Philandering Passenger Texts The Same Messages To Two Women Before Flight Takes Off

by Gary Leff

The Washington Bureau Chief for the Daily Beast took to social media over the weekend to live share the portion of his flight prior to departure where a passenger sitting in front of him was getting his game on over text with two women at the same time, using the same messages with each.

Sharing what his travel day was like, he relays that TSA confiscated his cologne for being over 3 ounces of liquid. One of the women had given him the cologne. The other wanted to know what kind it was, so she could replace it for him.

One woman comments that she does this too using the same messages on dating apps rather than customizing to her potential suitors. And surely there are people now using ChatGPT to come up with things to say.

And at least this was being done via text. I worked with a woman years ago who always seemed to wind up with seat opponents who visibly removed their wedding rings when arriving next to her.

We don’t know what airline this story happened on, but we have some clues. I’m betting this was an American Airlines flight. Based on the statement that the passenger “didn’t purchase the WiFi” and so couldn’t continue messaging we know that it is an airline,

  • Offers Wifi (so not Frontier or Hawaiian Airlines, though Hawaiian will be adding it)
  • Charges for Wifi (so not JetBlue or Delta, unless it was an international or regional flight)
  • Lacks free messaging (and Southwest, United, Alaska all offer free messaging)

American Airlines announced they would offer free messaging in September 2017 at Investor and Media Day. After a year, when they still didn’t offer it, I asked and the airline acted like they’d never heard of such an announcement.

They got the benefit of the media attention, but decided it was too expensive to follow through. For a period of time they got Facebook to cover the cost of Facebook Messenger, however.

The other alternative, of course, is that this was a Spirit Airlines flight. And the philandering passenger does sound like the Spirit sort.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  2. Why does the man have to be a “philanderer?” He could be dating two women in two casual relationships. Non-monogamy in general is increasing common.

  3. C’mon, Gary, just because this took place on a plane it doesn’t mean it that it belongs on VFTW. Beyond that, this type of snooping and retelling for purposes of a few likes (especially when encased in cheap moralism) shouldn’t be encouraged.

  4. Has VFTW been taken over by a British tabloid newspaper? What kind of thinking human being wants to know this stuff? I’ve read VFTW for years for the ‘tips and info’ it promises and have been a big fan. Very few of them amongst the drivel lately.

  5. He’s peeping on other people’s screens, he is the one who should be shamed.

  6. Jesus Gary, you must have one boring life to be spying on another passenger’s texts, taking notes and posting it on the internet. WTF is wrong with you???

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