The tagline of Kevin Smith’s first film, Clerks (1994), was “Just Because They Serve You… Doesn’t Mean They Like You.” But have you wondered what group of passengers flight attendants hate serving the most?
I reviewed a number of social media threads in flight attendant forums and public social media where cabin crew discussed what routes they hated working because of the passengers, and I compiled a list of what crewmembers seemed to say most often – and what it was about the passengers that drove them nuts. The biggest complaints were about:
- New York – South Florida: leisure travelers, New Yorkers and snowbirds plus ‘Florida Man’-style passengers combined to make this the number one hotspot among flight attendant reported fears online.
- New York Premium Transcons: flights between New York and LA and San Francisco wreak of entitlement given the high level elite status, type A personalities and overall entitlement that flight attendants report.
- LA basin generally: There’s a self-centered and entitled customer that crew seem to confront quite often in Southern California, whether in and out of LAX, Orange County, or Burbank.
- Calgary: among Canadian airports this one seems to come up most often. I would have guessed Toronto.
- Washington Dulles and National: Needy, entitled political types – officeholders, lobbyists, and ‘Famous for D.C. types’ (like cabinet undersecretaries) who are important within their own domain but not recognized outside of it. (Incidentally, Australia crew complain about Canberra flights.)
- Caribbean and cruise routes: These flights tend to be full of low yield passengers, infrequent travelers who don’t know the drill, and customers already in vacation mode. They need extra assistance.
Generally complaints about passenger type tend to skew more against leisure travelers, even though they may be less entitled and self-important. They’re needier. Orlando flights can be chaotic. Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach passengers get argumentative, and bags and boarding compliance can be challenging. And alcohol management can be a challenge on Caribbean trips.
In contrast, elite-heavy business routes see multi-drink orders, high service expectations, and shorter fuses during irregular operations because customers feel their inconvenience is greater when their trips are delayed.
I created a grid of the most frequently mentioned routes and some common complaints:
| Route / Market | What FAs complain about | Notable quotes/themes | ||
| NYC ↔ South Florida corridor (JFK–PBI, LGA–FLL, MIA–EWR; also MIA–ATL) | Entitlement, arguments, “rowdy,” constant attitude | “Kill me now” (JFK–PBI); “LGA–FLL makes me question my life choices”; MIA/EWR worst | ||
| Calgary (YYC) (Canada domestic/transborder) | “Karen-like” behavior, ignoring instructions, arguing during secure, baggage hassles | Multiple FA + ramp mentions; contrasted with nicer YEG pax | ||
| Los Angeles basin—SNA, BUR, LAX | Strong entitlement vibes | “the entitlement” (LA area); SNA singled out as stressful | ||
| JFK–LAX / JFK–SFO | Elite-heavy, multi-drink orders, unfriendly/entitled vibe | “SFO is my absolute least favorite… ton of elites”; JFK transcons repeatedly named | ||
| PHX (general) & JFK–PHX (mention) | “People seem miserable and rude” | JFK also blamed as common factor | ||
| Caribbean → Chicago (ORD) | “Always draining” | Repeated “Chicago” gripes (with dissent from a Chicago-based FA) | ||
| FLL (general) | Similar to PBI vibe; entitlement | Grouped with NYC–SoFla complaints | ||
| Toronto (YYZ); Vancouver (YVR) (cruise heavy) | YYZ: “worst” among big Canadian stations (1 FA). YVR: cruise-pax loads test patience | Elderly/cruise cohorts raise assistance demands | ||
| Abbotsford (YXX) | “Nobody listens” | Small-station headache | ||
| IAD (Washington Dulles) origin | “Annoying, rude, needy”; “political base” entitlement | Least-favorite base to work for one FA | ||
| Florida (vacation season, broadly) | Unruly/undesirable during peak | Florida school-break surge referenced across threads | ||
| SFO & California pax discourse (general) | Entitled/needy vs. East-coast “rude but not needy” contrast | Meta-thread on California passenger profile |
In Up In The Air (2009), George Clooney’s Ryan Bingham tells Anna Kendrick’s Natalie Keener “I’m like my mother. I stereotype. It’s faster” while going through airport security. He wants to avoid queuing at security behind “old people” and prefers to line up behind “Asians.”
