Category Archives for Passengers.
A Southwest Airlines agent was punched – and then had to be restrained by another employee – after a disruptive passenger was offloaded off of a flight that had just returned to the gate on Tuesday.
The customer, identified by police as Courtney Drummond, can be seen in video taken by an onlooker shouting and walking up to the counter – before whaling on the employee who hadn’t been a part of any earlier altercation.
The world was shocked last May when a Southwest Airlines passenger attacked a flight attendant, chipping her teeth, bruising her and sending her to the hospital for stitches after being asked “to fasten her seat belt, stow her tray table and wear her face mask properly.”
Vyvianna Quinonez was charged for her violent behavior on board that San Diego-bound flight on May 22, 2021. She pled guilty. But was she too drunk to be sentenced?
On March 10 a passenger on board flyDubai from Dubai to Tirana, Albania filmed the moment when the entire cabin pitched in to cheer up a crying child, breaking out in song to PinkFong’s “Baby Shark.” Everyone claps and sings and then the camera cuts to the crying toddler.
This child reportedly started crying shortly before takeoff. A passenger sitting behind the child “started quietly murmuring the words” to the song. Then another joined in, and another, and suddenly the whole cabin had busted out the cringeworthy meme like one giant slow clap.
Don Young, the 88 year old longest-serving member of the House of Representatives (49 years!) died while preparing to fly Los Angeles – Seattle on Friday evening. His wife was with him and noticed that he had stopped breathing. One of the stranger things about coverage of the incident, which has blanketed the news, is that the flight where this happened goes unmentioned. (There were also no viral first-person accounts on social media that I could locate.) Alaska Airlines, Delta, United and American all operate Los Angeles – Seattle. However Young was connecting onward to Alaska, making flying Alaska Airlines the most likely (though Delta also operates the route). Indeed Alaska Airlines confirmed the death according to Young’s first Chief of Staff. The second thing that strikes me as strange, perhaps even ironic in the…
A man in the airport spotted a woman near his gate area and decided he wanted to approach her. What’s the modern and non-creepy way to do that with someone you’ve never met? He decided to send over his robot suitcase to do it, rather than walking up.
Delta Air Lines kicked off a passenger that was wearing an “F- Biden” hoodie. He eventually took off the hoodie, but was removed prior to departure anyway over mask compliance issues. The man might have tried the less offensive “Let’s Go Brandon” instead.
A passenger has taken to social media to share the story of her upgrade to first class. It didn’t come due to elite status, spending miles, or dressing sharply (or whispering ‘revenue management’ to an agent). Instead she was moved to the front cabin after her seat opponent logged into the inflight internet and started searching for “sex on planes.” And then watching sex on planes.
A Conservative Party Senate candidate in Colombia was dragged away from a Viva Air Colombia flight over carry on bag fees. She was outraged over being charged 150,000 pesos (US$39) to bring her bag aboard the ultra low cost carrier.
Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who served during the Trump administration, reports that a self-upgrader tried to take his first class seat this week. And it wasn’t just someone trying to sneak into the cabin and grab an empty seat – they persisted. They claimed the seat was theirs. They wouldn’t move. But the good doctor held his ground.
Police bodycam footage has been shared online of an officer removing a passenger from a Delta flight prior to departure over mask non-compliance.
Usually we see cell phone video from other passengers of someone being taken off the plane. Rarely do we see what happens before that – the discussion between officer and cabin crew – or after, when the passenger is back in the police vehicle or finally at the police station.
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 »
