FlyerTalk’s 2016 Worst Passengers of the Year

As 2016 draws to a close, FlyerTalk looks back on the most charming passengers of the year. While there was a bumper crop of unpleasant individuals to choose from, only one flyer can take home the title of Worst Passenger of the Year.

The Honorable Mentions – You are Now Free to Pee About the Cabin

This year, there were a number of passengers whose bad behavior fell just short of earning a nomination for Worst Passenger of the Year, but that shouldn’t diminish the very real strides these boorish individuals took towards making air travel just a little more hellish for the rest of us.

Take for example, the brawling flight attendants whose in-flight dust-up forced a cross-country Delta flight to make an unscheduled landing or the impostor air marshal who walked up and down the aisle putting fellow passengers into wrestling holds and conducting an investigation on the crew before attempting to exit the plane mid-flight. Then, there was the violent melee over a loud boombox on a Southwest flight that in some sort of Stephen King-esque twist apparently departed Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) some time in the early 1980’s and only just arrived at LAX in March.

There was the utterly bizarre, like the determined passenger who, despite warnings that the overhead bins were full, found a place for his carry-on bag by tearing off a ceiling panel or the amateur film critic who destroyed several video screens on an El Al aircraft because he considered the in-flight movie to be “immodest.” Of course, there was also some downright dangerous behavior as well, like the passengers aboard Emirates Flight 521 who took time to gather their personal items and duty-free purchases before evacuating a burning plane.

Unfortunately, due to an overwhelming number of entries, FlyerTalk regrets that we will no longer be able to consider cases involving inappropriate in-flight urination – apologies to the Air Méditerranée passenger who inexplicably removed his shirt and began peeing on fellow passengers, the American Airlines passenger who decided to pee in the aisle and sleep in the lavatory and the grandmother who encouraged her grandchild to soak the carpet, because “the bathrooms are too small.”

Third Place – The DYKWIA Passenger with a 176 IQ, Six Homes and a $4 Million Salary

There are three things the obnoxious and seemingly intoxicated passenger aboard a JetBlue flight from Long Beach Airport (LGB) to Sacramento International Airport (SMF) wanted his fellow travelers to know about him: First, he owns six, count them, six homes. Second he earns $4 million-a-year. Finally, and most importantly, he has an IQ of 176.

Surprisingly, neither the crew nor the hoi polloi on the flight seemed to fully appreciate the VIP passenger’s great intelligence or his well-earned success. In fact, rather than earning their respect, the highly accomplished passenger was instead mocked and jeered as he patiently explained his status in both the social hierarchy and as a great mind.

One member of the unwashed masses aboard the flight even had the audacity to film the wealthy and brilliant passenger as he bickered with nearly everyone on the plane. The video captures the socialite offering such witty rejoinders as, ““Eat sh*t and die; I wasn’t f*cking talking to you,” and “Do you know who I am?” The unauthorized cell phone filming continued despite the dire warning, “I didn’t sign a release on that. I will be suing you for that.”

To add insult to injury, the passenger with a 176 IQ, six homes and a seven-figure salary was ejected from the flight after the captain was forced to return to gate. One assumes that the cheers and applause from the cabin as our hero was escorted from the plane can simply be attributed to base jealousy.

The Runner-up – The Defiant Firebug

It isn’t especially easy to get into serious trouble on a commercial flight. Crews almost always give trouble-making passengers the benefit of the doubt (sometimes even when they shouldn’t). It’s how disruptive passengers handle this second chance that can be the difference between just earning a stern lecture from a flight attendant or becoming a Worst Passenger of the Week.

When a flight attendant discovered that a passenger on Monarch Airlines Tenerife South-Reina Sofia Airport (TFS) to Birmingham Airport (BHX)-bound flight was dousing himself with lighter fluid and repeatedly lighting himself on fire, she politely asked that he surrender his cigarette lighter for the remainder of the trip in the interest of safety. His response to the perfectly reasonable request was exactly what might be expected from someone given to playing with fire on a commercial airline flight.

“A passenger was setting fire to his own hands, so the stewardess asked the passenger for the lighter for the duration of the flight,” an eyewitness on the plane reported. “He refused and attempted to light the lighter in her face. This information was forwarded to the pilot who decided to divert back to Tenerife South Airport where the man was arrested.”

Ignoring the flight attendant’s initial tolerance for the passenger’s seriously weird and dangerous pyromania, the airline later took a hardline stance on the subject of onboard arson. In a statement, Monarch officials insisted that the airline has “a zero tolerance approach to disruptive behavior on board all of our flights. The safety and security of our passengers, crew and aircraft is our absolute priority.”

The Winner – The Not-So-Zen Master

Retired South Korean farmer Hyongtae Pae saved for years to pay for a trip with his wife to Hawaii in celebration of the couple’s 40th wedding anniversary. Shortly before the once-in-a-lifetime trip, the seventy-two-year-old says he began to practice yoga and meditation in an effort to stave off anxiety. Turns out his quest for mindfulness and inner peace might need a little work.

When a flight attendant on a United Airlines return flight from Honolulu International Airport (HNL) to Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT) informed Pae that he was not permitted to practice yoga in the aisle of the airplane, he flew into a violent rage. In addition to shouting at crew members, the meditating senior citizen also shoved his wife, who he accused of siding with flight attendants.

Pae then managed an epic tirade in which he threatened to kill fellow passengers and shouted that there was no God, before biting and head-butting two marines onboard who tried to assist the flight attendants. The rampaging yoga practitioner was eventually restrained, but the captain made the decision to return to HNL to allow the disruptive passenger to practice some cool-down poses on the ground.

Pae was briefly held in federal detention, but soon released on bail. The judge briefly extended his anniversary trip, however, after prohibiting him from returning home to South Korea, because the trip would require him to board a commercial airline flight. In the end, the dream trip to Hawaii became a lot pricier for the retired farmer when the court eventually ordered Pae to pay United Airlines $44,235 in restitution.

[Photo: Shutterstock]