I remember back a few years ago flying in F on a CO flight, SEA-IAH there was this young couple with a small child riding up in F as well and from the loud way he was talking I could hear that he was taking a job at some sort of oil well drilling company and the firm put him up in first. Not only has this guy never been in F before, but it was also his first time flying. He proceeded to drink one after another with his wife, becoming increasingly distruptful and obnoxious and was very rude to both the f/a attendants and other passengers. He was seated behind the gentleman next to me, his wife behind me and his young child was continually kicking the seat in front of him and the poor guy next to me was trying to work but I could see his patience was wearing thin. So, finally the man next to me turns around and politely asks this guy if he would please control his
child's continual kicking. Oh boy--fireworks started! This drunk (I've been trying to keep it PC, but I'm sorry, this guy was a total redneck) said "if you ever talk to me like that again I'll break your fu***** neck, and sh** down your throat!" He then proceeded to attempt to grab the guy--I'm not joking--and try to hit him. Up until now I sat there patiently, but had to intervene. I grabbed the guy *firmly* by the arm and warned him this type of behavior is simply unacceptable. He very quickly sat down, downed another bud, and then the pilot came over and warned him any more outlashes like that and he would divert to another airport and have him arrested. Things settled down, but when the f/a finally cut him off, he started ranting and raving again, but by this time we were just about to touch down. Proceeding out of the jetway were two of Houston's finest waiting for a chat.
This was pre-9/11--summer of 2000.
Any other interesting stories out there?

Not about full-blown air rage, per se, but about inflight drunkenness and flight attendant stupidity:

A few years ago I was flying SEA-EWR on CO, in an aft aisle seat in Y. The 737 was 100% full. In the D-E-F behind me were a trio of young, beefy Jersey boys getting liquored up. Whenever the FA came past they would each buy another two bottles of Skyy and throw cash at her. For some reason the FA found this behavior attractive and kept 'em coming, flirting as she did so. After three hours or so the boys were good and plowed and began swearing loudly, raising their voices to each other, and just generally making life miserable for everyone within five rows.

Finally, after yet another round purchased, I got up and went back to the galley and told the two FAs present, gently, that the three guys were making this the flight from hell, her willingness to supply unlimited booze was the proximate cause, and didn't she think they'd had enough?

The senior one shrugged and said, "Well, if they were in First Class, they'd have had a lot more by now." The younger one, who'd been acting as the booze conduit, said, "Okay, this'll be the last round." But then she A) served them doubles, and B) fingered me to the drunks, informing them that this would be it "because that guy thinks you've had enough."

For the ensuing 90 minutes of the flight I had to listen to the Jersey Boys growl that I was an "a@@hole" and that "we'll get you when we get to Newark" and that "Boy, he looks scared now, don't he"? The back of the plane went very quiet except for them, and the FAs disappeared completely for the duration. If I'd been a short-fuse kind of guy, of course, there would've been a full-scale fistfight, but I just buried my head in a magazine, did not turn around, and took it.

When we got to EWR I went forward quickly, ducked into the forward galley, waited until everyone else had deplaned (the Jersey boys, though unsteady, looking menacing) and told the senior FA and the first officer the whole story. The young FA from aft who'd fueled the whole incident came forward and denied everything backwards and forwards, from overserving to identifying me, though she would not make eye contact the whole time.

Here was a case where an idiot FA directly compromised inflight safety and caused me to fear for my own personal safety. (I deplaned very carefully, but the boys had stumbled on.) As this was not long after a CO employee at EWR had been permanently crippled by an enraged, out-of-control passenger, I was pretty astonished.

I wrote the whole thing up for CO customer service. They responded that union rules prohibited them from telling me what action had been taken, but, trust them, something had happened. And they sent me two positive space coupons.

Bad flight.

[This message has been edited by BearX220 (edited Feb 27, 2004).]