Hajar Roslan
You think that the passenger behind you who keeps kicking your seat is bad? Consider yourself lucky. From getting drunk and abusive to assaulting flight attendants, the history of unruly passengers is appalling. Some of them are rude, vulgar and not to mention downright terrifying. When you’re 30,000 feet above the ground, stuck with these passengers from hell, you can’t just walk away.
Let’s brace ourselves for the cringe-worthy countdown of the worst offences passengers can make on board a flight.
Cup noodle fury
Image Credit: Christian Kadluba
A Thai AirAsia cabin crew was unfortunate enough to have met a passenger who actually committed such an atrocious act. Unhappy with her seat, a furious passenger hurled a boiling cup of instant noodles towards the flight attendant while en route from Bangkok to Nanjing. The culprit and her entourage of three forced the pilot to make an emergency landing and they were then kicked off the plane for good.
Dramatic emergency exit
Flight delays can bring out the worst in a person. Two enraged passengers of a China Eastern flight threw a fit after hearing of the flight delay and flipped open the emergency exit door, aborting take off. The delay was caused by a snowstorm, but it seems like the ice on the plane’s fuselage did nothing to cool tempers.
Fist and fight
Image Credit: China Smack
Just look at that photo. 30,000 feet in the air and people are throwing punches. Upset about a noisy child seated behind them, two women got up to confront the passenger only to be told that they are the cause of the noise instead. Right hooks and punches ensued, with the plane almost turning back as a result. That’s a reminder to keep it classy, ladies.
Stop the plane!
A plane starts pushing back for takeoff but was stopped by a flight attendant informing the pilot that a lady would like to get off the plane. Denied at first, the lady claimed that her baby (perfectly healthy, by the way) needed emergency medical attention but refused to go to a clinic only 50 feet away. Two hours late for takeoff, the plane finally moved only to be stopped yet again by the same lady claiming she wanted back in. No surprise she got ditched, though.
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Seafood suits
Flight rules have evolved over the years, mostly we suspect, because of incidents such as this. In the early 2000s, a lady to bring frozen shrimps on board a plane (and this was perfectly legal then). Unfortunately, said shrimps defrosted in the overhead cabin and a suited businessman had the bad luck of opening it first. Shrimp water rained down on the poor guy while he yelled, “what the hell is this?!” and a little old lady replied, “that’s my shrimp!”
Pranking the pilot
Pranks can be entertaining and funny when pulled off at the right time, in the right manner. Not this guy though. Annoying and cocky, he decides it would be funny to try to convince the pilot of a small airplane with a full load that they were going the wrong way. Mr. Pilot had to check his navigation aids and GPS several times before deciding the man was an idiot.
Drunk on board
Image Credit: Michael Verhoef
Abundance of alcohol on board? Two female passengers truly took advantage of this.
Our culprits got themselves drunk in the plane lavatory and lit up cigarettes, triggering the smoke detector. They were then deemed destructive “in a serious manner” and that the plane was “under threat” after getting into a physical fight with each other.
Plane’s on fire!
Jokes are fine but don’t go overboard when onboard. A group of girls were escorted off a plane for screaming “Fire! Fire in the plane!” when they saw mist from the air conditioning. It would be mildly amusing if the plane wasn’t fully loaded.
Being an asshole
They might not cause flight delays and detours but they suck anyway. Ladies taking 30 minutes to dust their nose in the toilet, asking the pilot if one of the jet engines can be shut off so they can sleep peacefully, dissing a woman captain, taking a seat that’s not theirs and letting their kids watch Dora The Explorer, no headphones, on a night flight.
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So what have we learnt from this? That flight attendants simply aren’t paid enough and there is no end to silly people.
