last seat. He was shouting how he was so much more important than the others and absolutely must have that last seat in economy.
‘Here you are; it’s yours,’ said the clerk.
The other passengers were shocked and surprised that such rude behavior had worked. The clerk then turned to the remaining passengers and said, ‘Well, the last seat in economy has now gone. All I can do is, upgrade you all to business class!’
Immediately, the rude passenger insisted that he get the upgrade since he had been waiting so long. The clerk reminded him how he had just insisted earlier that he must have the last seat in economy, which he got.
Clearly, the clerk saw a way to give the rudest passenger the worst seat available, by making them demand that they have it. Beautiful.”
Sorry Not Sorry
“On February 8th, 2010, I was flying from Omaha to San Francisco with a stop in Denver. A major winter storm had Denver all messed up, and the check-in agents in Omaha had their hands full trying to get early morning travelers on their way.
As I got to the counter, I noticed the traveler next to me was reading the agent the riot act. He was yelling lots of insults about her being incompetent and him needing to get to San Francisco. Every time he insulted her, another flight was filled, and he got pushed to a later flight. The first flight time mentioned was two hours later than the original departure time. He lost it. So, that flight was filled. Now he was set up for a 2:00 p.m. flight, five hours later than the original plans. But he demeaned her some more. Now that flight was filled, and she informed him she was trying to get him on a 6:00 p.m. flight. Mind you, it was 6:30 in the morning at the time.
I told my agent I understood the weather issue, and that whatever she could get done would be fine. She asked a few questions and kept working on the options. She then slid my ticket across the counter saying, ‘Your flight leaves in 20 minutes; you are being re-routed, but you will arrive at your destination (San Francisco) only two hours later than originally planned.’
Meanwhile, the jerk next to us made some remark that visibly ticked his ticket agent off. As I headed off to my flight, she informed him that the best she could do was 7:30 the next morning. He was going to have to spend the night in Omaha.
Never insult the person that holds your plans in their hands.”