That’s not fair. Flight attendants do it when they make assumptions about you. They don’t have anything else to go on! I’ll admit that I do it, too. When I land in Japan and head through customs I avoid lining up behind South Asians. It’s not that I’m being racist against South Asians! It’s just that I know that Japanese customs officers will be. I’ll take the longer line of Japanese or white people instead of a shorter line with Indians, because everyone in the shorter line will be stopped.
I have to think that for most flight attendants, especially working reserve, the most common refrain crew does come from Clerks rather than Up In The Air. As Dante Hicks said throughout the film, “I”m not even supposed to be here today.”
I always heard Aspen (ASE) too. Entitled, etc. especially during peak times.
This feels like ‘bait,’ Gary…
One thing I’ve often noticed on NY to FL flights is the higher than average number of wheelchair bound passengers. Not sure if this is a factor for FA’s but I think it adds extra stress to GA’s trying to get a flight out on time.
A few of the airport-specific complaints are based on the terminal layout involving a lot of walking- for better or for worse. The ports of entry with customs facilities tend to fit that description.
I bet if you could really drill down in those survey answers, you’ll often find one person at the source of that negativity towards the particular airport, someone whose footwear choices are wholly unsuited for (drumroll…) *walking through airports*. That right there is one of the unintentionally funny dichotomies of airline worker personality traits. A simple question like “why don’t you just change into flats?” (just for the walk, instead of tolerating sore feet and blisters), that can get you some interesting facial expressions in response…
Another thing that grates on some folks are the food in your luggage rules (agriculture inspection). Enforcement and logic is often uneven for this, within the same country or from one time to the next. Sometimes flight crew like to pack their own food instead of constantly eating out on the road, but you’re unsure what you’ll have to end up throwing away before clearing customs at xxx airport. Fresh fruit is obvious, but it’s okay if you leave the sticker on it/no it’s not okay, what about cooked meals/yes in this place but no in that, surely beef jerky in its storebought plastic packaging/have to declare it in xxx airport. When I use the word uneven, some of the stories are out of bizarro world. This stuff goes crossing the border in *either* direction.
There’s also a few long haul/international routes you’re missing here…
Yeah, interesting how Calgary, the ‘Texas’ of Canada, has all those ‘Karen’ comments, but… Gary conveniently leaves out any ‘complaints’ from actual Texas… hmm… curious….
The FAs’ impressions make complete sense.
IAD/DCA – DC is “Hollywood for ugly people”
Los Angeles area – “real” Hollywood made up of people who work in Hollywood, want to work in Hollywood, or act like they are celebrities.
NYC ↔ South Florida corridor – remember the viral video of Bill O’Reilly at JFK JetBlue counter screaming at the tixx agent?
All blue cities. Imagine that.
Meanwhile, all of the good people of Texas fully abide by the ethical principles of the Texas Lawyer’s Creed, and there are no issues whatsoever.
My vocabulary entitles me to correct “wreak of entitlement” to “reek of entitlement”. You’re welcome.
CLT would be my least favourite airport but the unlucky passengers going through that place are alright according to this list.
Im surprised Gary didn’t include the Ryanair/Easyjet/jet2 routes that crew dislike….
Ibiza, alicante, Tenerife etc..
@Disgruntled American — 100%. I can see him now: “F-it! Do it live!!”
Note that Calgary is in Alberta, which is the most pro-Trump province in all of Canada. Could this be a coincidence?
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Also I think you meant to use the verb “reek” instead of “wreak”. FWIW. Good article.
I surprised Vegas didn’t get mentioned. Maybe because Flight Attendants actually enjoy having a layover there.
Gee, guess I’m not the only one who believes that Noo Yawkers are less-evolved swine.
You forgot to include EWR-TLV flights.
@canuck_in_ca — In an ironic twist… CLT rubbed YOU the wrong way. Huh.
Agree on DC.
IAD-LGA seemed to have a disproportionate number of oddly entitled and “I’m first” kind of passive aggressive going on. Most full of it GS pax I’ve seen.
I can see how the personalities the politics attracts plays into it.
Amazing. Just think of the people here. How many so nicely fit in the FA catalogue. At least we have no entitled people here.
Multi-drink orders!! Service Expectation!! Well, I never…
Why do we care what the sky waitresses say? They’ll be replaced soon enough.
I fly out of DCA exclusively (no gov’t affiliation) probably 10x a year. Never even saw one confrontation.
Any LAS flight on a Friday, the party attitude… PHX Term 4 is the pits, Term 3 is wonderful, bright, airy.
