One of the Most Addictive Drugs of All Time: This Week’s Worst Flyers

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: Genuine Concern

A Frontier passenger’s preflight breakdown at Denver International Airport (DEN) caused a delay on a flight preparing to depart for Portland International Airport (PDX). The hero in this story is the flight attendant who attempted to calm the passenger as the plane quickly taxied back to the gate.

“Are we about to crash?”

“No, no, we’re stopped.”

A video of the uncomfortable scene is making the rounds on social media thanks to an alert passenger who not only had the presence of mind to film the incident but also had the good sense to stop filming when the agitated passenger started removing her clothes. The woman had reportedly completely disrobed by the time police and medics arrived to assist her.

Second Place: Can You Hear Me Now?

A mobile phone discovered in the lavatory of a Turkish Airlines flight bound from Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IST) to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) caused the plane to made an unscheduled stop after none of the 300 passengers on board claimed ownership of the handheld device. Fearing the abandoned phone could be related to a potential terrorist plot, the captain requested permission to divert to Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport (BEG) where a thorough security inspection could be undertaken.

After searching the aircraft, officials determined that the phone had likely been left behind by a passenger on a previous flight. After a considerable delay, the Boeing 777 was eventually allowed to continue on to LHR.

While very few passengers would fault a pilot for taking every precaution when it comes to safety and security, this emergency landing seems to mark the beginning of a brand new level of yet unseen hypervigilance. Now, the sinking feeling that you may have lost your cellphone in the toilet will forever be accompanied by the very real possibility that this sort of innocent mistake might also cause a serious security incident and inconvenience for hundreds of other passengers.

The Winner: I’d Walk a Mile for a Camel

A passenger on a Munich Airport (MUC) to Vancouver International Airport (YVR) bound Lufthansa flight seemed to think he’d found a loophole in the rules. In response to the captain’s stubborn refusal to turn off the “No Smoking” sign, the nicotine-addicted passenger allegedly attempted to exit the plane at 38,000 feet. After all, federal regulations only prohibit smoking anywhere inside the aircraft. Unfortunately for the determined smoker (but fortunately for everyone else onboard) it is impossible to open an emergency exit while a commercial passenger plane is in flight.

According to other passengers on the plane, the unruly man started pushing boundaries well before the plane took off. “Apparently at the beginning of the flight he was being a little difficult, but they decided to take off,” passenger Dan Iosch told reporters. “I guess once we got in the air he got more and more agitated and he tried to light up a cigarette. He was yelling and screaming.”

The decision not to remove the troublesome passenger before takeoff soon proved costly for everyone involved. The captain was forced to divert the plane to Hamburg Airport (HAM) where passengers spent the night in a hotel after the passenger was removed form the flight. Because the flight was near the very beginning of a 10-hour trans-Atlantic trip, the plane was required to circle over the North Sea for some time to burn fuel before making the unscheduled landing.

[Photo: Getty]