Worst Passenger of the Week: The Drunk, Naked, Violent, Smelly, Slovenly Skies

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.

Honorable Mention – “The Man Poured Fanta on Another Passenger Twice”

Footage showing a passenger’s violent rampage aboard a Scoot flight from Sydney Airport (SYD) to Changi Airport Singapore (SIN) is reportedly just the end result of the out-of-control flyer’s campaign of abusive behavior before the flight was forced to turn back for Sydney. Although the allegedly aggressive and violent air traveler was eventually tied to his seat (using not one, but two onboard restraining kits), eyewitnesses say he managed to accomplish a fair amount of mischief before he was finally brought to heel.

In local media reports, passengers on the flight said that the unidentified troublemaker “was getting quite drunk at the bar” prior to boarding. According to fellow air travelers, “Early during the flight the man poured Fanta on another passenger twice, intending to provoke him.”

The plan apparently worked.

The viral video shows that after ignoring crew instructions, but before being physically restrained, the air-traveler-run-amok managed to engage in a fist fight, strip his clothes off and lead crew members on a chase around the cabin. The fun ended when five seat mates managed to subdue the man as a flight attendant implored, “Sir, please stop.”

Third Place – “Do You Think We Smell?”

According to Miami ABC affiliate WPLG, American Airlines officials have confirmed that a family was removed from a Miami International Airport (MIA) to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW)-bound flight after fellow flyers complained about their offensive body odor. As anyone who has flown commercially regularly could attest, ejecting passengers because of B.O. is an extraordinarily high bar to meet indeed.

“The Adler family were asked to deplane last night after several passengers, along with our crew members, complained about their body odor,” the airline told ABC News in a statement. “The family were provided hotel accommodations and meals, and rebooked on a flight to Detroit today.”

Now, here’s where things get strange – it was the family themselves who first went to the press to publicize the awkward incident. According to the Adlers, the malodorous accusation was a manufactured excuse to kick the mother, father and accompanying toddler off their flight for unspecified reasons. Yossi Adler says he went to the media to get the airline to “own up to what really happened” and “tell me the truth.”

The family entirely denies American’s version of events. The Adlers insist that they don’t believe body odor was the issue at all.

“We stopped several people in the airport and, it’s embarrassing, but we asked them, ‘Do you think we smell?’” Jennie Adler told reporters. “Because we just got kicked off a plane for smelling.”

The Runner-up – “He Did Not Want to See Them”

Prosecutors in France say a 23-year-old student’s desperate, last-minute attempt to prevent his parents from visiting could end in a prison sentence of up to five years behind bars (albeit with limited visitation). According to authorities, the ingrate offspring called in a bomb threat to keep his parents’ Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport (LYS) to Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport (RNS)-bound EasyJet flight from arriving as scheduled.

The unidentified student’s scheme seemed to be working flawlessly at first. The flight was forced to return to the airport shortly after takeoff – briefly delaying the inevitable family reunion. Soon, however, the anonymous hoax was traced back to its source.

“The author of the act has been identified,” prosecutors announced this week. “It is a student Rennes of 23 years old who did not wish that his parents, who had taken place on board this plane, join him in Rennes.”

Police say the petulant heir eventually confessed to making the empty bomb threat. In addition to Mom and Dad, the hoax delayed 157 other passengers who had to wait for the airline to bring a replacement aircraft and crew from London Luton Airport (LTN) while security forces searched the original plane for evidence of an explosive device.

The Winner – “What Can I Do If No One Wipes My Butt?”

When an onboard incident makes newspaper headlines that read, “Taiwanese flight attendant traumatized after being forced to wipe fat, white, old, foreign butt,” it’s almost guaranteed that the passenger involved will be an American. Well, according to public statements from the Taiwanese crew member, “an old, white, American man, weighing around 200 kilograms, boarded the flight from LA and made unreasonable requests of the all-female flight attendant cabin crew.”

The incident in question allegedly occurred during a Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) flight this week. The morbidly obese passenger reportedly requested assistance using the lavatory at one point during the more than 14-hour-long flight. The request, however, is said to have slowly morphed into something between hospice care and exhibitionism, rather than standard in-flight customer service.

According to an account from the flight attendant involved, the nightmare flyer gradually upped the ante until she found herself in the remarkably uncomfortable position of having to clean the passenger’s private areas. The crew member later wrote that the entire affair left her feeling “dirty” and recounted the incident in a social media post later published by several local media outlets in Taiwan.

“I promised to help you go to the toilet, not to wipe your butt.” the flight attendant wrote, adding that the passenger continued to badger her, “You promised me … what can I do if no one wipes my butt? Do you want me to stay in this toilet?”

In addition to cajoling the cabin crew member into doing his dirty work, the problem passenger is said to have insisted on doing his “business” in the business class cabin with the door open (because he “couldn’t breath” with the door shut). When using the restroom later, on the ground, however, the creepy flyer allegedly declined the assistance of a male attendant who was made available to help him with his special needs.

[Photo: Instagram]