Originally Posted by
kbogie
The best part was that the only thing that ended up shutting him up was when he demanded that the flight attendants call Continental to ASSURE that he wasn't bumped from his next flight's seat (as if they have the capacity to do that from the cabin!).
The most bizarre temper tantrum I have ever seen occurred on a UA flight (so that may disqualify me from the competition) but I'll go ahead and post it anyway.
This happened quite a few years ago, probably in '95 or '96, when I was not yet a truly frequent flyer. Before take off, I noticed that the woman in the seat ahead me kept getting up to argue about something with the FAs. (At that point I wasn't paying much attention to the particulars.) Of course, the FAs insisted she be seated for take off, but the woman started haranguing them again as soon as she could. She was so distraught, I started taking interest and trying to listen (eavesdrop
) and I learned she was upset about something that had happened with the plane lav.
Finally, the woman demanded that she be allowed to call UA. One of the FAs helped her dial from the seatback phone (remember those?
). At that point I could hear everything the woman she said because she shouted into the phone for at least 10 - 15 minutes.
Apparently, she was furious that she had not been allowed to pre-board the plane, well before departure time, to use the plane restroom. She felt she had been wronged by the GAs and FAs who failed to understand that she had carryon baggage with her and that the plane lav was much closer than the airport restroom. This woman was virtually frothing at the mouth, screaming at the agent on the phone because she had been
forced to carry her hand luggage all the way from the gate to the airport restroom. She insisted that that this had been an absolutely unacceptable inconvenience for her and that she had never been so mistreated in her life. She then proceeded to rant that in addition to disregarding her needs, the GAs, FAs, the pilots, and almost everyone associated with UA had been rude, uncooperative, unprofessional, thoughtless, etc. She used more adjectives than I can remember. It was absolutely the most unbelieveable meltdown I have ever witnessed, before or since.
Upon exiting the aircraft, I handed a business card to the FAs and told them that if they suffered any repurcussions from the woman's complaints to call me as a witness on their behalf. I don't know how they managed to be even remotely civil to that woman, let alone professional and courteous, but they did, so I was quite happy to offer to back them up, if needed. Unsurprisingly, no one from UA ever called me. I am sure that woman's antics spoke quite clearly for her and that everyone involved is still laughing about what an utter imbecile she was.