jsn55

While I think you could have mumbled something like 'sorry, I'm dealing with a problem', you were right in ignoring her. 15 years ago I said hello to a lady beside me and she didn't stop talking for 6 hours. Nothing I did would shut her up, To this day, i ignore everyone on a plane.

Re the 4yrold kicking the seatback, I fail to see the child's age as a reason to be obnoxious. i would have told the mother to turn the kid sideways and let him kick her leg instead. Occupying an airplane seat does not give people the right to invade your life.

Psyduck1

😂 Adding this one to the arsenal, just in case!

Allan38103

I gave the FA an expired drink coupon once.

OTD

Give the kid credit for wanting wine, anyway. When I was 14, it would've been beer.

jburns513

According to a United FA (American male) on a flight CDG/EWR a couple of years ago it was wearing a Paris St. Germain shirt on his airplane. He started screaming at me in rage "how can you wear that here!"

it it never even occurred to me that there should be any reason not to wear the champion team's shirt just because another airline (Emirates) was the shirt sponsor.

The red faced FA kept yelling, spit flying, until one of the female FAs told him to calm down.

tanglin

That was probably my mother. She does that. I'm sorry for you but at least it wasn't her usual MAN-LAX route. You got off lightly

ilcannone

Ended up going to Beirut for a weekend from Riyadh (whilst working there), went via Doha on the way there, direct coming back.

Boarding in Doha, I recognised the FA as Macedonian based on her name badge and greeted her in Macedonian. Cue a look of surprise and delight from her who claims she almost never hears anyone speaking her mother tongue. As a result, she'd slyly slip me extra wine and some business class chocolates, almost as if I was in business!

By the time we got to Beirut, I ended up so sozzled I was struggling to walk, have no recollection how I ever made it through immigration etc. I vaguely remember vomiting out of the transfer I had booked, then passing out for the rest of the day in the room...only to discover I had LOST MY PASSPORT. Kind of not so bad as I was travelling with 2, and the lost one didn't have my Saudi visa in, but did have my Lebanese entry stamp.

After waking up and realising what had happened, I ended up darting back to the airport, and using broken French, a spot of Arabic and extremely simplified English, I managed to find the lost property office in the airport, where, by some sort of miracle, it had been handed in...after being found outside immigration control.

pinniped

You're lucky you didn't get yourself forcibly "re-accommodated" off the flight, given how disruptive and threatening that shirt is!

rdlmitedu

Civilian: I was flying with my girlfriend on VX SFO-HNL, ticketed in 1C and 2C (her first time in a premium cabin of any kind), got in pretty late in boarding, and asked the passenger already seated in 1A (and quite settled in) to switch seats. She did, but I felt kind of guilty for it (if it had been coach I would have bought her a drink or two, but F).

Military contractor: boarded an MH-47 at the "other" compound on Balad for a flight up to Tikrit, didn't have any ear pro -- I was used to the conventional forces space-a terminals where there were hours of waiting and some soldier or airman would walk around with a big box of foam earplugs for all the infrequent flyers. An SF MSG noticed me holding my fingers over my ears and handed me a new set of his peltor reversible plugs ($7, although I think they got them issued for free) as the engines were spooling up. I thanked him profusely, really shouldn't have been without earpro, ordered 15 sets to put into all my bags after I landed.

jtjackson

On a transpacific to SFO, my inbound was late so I boarded last second. Seatmate in business had the window and thought he was going to have an empty aisle – until I got there. He told me I couldn’t sit there because I was too late (it was my assigned seat, but he had parked his stuff in it). FA who seated me made him move his stuff, which he didn’t like. He was very passive aggressive –knocking my book off the armrest when I set it down to take my seat, knocking my closed water bottle off my tray table, just silly things – just being a jerk. I had been bouncing around Asia for 3 weeks, and I decided I was too tired to put up with him for 11 hours. So, when he got up to go the lav right after takeoff (with FAs telling him to sit down), I “accidentally” opened his water bottle and poured it into his seat. Amazing how much water a seat can hold…. When he sat down, he started screaming at me in French, making threats, lots of DYKWIA . Same FA who had seated me and yelled at him about getting up came over, but couldn’t understand him enough to find out what had happened other than that his seat was wet, so she moved him to a middle further back. I kind of felt bad, but I had a quiet flight after that (plus I got a bunch of miles from the FA for putting up with his “abuse”).

Many years ago, I had upgraded a new coworker (his first time in F) and we were the first non-preboards to get on. Ahead of us, a woman put both of her big bags above our seats (bulkhead F) on her way into economy, leaving no room for our bags. She had pre-boarded with “families with small children and the handicapped” (carrying both bags), so she was one of the first passengers into economy with lots of bin space – I guess she just didn’t want to carry them. Gate agent had announced we were completely full and would be gate checking anything that didn’t fit in the overhead or under a seat. So, I traded our bags for the woman’s in the overhead, took hers up to the FA and said “these just aren’t going to fit, would you please check them for me?” FA thanked me for my understanding and gave me the checks (which I just pocketed). I didn’t stick around to see the aftermath when we deplaned, but I am sure it was entertaining.

brewdog11

This is terrible, but I'm roaring with laughter. Have you posted this story before? I think I remember reading something like this before (can't recall if it was in the AA, DL, or UA forum), and it's always stuck with me.

rumbataz

Reading a book called 'Air Disasters' on a flight many years ago. I was told to put it away. With hindsight, it wasn't a clever thing to do.

weero

I had an identical experience on a much shorter intra-China flight. A businessman had his briefcase on my seat and there was no other seat available in the F cabin. I asked him unsuccessfully to fetch it, so did two FAs, he just waved us away with his hand, saying something along to get lost.
FAs offered me two seats in coach but I decided to take my seat back.
I told him that he has 30 seconds to save his briefcase then I'd sit down. FA emphasized once more that I was not willing to budge. He vigorously tried to shoo us away.
30 seconds later I sat down and the briefcase collapsed under my weight. He shrieked and tried to pull it out but at no avail. He threatened me with a beating which I answer with loud laughter, took my book out and started to read.
The FA then begged me to release the briefcase with which I complied, and he rapidly retrieved the remnants.

Looking back, I should have grabbed the case and handed it to him. Sitting on it was a tag excessive ... but the dude was beyond confrontational.

tentseller

weero

I was much less proactive than that rabbit.

And we all know what happens to proactive rabbits @UNITED....