Category Archives for Passengers.
An American Airlines flight to Miami turned chaotic just before landing when a fight over armrest space escalated into a shouting match and physical confrontation while crew begged everyone to sit down.
A passenger on a Malaysia Airlines flight to Beijing was removed from the aircraft after allegedly patting a flight attendant’s buttocks and then trying to justify it by saying China-Malaysia relations are good. The incident reportedly followed a chaotic boarding process after an aircraft swap, but that only made his excuse stranger, not better.
A passenger brought raw eggs on board, broke them all over the seat and floor, and left flight attendants to deal with the mess. When travelers bring fragile, messy food into the cabin, crew and cleaners are the ones who get stuck dealing with it.
An American Airlines first class passenger put her feet on another traveler’s armrest, got them shoved off, and then put them back up on the window a few minutes later. The incident sparked a flood of suggestions for how to handle one of the most basic and revolting breaches of airplane etiquette.
A passenger gave birth as a Caribbean Airlines flight was landing at New York JFK, with air traffic control expediting the arrival, arranging medical help at the gate, and then delivering the perfect line once the baby was out: “Name the baby Kennedy.”
A passenger seated next to Bernie Sanders in first class was reportedly moved back to a coach seat on a Delta flight to Minneapolis — and someone from the senator’s team was later seen in the original seat.
One passenger at LAX check-in was so determined to avoid an overweight bag fee that he stood there and ate a dozen bananas out of his own luggage to get the suitcase under the limit. The stunt is ridiculous, but it also captures something real about modern air travel: checked bag fees are now so aggressive — and overweight penalties so steep — that travelers will reshuffle, rewear, and apparently even binge-eat their way out of paying them.
A passenger was banned after vaping in an airplane lavatory triggered the smoke alarm and brought police to meet the flight on arrival, but the more interesting question is why e-cigarettes are treated the same as cigarettes in the first place.
One passenger in India is accused of a string of alarming incidents in March, including allegedly trying to open an emergency exit inflight, smoking near jet fuel on an airport ramp, and fighting with airline and airport staff. The episodes reportedly happened on separate flights just weeks apart, making this less a one-off outburst than a pattern of escalating aviation misconduct.
Starlink is making inflight internet fast enough and reliable enough to support calls, conferencing, and anything else passengers want to do online at 35,000 feet. The old argument for blocking inflight calls is collapsing, and airlines should be free to let passengers decide — as long as people are considerate.
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 »
