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Worst Passenger of the Week: As It Turns out, Not Very Cool at All

Every Friday, FlyerTalk looks back at the week’s most charming individuals. While there are always plenty of contenders for our Worst Passenger of the Week award, only one lucky flyer can take home the glory. Here are this week’s winners.

Third Place – The Accidental Tourist

The United Airlines ramp worker who accidentally ended up taking a trip from Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) in the cargo hold of an Embraer 170 regional jet likely had some explaining to do when he eventually returned to work from his extra-long lunch hour. Mesa Airlines employee Reginald Gaskin somehow managed to become locked in the belly of the plane before takeoff. It wasn’t until the flight was already on its 90-minute journey to IAD that Gaskin’s coworkers began to suspect he was still in the baggage compartment of the aircraft.

It doesn’t appear likely that the 45-year-old baggage handler intentionally went for a joy ride in the bowels of the commercial jet. When he was finally released safe and sound from his unpleasant berth, he seemed quite happy his ordeal was over. “I thank God. He was with me,” Gaskin later told reporters.

He might also need the help of a higher power to help explain how he came to be locked in the baggage compartment in the first place. Although Gaskin managed to survive his stowaway adventure unscathed, the inevitable HR meeting that is sure to follow could be almost as perilous.

The Runner-up – Couples that Melee Together Stay Together

A couple reportedly caused such a ruckus on a Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)-bound Delta Airlines flight that the captain turned the plane around after only a short time in the air. It wasn’t until authorities boarded the plane to remove the aggressive pair, however, that things really started to get interesting.

Like Bonnie and Clyde, the star-crossed duo had no intention of going down without a fight. For a few glorious moments on the tarmac at MSP, it was 35-year-old Blake Adam and 36-year-old Christine Anne Koosmann together against the world. A cell phone video of Adam and Koosmann’s dramatic final stand shows a not-so-storybook ending to the in-flight misadventure.

Koosmann can be heard screaming obscenities at police as officers physically drag her from the plane. Meanwhile, for his part, Adam simply declines to interrupt the physical altercation he is having with another passenger to even acknowledge the law enforcement officer attempting to arrest him.

In the end, a shared love of violence and swear words could not overcome the forces conspiring to keep these two romantics apart. The pair was separated, albeit briefly, when Koosman was booked into the Hennepin County Jail overnight.

The Winner – “Do you know how cool it would be to have the airplane turned around because of me?”

Passengers onboard a Sydney Airport (SYD) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO)-bound United Airlines flight report that the Worst Passenger of the Week managed a rare hat-trick of hate speech. The ugly American on the flight managed to spew racism, homophobia and misogyny during a nasty rant before the captain decided to divert the plane to Auckland Airport (AKL) to have the unpleasant passenger removed.

According to eyewitness accounts, the irate flyer was initially agitated because he was seated between two passengers of Middle Eastern descent. When two male flight attendants attempted to placate the upset middle seat passenger, he is said to have responded by unleashing vulgar homophobic slurs. The inconsolable passenger completed his offensive trifecta when he berated a female flight attendant, eventually calling her a “fat-ass.”

In the end, it was sheer hubris that caused this small-minded Icarus to lose his wings. The soon-to-return-to-earth flyer not only failed to heed the flight attendant’s warning that he was flying a little too close to the sun, the admonishment seemed to only make him more defiant.

Faced with the threat of the captain turning the plane around, the petulant passenger remained steadfast. In fact, he all but dared the crew to stop to have him removed from the plane.

“Do you know how cool it would be to have the airplane turned around because of me? You are going to do that?” he asked rhetorically, shortly before police removed him from the aircraft in New Zealand where he was detained until authorities could arrange to have him expelled from the country.

[Photo: Shutterstock]

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