Dirty Old Man Gets Taught a Lesson Aboard Cathay Pacific
Jeff Edwards September 11, 2015
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.
The Runners-up — Victims of Salty Prank That Backfired Big Time
Practical jokes involving suspicious powders are bound to cause some unintended consequences in this age of heightened security. That same prank is all but certain to be taken very seriously if it happens to occur on a commercial airline flight. A group of vacationers from Glasgow learned this the hard way.
One of the travelers stuffed a bag containing table salt into a friend’s carry-on bag, presumably to cause some hilariously uncomfortable moments at customs and border control when the flight landed in the Canary Islands. While this prank may have been doomed to go awry no matter what, things got serious in a hurry when a flight attendant on the Jet2 flight noticed the suspicious bag of powder sticking out of the luggage.
The group of vacationers say what happened next was a complete overreaction by the crew. The flight was diverted to Faro Airport (FAO) where the entire traveling party was removed from the flight and slapped with a lifetime ban from flying Jet2 Airlines.
The travel companions may have had the last laugh, despite the consequences of the prank gone wrong. After deciding to spend the remainder of the trip at their unscheduled stop in Portugal, members of the group posted pictures of the entourage having fun in the sun at the local beaches and defiantly refusing to let Jet2 ruin their trip.
The Winner — Handsy Hans Headed For Hong Kong
After the purser on a Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)-bound Cathay Pacific flight received complaints from two female flight attendants that a passenger onboard had inappropriately touched them while they were serving meals, the purser quickly approached the out-of-control groper to warn him that his actions would not be tolerated. Instead, the 38-year-old purser also fell victim to the pervy passenger’s unwelcome advances.
The captain contacted authorities on the ground after learning the 45-year-old Swiss national, identified only as Thomas, had groped two flight attendants before touching the purser’s bottom when she attempted to put an end to the harassment. If there is a silver lining in this story, it is that the serial groper, who was reportedly traveling alone from Switzerland to Hong Kong for leisure purposes, didn’t get the chance to ply his lewd and disturbing recreational hobby in one the most densely populated cities in the world.
It may have taken handcuffs to make this touchy-feely passenger keep his hands to himself, but when the flight landed at HKG, the frisky flyer was immediately arrested and charged with three separate counts of indecent assault.
No idea how my wording can be misinterpreted to the extent you managed drvannostren . So to calm your darkest fears: no, I do not support stuffing anthrax into overhead bins and make planes crash nor do I encourage molestation of flight attendants, not even as a punishment. My critique was twofold a) the selection of topics which appears massively misandric as elaborated above and b) purveying hearsay crew tales as hard facts. So if you are right and there is such overwhelming evidence that the 45 year old senile doter gang groped the innocent FAs, I am sure that a court will come to the correct conclusion. Does the complaint of 2 or 3 FAs replace trial, gosh no, they are colleagues, they could have a plethora of reasons why they clashed with him. So to answer your implied question: no, I don't find the word of working colleagues against a third party convincing, not in the least. Of course, I don't claim that they are lying either. Then the "salt story" which simply doesn't sound convincing. So his pals stowed the faux anthrax in his bag not neither he nor airport security noticed a thing? Only the FA by opening the overhead bin did? Sounds like bull to me ... and again the airline acted on the word of an FA.
So Weero...just to be clear...you're OK with both of these situations? Simply because they've yet to be sentenced? 1. The group of guys are idiots. Anyone who has flown more than once or twice in the past decade knows there's just certain things you don't know. Which is EXACTLY why they did this. Did they think the reaction would be this bad? No. But had that bag been full of anthrax and a plane crashed killed 100+...would you have said "yea, but the flight attendant was right not doing anything". 2. You're saying if you grab someone it's totally fine as long as no one else sees? If 1 FA had accused him, MAYBE...2? Less likely...but then the purser as well? I'm gonna assume that not all 3 are lying and that by the third time there's probably some corroborating testimony by other passengers. BTW...I'm a man and have no quams with any of those names. 45 is old, like it or not, even in San Marino where the life expectancy of a man is highest, you're STILL on the back 9. Groping is groping, a butt squeeze is a grope...not sure what your issue is there. The group of guys, idiots playing a practical joke, so puerile is fine. I'm sure you'd rather they be called upstanding smart young men?
Good result. However, I believe he should have been put in handcuffs DURING the remainder of the flight.
Nice misandric bias and story selection here. Puerile lads, gropers, dirty old (=45 years) man ... all not heard and tried by a court of peers but 'sentenced' by the opinion of some FAs.
Dirty old man? 45? What? Are you 16?