The July 2015 issue Harper’s magazine compiled from newspaper accounts some of the bizarre things done by passengers on planes since 2010 that required either the removal of the disruptive passengers or the rerouting of planes in order to make a quick landing. Here’s their list.
- An elderly man on a delayed Hong Kong Airlines flight struck a stewardess several times as passengers clapped and cheered.
- A woman on a Thai AirAsia flight threw hot water and instant noodles at a flight attendant after being told that she couldn’t be seated with her friends. Her companion yelled that he would “bomb the plane.”
- Moments after a Jet Airways flight landed, a passenger opened the emergency exit, jumped to the ground, and walked away.
- A Southwest passenger stabbed her snoring neighbor with a pen.
- A woman on a British Airways flight from Kingston, Jamaica, to London removed her clothing and began to masturbate.
- A Sunwing plane bound for Cuba turned around after two female passengers consumed their duty-free alcohol, smoked cigarettes in the lavatory, and began to physically fight each other.
- A passenger on a US Airways flight brought spoiled meat in his carry-on bag. The contents spilled as the flight taxied, causing maggots to fall from the overhead bin onto the heads of travelers below.
- During an EasyJet flight from Tel Aviv to London, a passenger took a two-foot-long snake from his luggage and began feeding it.
- A man flicked a scorpion that fell on him during an Alaskan Airlines flight onto a woman sitting next to him. The scorpion stung her.
- A Middle East Airlines plane turned around mid-flight to retrieve an Iraqi parliament member’s son, who had missed the flight.
- An American Airlines plane made an emergency landing after a passenger refused to stop singing “I Will Always Love You.”
I am not surprised by #3. For some reason, people are really, really anxious to get off a plane as soon as it lands. They immediately jump up from their seats, get their luggage and then stand, sometimes waiting for quite a while for the doors to be opened and people ahead of them leave. Unless I have quick connection, I tend to sit and wait until most people have got off and then get my bags and leave unhurriedly. It would be nice to have a honor system where people allow those who need to leave urgently for whatever reason to get off first but it will be hard to change the culture.
For me personally, the situation I’d like to be in least is #8 with the snake unless Samuel L. Jackson was also on the plane to take care of the situation (language advisory).
#7 would also be quite icky but the one that would annoy me the most is the singer in #11, especially with that particular song.
They immediately jump up from their seats, get their luggage and then stand, sometimes waiting for quite a while for the doors to be opened and people ahead of them leave.
Actually, the reason I get up so quickly is that after a two and a half-hour flight, my poor knees can’t stand being doubled up any more. Even if I can’t get into the aisle (and I can wait patiently for that), I find it far more comfortable standing bent over under the overhead bins than sitting any longer.
#11 is perfectly understandable. I’d have fed him to the snake.
If the man brought the scorpion on board, lock him up and throw away the key. But if I was just sitting there and a scorpion fell on me, I probably would knock it away really quickly and not give a lot of premeditation to whomever might be in the line of fire.
And I thought open mouthed eathing, bad body odour and screaming babies were bad.
I’ve watched a number of “border security” type TV shows posted on youtube and it’s the same in every country. People don’t read instructions, they try to take or ship illegal objects through customs (e.g. weapons, animals, food, drugs, etc.). The stupidity never seems to end.
Some are passive-aggressive or inconsiderate enough to drop their bags onto others as they take them from the overhead bins. Eventually, there’s going to be a brawl on an airplane somewhere.
I cannot grasp the (lack of) thinking by people who stand up immediately. Often it takes as much as fifteen minutes to get off the plane, and they’re standing and sweating with their oversized carry-ons. Even worse, most start pushing and getting angry at those behind, yet it never occurs to them to sit and wait relaxed like 5% do.
As often happens, those with the least talent think everyone else wants to know. No, we don’t. They should just say aloud, “I can’t sing or whistle,” and save everyone else the annoyance.
Even worse, those who obnoxiously pray out loud. Every time they do, I wonder if they’re going to hijack the plane. I’m not just including christians, I’m specifying them.
I’m with Chiroptera, after 8 hours of having my knees too close to my chin (even with occasional standing, stretching breaks) I need to be vertical!!!!
One time — this was in 1996, I have a hard time imagining this happening now — my brother and I were traveling from Columbus Ohio to London with a layover in Newark. Our flight from Ohio was so delayed that I thought we’d miss the connecting flight. I recall that landed just as it was supposed to leave. While we were still taxiing to the gate there was an announcement that our flight was waiting for us and that passengers should let us and another man with the same connection disembark first.
We were in the back of the plane, but everyone made a space for us in the aisle to let us pass by so that we could get out first and rush to the connecting gate.
That is the civilized way to do things, no?
Yes, it is. And I have been on a plane in the last month where that was done, so it’s not a dead practice by any means.
It might make sense for flight attendants to routinely make announcements as the plane is taxiing to the gate asking passengers who are in no hurry to wait until those who need to get out quickly go first. Of course, there will be some cheaters but I suspect that most people would go along.
If we have got used to rules for flight boarding, surely we can get used to rules for exiting?