The “Drunk” Passenger Who Claimed He Had Explosives: 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 – “My name and faith are my ID”

It turns out that the woman who strolled by TSA screeners and allegedly shoved her way past gate agents on to a plane at Nashville International Airport (BNA) without a ticket or ID had a plan in mind all along. When authorities eventually caught up with and confronted 23-year-old Naja Eva Haynes to demand identification and a boarding pass, she simply informed them, “My name and faith are my ID.”

While her faith and name gave her the remarkable confidence to foil airport security measures, police did not accept her proclamation as proper legal identification. When Haynes allegedly refused to leave her purloined seat, she was arrested by police.

Although Haynes is facing legal troubles of her own, it seems that the TSA agents who allowed the un-ticketed passenger to walk right through a security checkpoint and on to a plane unchallenged might just be the ones in really hot water. “TSA officials at Nashville International Airport immediately initiated an inquiry into the incident,” a TSA spokesperson told reporters. “An employee was placed on non-screening duty pending final determination of the inquiry, but has since resigned. TSA is taking this incident seriously and will retrain employees as necessary to ensure compliance with standard operating procedure.”

The Runner-up – If You See Nothing, Say Nothing

When a fellow passenger insists on reading over your shoulder, it can be annoying. When that nosy seat mate falsely reports that you are communicating with terrorists, it’s a whole other level of hassle. An EasyJet flight from Vienna International Airport (VIE) to London Gatwick Airport (LGW) was delayed for nearly three hours after a passenger on the plane reported seeing an “ISIS message” on her neighbor’s phone. Both the woman who reported the alleged terrorist text messages and the Iraqi national whose phone she was diligently monitoring were interviewed while authorities re-screened every passenger and all of the luggage on the plane.

It turns out that the woman was mistaken about her fellow passenger who was not in fact a dangerous extremist. “There was nothing suspicious found and he has been allowed to continue his journey,” Austrian Interior Ministry spokesperson Karl-Heinz Grundboeck confirmed.

The flight was eventually allowed to depart and arrived at LGW three hours behind schedule. The man falsely accused of terrorism was released without charges a short time later.

The Winner – Because You Had to Be a Big Shot Didn’t You …

A FlyDubai crew seemed perfectly willing and able to deal with the behavior of a reportedly intoxicated flyer on a flight from Dubai International Airport (DXB) to Kiev International Airport (IEV) this week. Flight attendants were in the process of coaxing the allegedly defiant drunk back to his seat as the plane prepared to land when the passenger changed the rules of the game dramatically.

Once the flyer allegedly mentioned that he had explosives with him, the entire incident instantly took on an increased sense of urgency. The bomb squad and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) were quickly scrambled to meet the plane when it landed.

“One of the passengers on board told the crew that he had explosives on him… The passenger was drunk and behaved inappropriately… The crew relayed the information to the dispatch service of our airport,” IEV spokesperson Halyna Bohdanenko announced. “It was 10 minutes before the plane landed. After the landing, it was met not only by regular airport services, but also with the SBU and a bomb squad.”

No explosives were found on the flight and the Russian national responsible for the whole ordeal was taken into custody, where his hangover will be compounded by some very serious legal woes.

[Photo: Getty Images]