@Larry yes, because we know only democrats fly on planes as demonstrated by all the MAGA paraphernalia I see on my flights.
David P: yup, the winter flights from NY & CT to FL are called Miracle flights for a reason: pax in wheelchairs cause they can’t walk but miraculously rush to leave on foot on arrival.
My apologies to those who really need the wheelchair – it won’t be too long before I’m joining you.
So flight attendants hate rude New Yorkers. Everything is better in New York. Don’t believe me just wait an ex-New Yorker will tell you so. and self important pretentious people from California. DC is full of wanna be mini dictaors.
@Larry ah yes Florida, famous for its blue cities. Not the blues fault that most cities with a major airport are theirs.
Also, you forgot to assume that everyone going to the west coast was trans and everyone going to the Caribbean are immigrants. Your bigotry needs work dude.
@JOJO – I think it’s less where they live and more who they are. They are for the most part successful people with money, and those people tend to congregate in the more desirable parts of the country, like New York, LA and DC. So you’ll get a higher percentage of elitism and entitlement from those cities.
I lived in Tampa and was spoiled by the amazing airport and mostly kind people to South Florida to be with my fiance. Traveling has become filled with the WORST experiences, and I say this as someone who also grew up in NJ and had EWR as her home airport.
FLL has the rudest people, MIA is just terrible, and PBI is just barely bearable if you can make it through the long line of wheel chairs. South Florida sucks – can’t blame flight attendants for hating the route.
@JOJO — You are correct about DC… mini-dictator.
Any route with old people and people that believe walking from a gate area down a jet bridge to a plane is akin to running a marathon come to mind. Often one in the same. That’s when you get the 25 wheelchairs lined up and the flight leaves late. Of course, upon deplanning 20 of those wheelchairs will come back empty because apparently being shoved into a seat made for a five year old provides the miracle of mobility.
Also, with the old people, in first ARE THE WORST. They immediately clog the boarding lane before boarding starts. They stand in the aisle looking for god knows what in their carry on. They take five minutes deciding on a beverage and ask the poor flight attendants endless questions. Often has a mask on.
Just remind the First Class entitled passengers that if they had real money, they’d be in their own jets! Everything is relative.
I have been DC based twice and lived there as a kid. Never had issues with passengers; it’s the usual ITB ” my contact people are more important than your contact people” BS. Being a political brat I’m kind of a political nerd as an adult so it’s kind of cool knowing 2/3 of the names on My Flights in and out.
And I don’t know what they put in the water in South Florida. Liquid hate? I have seen SoFloridians make New Yorkers cry. As for New Yorkers, I love those people. They push, I push back then they respect you. You have a friend for life. More than half of my NYC friends started off with an argument.
And the poor reservation agents had to deal with these people first “I want to go from: LAGWAHDIAH to Westpwambeach. I need a special meal. I need a wheelchair in LAGWAHDIAH but I don’t need in one in Westpwambeach. On the return, I don’t need a wheelchair in Westpwambeach but I will need one in LAGWAHDIAH. (do you get cured on the way down and sick on the way back??) “Well sir…” “I’m not a sir, I’m a ma’am!” “Oh, sorry! We don’t serve meals on these routes and…” WHAT? I can’t get a meal? What kind of service is this?” “Ma’am, it’s only a two hour flight and…” “Well, I want a meal.” “You’re welcome to bring food onboard.” “Do you have pinochle cards?” “No ma’am.” “WHAT.? Fouist I can’t have a meal and now you tell me I can’t have pinochle cards? What kind of crappy airline is this?” And it goes ON and ON and ON and on and on…” Finally, the gate agents get everything worked out, “Now ma’am, which credit card did want to use?” “Oh, no! I want to put it on a 24 hour hold.” “But you will pay the current price…” CLICK! Then the next day, this same person calls back to buy the ticket and screams at the agent that the price went up! Reservation agents aren’t dumb. They read the PNR notes indicating that “he” is a “ma’am” and that “she” was given all of this information at the time she hung up! This round about goes on again. CLICK. Then the third day, the “ma’am” calls again. The agent pulls up the expired PNR and the whole process starts again. Then..the poor gate agent deals with this and finally the flight attendant gets this person. ARGH!!
Any route full of OPM pax.
Only up front because boss man is paying, thinking they are special.
@David P, the jet bridge Jesus flights where miracles happen daily.